After 20 years of my school dinners campaign, I’m a happy man. At last, we’re going to feed kids properly | Jamie Oliver

This week’s government announcement on school food standards is huge. It’s based on common sense and science. Beautiful!

M ore than 20 years ago, when I started the campaign and TV series School Dinners , I couldn’t believe that we had standards for dog food but no standards for the food we fed our children at school. I have never, and will never, stop banging that drum – even after this week’s momentous announcement on school food standards in England. Because it is so important we remember where we started from.

Children in the state sector are at school for 190 days a year. And if they’re eating breakfast and lunch there, the majority of what they consume each day is in the hands of their school. When we know that children are consuming less than half the recommended fruit and vegetables, but twice the recommended sugar , school food is a massive opportunity to directly improve diets at scale.

But eating good food around a shared table isn’t just important for children’s health. It’s a core part of a child’s social connection and sense of belonging . Well-fed kids are happier , have more energy and fewer days off school due to sickness, and their learning and behaviour improve, too .

It’s no surprise that 80% of teachers agree that unhealthy food at lunch and breaktime can lead to disruptive behaviour, and 85% say diet affects pupils’ ability to concentrate.

But we didn’t need scientific evidence to tell us that – who doesn’t feel and perform better when their bellies are full of the good stuff? Get school food right and the prize is massive. Not just for children today, but for the adults they will become. Feed children well and we give them a better chance of healthier lives, greater productivity and less long-term pressure on the NHS and social care from diet-related disease. That’s no small change when current estimates are that obesity, and its knock-on consequences, costs the UK economy about £126bn each year .

That is why it’s so great to see the government announce new standards, based on the latest science. It’s the first time in a decade. And it means, for this generation of kids, they will be nourished with more fruit and vegetables, fibre-rich proteins and whole grains. Beautiful stuff.

It’s a big and much-needed update, but we know that amazing schools, caterers and chefs can rise to the challenge. Through my Good School Food awards , we have shown amazing school food is possible and affordable, and it’s happening right now in schools across the UK.

Take Chef Russ in Bournemouth . Working out of a cupboard-sized kitchen, he has transformed the food at his school. Not only has the school increased the uptake of meals from 28% to 98%, there’s a waiting list of parents keen to nab their kids a place there.

We see this pattern in schools up and down the country, and we have to keep telling these stories again and again because it goes against what many people think they know – that kids simply won’t eat the “good stuff”. We have heard that for decades. And we get it, because the food environment we all struggle with makes it hard to eat well, and so this seems to chime with our experience. But school is different.