IT used to be as common as the three Rs. Children would queue up at playtime to get their daily dose of calcium. The trusty old glass of milk, which has just about been clinging on for dear life since Margaret Thatcher "the milk snatcher" got her hands on it in the 1970s, could be just about to give up the ghost for good.

It has come under threat from an unlikely competitor. Where once milk was seen as the best source of liquid goodness, now H2O is the hero in the brave new world of healthier school meals.

And in an era when celebrity chef Jamie Oliver attempts to get children to eat fewer chips and more fruit, the good old pinta just isn't sexy any more.

While primary schools get fruit to give free to every pupil, the uptake of milk is fading fast.

Marian Jay, headteacher of St Joseph's Primary School in Warndon, Worcester, says children under five and those on free school meals still get free milk, but otherwise they have to pay.

"This incurs a cost for the school in terms of administration of finances and banking, whereas we just get deliveries of fruit and hand it out," she says.

"Taking milk away is obviously politically sensitive because of the 'Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher' days, but teaching children to be healthy is now about much more than that.

"Children are just drinking water or fruit juices instead.

"The days of having your little milk bottle are gone. They come in cartons now, and most parents choose not to pay for it anyway."

And that's the point. A study for the government by consultants London Economics, says, even with subsidies, milk can be bought more cheaply in supermarkets and they are urging the Government to scrap its subsidy.

"The private sector already offers milk at a low price so it is not clear why schools should offer it too," the consultants say.

The average price schools charge parents for subsidised milk, 11.4p per a third of a pint, is actually more than the cost in a supermarket - between 8.4p and 10p per a third of a pint. And you don't need a GCSE in maths to realise that simply doesn't make sense.

But the milk bottle's battle is not completely lost.

The dairy co-operative First Milk, based in Hallow, near Worcester, employs a full-time education executive to encourage schools to stock milk.

Dennis Gray says children need to drink the white stuff as much as ever, but it needs to be marketed in cleverer ways.

"There are still grave concerns about osteoporosis, particularly because of the diet of teenage women, and by far the best way to get all the nutrients needed is to drink a glass of milk and make it a habit," he says.

"Schools are a commercial battleground now. Sheer commercialism rules and secondary schools sometimes sell 20 different types of drink.

"Healthy eating campaigns come and go and the current one is to get children to eat more fruit. Of course, we're not against fruit and veg, but you can't just give an apple to a child of five."

He encourages children to drink milk by offering it in coloured glasses, flavouring it and, above all, refrigerating it properly.

"We lost a generation of milk drinkers because they were put off because their milk at school was warm in summer and frozen in winter," he says.

"Milk is seen as old fashioned and not sexy and that's what we're battling against."

In Worcestershire, the county council has been discussing for months how to get children to eat and drink more healthily.

The councillor leading the investigation, former teacher Jo Hodges, says amid all the talk of fruit, water and fewer chips, milk has hardly got a look in.

"Personally I'd be disappointed if milk disappeared from school but perhaps things have changed," she says.

"If you look at the origins of why milk was given free, it's because children were deficient in the nutrients and they weren't well nourished.

"Nowadays we're concerned about the type of food they're having, not the amount."

Her committee is likely to recommend that schools encourage their students to sip water throughout the day but there will be no mention of milk.

The Government is still to decide whether it will follow their consultants' advice but subsidised or not, it's clear milk is facing an uphill battle.

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE WHITE STUFF

1927 First trials of the benefits of milk in school.

1930 A vast social research project involving thousands of children being weighed and measured while drinking school milk provided proof that it led to better growth and development.

1934 The Milk Act meant all elementary school pupils could have a third of a pint for 1d a day.

1946 All schoolchildren were given free milk.

1968 The government withdrew free milk from secondary schools.

1971 Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher was labelled The Milk Snatcher as she abolished free milk for the over-sevens.

1986 Local authorities could no longer use state funds to subsidise milk.

1995 More budget cuts as the government cut its subsidy

2000 The EU cut its funding for school milk.

2006 The government is urged to abolish its subsidy all together, leaving just the EU to fund school milk.

BLACKBOARD

Young people need the same chances in life that I enjoyed

WORCESTERSHIRE MP Jacqui Smith says her commitment to the Government's controversial education reforms was inspired by her own comprehensive education at Dyson Perrins High School in Malvern.

She has staked her political career on the radical moves that threaten to bring down the Prime Minister.

Scores of Labour MPs are set to derail Tony Blair's plans to give schools independence.

They are worried the shake-up will lead to a breakdown of the comprehensive system and a return to selection by ability.

But Redditch MP Ms Smith insisted that Government plans to give schools more independence were essential to ensure all state school pupils were given the same start in life as she had.

She said: "Before I was elected to Parliament I spent 11 years teaching in comprehensive schools and I was educated in a Worcestershire comprehensive.

"So I fundamentally believe, and at the heart of my politics is the idea that, if we are going to give young people the opportunities in life that I had, then we need an education system that succeeds in doing that."

Ms Smith was promoted to Schools Minister after the General Election in May with the task of driving home the Prime Minister's vision for irreversible change.

That challenge will come to a head next month when the Government publishes its Education Bill to give schools freedom from local authority control.

Parents and governors will be encouraged to form charitable trusts to manage existing comprehensive schools in partnership with various businesses, faith organisations and parent groups.

Ministers claim that the move will raise standards across the board, but critics fear that it will lead to a two-tier school system with middle class parents monopolising the best schools.

Ms Smith added: "I have an absolute political commitment to building that sort of new comprehensive model."