WHEN I was at school, many moons ago, morning playtime meant one thing.

It was the one time of day when it was guaranteed school kids would get the vitamins and minerals needed to feed their brains.

I looked forward to hearing that bell because a bottle of ice-cold milk would be waiting.

I don't know what it was about that school, but the milk in glass bottles with a straw piercing the foil lid was always fresh and tasted yummy.

That all changed when I switched primary schools.

The milk was no longer in glass bottles, but cartons, and it didn't taste so nice.

That was the time I stopped drinking milk. I haven't drunk it straight since.

It was also when milk was no longer free to school kids.

Children need their vitamins and minerals. In a world of fast-food and ready-to-eat snacks, kids are increasingly gorging on junk, enticed by the ever-growing myriad of sweets, chocolates and crisps on the shelves.

It seems so much easier to open a packet of crisps or scoff a cereal bar (packed with sugars and fat) than eat an apple or peel an orange.

But the Government has opened its eyes to this and the birth of the fast-food generation.

Youngsters in Worcestershire are among several other counterpart counties pioneering a scheme to encourage the eating of fruit and vegetables.

Four to six-year-olds across the West Midlands are the first to benefit from the National School Fruit Scheme.

The scheme is voluntary, but I'm sure heads won't dispute the fact that their kids could benefit from the natural sugars.

Five hundred schools have already piloted the scheme and have lapped up the free fruit.

Worcester MP Mike Foster is also behind the scheme, which is aimed at helping with children's educational development.

The parents I've spoken to about this scheme think it's a piece of good old-fashioned common sense," he said.

Hopefully, the days of smelly Brussels sprouts, soggy cabbage and burnt potatoes will be over and kids will reach for the apples and bananas before the Mars bars and Kit-Kats.

It's just the latest in a long line of ideas meant to help with the development of the future scientists, teachers, doctors and lawyers.

Parents of pupils at Dyson Perrins CE High School in Malvern are asked to make sure their child has a bottle of water in their bags each day.

Boffins in the big city have proved that plenty of H2O during the day is good for the thinking muscles.

I'm sure there's plenty of truth in it. Why do the big corporations provide water tanks for their employees if not to get more productivity?

Anything to get the best out of our kids and give them the best start in their lives.