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Jamie Oliver continues to go from strength to strength. The series Jamies School Dinners finished on Wednesday, and it’s been an excellent example of topical and challenging television.

The BBC has followed up on the issue, and is asking the question of whether healthier food helps students in their studies. It points to a 1.5% improvement in the total proportion of “Healthy School” children who achieved level 4 or higher in English, Maths and Science.

Jamie Oliver did a superb job of demonstrating how truly awful the food is, so it’s not hard to believe that children eating such junk as their main meal do badly in comparison. His techniques for persuading the children over to the healthy food clearly work, not least showing them what’s in the junk food, and involving them in its preparation.

He has certainly come a long way from the “pukka” TV Chef newbie on BBC2 all those years ago. He might have grated somewhat then, but has now moved on to become the most socially aware chefs in the media, especially following the launch of a restaurant focusing on training up new talent with excluded backgrounds.

With the series over and awareness raised, I hope he sees some progress with his efforts to persuade the seemingly reluctant education secretary, Ruth Kelly, over to a more national roll out of his approach. Charles Clarke seemed persuaded just a few days before becoming Home Secretary, but the ominous note at the end that Ruth Kelly seemed to have other priorities. This will hopefully be changed by the attention this programme has generated in this crucial education policy which affects the health of an entire generation.