You may recently have read about St Paul’s Girls School in West London. This exclusive private school (fees c.£25 grand a year, if you’re wondering) has come in for a huge media backlash for serving up “what basically amounts to a standard state school dinner” of baked potato, baked beans and coleslaw.

With the possible exception the coleslaw, I’d guess this meal is a common staple of most households, state schools included (likely with the coleslaw). It’s certainly a staple meal in my household. However, the school pupils are usually served up herb-crusted salmon or duck leg confit (which would probably go down well in my house too, if we could deliver it).

The reason this culinary divide has caused a backlash isn’t because of the down-to-earth vs. somewhat ‘elaborate’ food divide. It’s because the school did it as part of a campaign to teach its pupils about austerity. It then posted it on Twitter, so everybody got to hear about it and then deleted it. Whoops.

Notwithstanding its somewhat dodgy social media marketing strategy, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I think the school was probably trying to do a good thing.

Now, before you shoot me down, I believe that the way to fix the inequalities in the education system is to make little Cordelia and Tarquin experience the same schooling as everybody else – you can bet the famous sharp elbows of the upper middle classes would be hastening improvements across the board faster than you can say “Pommes dauphinoise? Well, if I must!”

You can also bet that little Cordelia’s 25 grand a year education probably does not include much about what austerity means for the majority. Surely then, while crass, teaching them about it is a good thing?

- Matt Turmaine is Labour councillor for Holywell