A cheeseburger, two potato croquettes, tiny slices of cucumber and a lolly – the astonishing school dinner of Martha Payne, a nine-year-old school girl, discloses the shocking standards of school meals countrywide.

A resident of Scotland, the schoolgirl posted a photograph of the pathetic offering online as part of a writing project that she and her father started. Commenting on the food served at school, she says, “‘It’s usually pretty horrible. I’d like them to serve more, and maybe let some people have seconds if they want to… and not serve stuff that’s a wee bit disgusting.”

Martha also posted the picture of the measly meal on an internet blog called NeverSeconds, started by her mother, which garnered 40, 000 views and became an overnight phenomenon.

The kid began to add daily pictures of her lunches, rating and commenting on them on the blog. Seeking permission from her teachers at school, she captured pictures of her £2 lunches and wrote about them.

Martha posted a similar measly meal – a slice of pizza and a potato croquette, alongside a sprinkling of sweetcorn, a cupcake for dessert and a lot of empty space.

Speaking of the picture, Martha said, “The pizza in the first pic was alright but I’d have enjoyed more than one croquette. I’m a growing kid and I need to concentrate all afternoon and I cant do it on one croquette. Do any of you think you could?”

In spite of the ongoing widespread improvements in the standard of school meals across the rest of Britain, it might be a while until the whole of Britain sees a healthy supply of school meals for their children.