A stressed-out teacher looks around her class and tries to decide which of three lesson plans she will deliver.
First she must work out how many of the pupils downed an energy drink for breakfast. And then whether they are still high or crashing.
If over a handful are still high, there is little chance she will be able to teach them anything and they’ll be too disruptive for their classmates to learn either.
“It’s horrific. And it’s just wrong. But it is happening in hundreds of schools in Britain every day,” says Jamie Oliver , describing a scene in Norwood, South East London, as he goes into battle with a new foe – energy drink manufacturers.
Are you a parent or teacher who has seen the effect energy drinks have on kids? Email us at webnews@trinitymirror.com
Father-of-five Jamie, 42, has spent the past 20 years of his career on a war to improve the eating habits of the country – particularly children.
Battles along the way have included the successful campaign to tax sugary drinks and to improve standards of school dinners.
He believes this latest skirmish – for a total ban on the sale of energy drinks to under-16s – is very winnable, too.
Only yesterday Waitrose voluntarily banned their sale to youngsters in their stores.
The teachers’ union, NASUWT, has also called for a ban.
Energy drinks such as Red Bull , Relentless, Monster Energy and Rockstar are among an ever-widening range.
Many brands contain 160mg of caffeine per 500ml. A 10-year-old should not consume more than 99mg per day.
“We have to do this,” says Jamie. “Because these drinks are turning our kids into addicts. Their use is, to my mind, akin to drugs.
“You’ve got kids doing the secret buying and paying for them, then there’s how they hide it when they get a low, how they take it again at lunch to get up again, drinking it before bed so they have broken sleep.
“Then they’re like a bag of s**t in the morning, and they have another one then to get them up again.”
But while some parents are oblivious to their children’s addiction, as the youngsters buy drinks on their way to and from school, it appears other parents are their children’s suppliers – popping them into lunch boxes.
“When I first did the school dinner campaign I would stand at school gates and I had dinner tickets in one hand and I’d say to the kids, ‘Can I look in your bag?’ and then I’d swap the energy drinks for dinner tickets.
"The banter was, ‘Would they or wouldn’t they let me?’
“Back then I’d say I was finding energy drinks in about one in four lunch boxes of primary school kids. But since then their use has become prolific.”
He says it is now a £1.5billion business and has grown up to 155% between 2006 and 2014.
Tins of the drink usually bear a message saying “Not recommended for children”, but Jamie claims the colours and imagery on cans and the marketing message is aimed at children.
“When we see people from the drinks industry they all say, ‘Oh, we completely agree, we must not market these to children’.
"But I know they know what proportion of their growth is from kids. I’d say 25% of their business is now from under-16 year olds.
“They’ll say it’s way less than that, but we know there are kids having them for breakfast.
“They’re having a kicker for the day, a maintainer and a finisher.”
Jamie and wife Jools, 43, have five children – Poppy Honey, 15, Daisy Boo, 14, Petal Blossom, eight, Buddy Bear, seven, and River Rocket, one.
But Jamie’s concern about energy drinks is only partially shaped by his concerns for youngsters’ health.
He’s equally worried about how they might be affecting educational attainment – which was what led him to meet the teachers struggling to cope.
“Yeah, energy drinks are full of sugar and we know the damage that does. And yes there is all the caffeine so we know scientifically and morally these shouldn’t be being sold.
“But if you’re still in any doubt about a ban you just have to look at a generation of underpaid, underloved teachers who’re sitting there with a plan A, B and C for a lesson – and if two or three kids turn up having had an energy drink, then it’s straight to plan B – to know this is wrong.
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“So all those kids in that class are missing out. For them it’s a bit like passive smoking – they’re paying the price for others’ addictions.
“You take that in every school in every district, it’s not just an educational problem, it’s an economic one.
“I don’t think I’m exaggerating. If it has an impact on exam grades, it has an impact on people’s ability to get work and all those knock-on effects.”
In a snap survey this week, Jamie found 90% of those who responded backed his plan for a ban on sale to youngsters.
Inevitably, there will be those who again attack him for preaching.
But after two decades of campaigning in the arena of food and public health, Jamie is well acquainted with all the nanny state criticisms.
“I first met the concept of the nanny state 13 years ago when we started the school dinners campaign.
“But it was so strange for me as I’d recently become a parent and all I dreamed for was the pillars of society to treat all kids the way I’d treat mine.”
As obesity statistics rise ever higher and the NHS creaks further under the strain of them, there is much work for Jamie still to do. Does he sometimes find it overwhelming?
“No, we can do this, mate,” he enthuses. “We are clawing back some ground. And if we can land a victory on this, then there can be more to come.
“There’s all this chitter chatter about regulation, but really it’s just saying to the big guys: ‘Behave yourselves. And treat our kids right.’”
And if that’s not a battle standard most parents would be proud to fight beneath, then I don’t know what is…
- You can support the campaign by tweeting @Jeremy_Hunt to put age restrictions on the sale of energy drinks to under 16s. #NotForChildren. Jamie explores the effects of energy drinks on Friday Night Feast, Friday 5th January at 8pm on Channel 4.