Food in Schools

With 25% of children estimated to be obese by 2050 the issue of school food remains a priority for Food Vision.

This toolkit aims to show where trading standards and environmental health services within local councils can get involved in promoting safe, healthy and sustainable food in schools, both through school meals and eating outside the school environment.

Basic nutritional standards for school meals have made an important contribution to diet consumed by children of school age, however, councils can work within the school environment to further influence food eaten as snacks or in the home. A positive influence on the eating habits of children can secure long term health benefits and potentially influence the diet of family and friends.

The toolkit is split into four sections:

What has happened to school food?
Why should I get involved?
What action can I take?
Where can I get further information and inspiration?

1. What has happened to school food?

Recent public and media interest in the declining standard of school meals has secured a vastly altered landscape for the provision of school meals. Much of the public concern about the standards of school meals was instigated famously by Jamie Oliver by his school dinners series in 2005.

Starting with a report from the School Meals Review Panel in 2005, the Government introduced the following elements which aimed to deliver a step change in school meals

£220 million new funding grants direct to schools and local education authorities to ensure they can transform school meals, including a minimum spend on ingredients of 50p per pupil per day for all primary schools, and 60p per pupil per day for all secondary schools, as well as providing increased training and working hours for school cooks.
£60 million from the Big Lottery Fund and the Department for Education and Skills to enable the School Food Trust http://www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/index.asp to give independent support and advice to schools and parents to improve the standard of school meals.
Tough minimum nutrition standards developed by an expert panel to be rolled out to primary and secondary schools from September 2005, and becoming mandatory from September 2006.
Enable parents to work with schools and the School Food Trust to improve the quality of their child’s school meal, with a dedicated ‘toolkit’ for parents.
Ofsted to review the quality of school meals as part of regular school inspections from September, and to perform detailed inspections with nutritionists of the nutritional content of school food in a sample of schools in every local education authority.
A vocational qualification available for school caterers to help them promote healthy food, and ensure they are high status school cooks who are as integral to the whole-school team as teachers and classroom assistants. The Learning and Skills Council will also work with the School Food Trust to develop a ladder of qualifications to meet the skills needs of all kitchen staff, from the basics of hygiene and nutrition through to more specialist preparation and cooking.
New or upgraded school kitchen facilities where fresh produce can be prepared and served has been made a priority through the current school rebuilding and refurbishment programmes. The Government is investing £5.5bn in 2005-06 rising to £6.3bn in 2007-08 to improve secondary school buildings, and at least £1.8 billion to improve primary schools in 2007-08.

In addition, the Big Lottery Fund allocated £50 million to support healthy eating projects and initiatives for children, parents and their wider communities. The local food grants work in partnership with the voluntary sector, including the School Food Trust, the Soil Association and Sustain, local authorities, schools and the Healthy Schools Programme to run the programme.

Following the confirmation in May 2006 of the final standards for school food, further measures to improve school food were announced. These were -

£240m to subsidise ingredients for healthy meals in schools from 2008 until 2011. To ensure that all schools have the money they need to continue to provide healthy meals to everyone.
Establishment of a network of Food Excellence and Skills Training centres for school cooks and caterers to improve their catering skills. Experts on cooking dishes that meet the new tough standards will train, support and mentor school cooks, including supporting them in their own school.
Plans to give every secondary school pupil an entitlement to learn to cook from 2008. All pupils who wish to will be able to take lessons on basic cookery skills allowing them to leave school with a 'licence to cook', giving them knowledge to prepare a range of healthy meals.

Further measures to improve the quality of school kitchens, including -

making capital funding available for building school kitchens where there is a need
issuing new design guidance on kitchens and dining areas (published 2007)
reinforcing kitchens as a priority in all other building guidance
a review of School Premises Regulations.
Defra-led activity supporting small and local food producers to create regional or sub-regional groups that would be invited to bid to supply school food providing
greater commitment to the Government's Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative from leaders in the education sector (and other public sectors)
a programme of activity to reconnect young people with the food chain, farming and the countryside.

2. Why should I get involved?

There are now numerous national policy strands which set out the reasons why, and the ways in which, government and local councils should aim to make a positive contribution to the diet and nutrition of children.

National Policy

a) Food & Health

Choosing Health White Paper/Choosing a Better Diet: A food and health action plan/Delivering Choosing Health

These set out the Government’s commitment to make nutrition and physical activity essential elements of the healthy schools programme (see below). They also include the government’s commitment to revise primary and secondary school meals standards and to introduce nutrient based standards and, subject to legislation, to extend new standards to cover food served in school across the day in secondary schools. The Delivering Choosing Health Paper stated that responsibility for improving nutrient standards in school meals locally lies with LEA, PCT and the School.

Nationally, Ofsted inspections include healthy eating in schools; schools are expected to measure their performance by completing a self evaluation form which is updated annually and submitted to Ofsted. The self evaluation form will be used by inspectors when inspecting schools.

Healthy Weight Healthy Lives

This strategy supports the creation of a healthy society - from early years, to schools and food, from sport and physical activity to planning, transport and the health service.

It will bring together employers, individuals and communities to promote children’s health and healthy food; build physical activity into our lives; support health at work; and provide the incentives more widely to promote health. It will also provide effective treatment and support when people become overweight or obese.

The strategy focuses on five areas:

The healthy growth and development of children
Promoting healthier food choices
Building physical activity into our lives
Creating incentives for better health
Personalised advice and support

The strategy identifies local government as having a role to play reducing obesity trends and will measure their effectiveness in terms of the national indicators.

Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: One Year On Published April 2009, this report reviews the progress on the delivery of Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives

Change for Life

Change4Life is a society-wide movement that aims to prevent people from becoming overweight by encouraging them to eat better and move more. The Change4Life campaign began on 3 January In the initial stages it is targeting young families.

Change4Life has launched a number of toolkits to help Local Supporters to engage the public and change behaviour around healthy eating and increasing physical activity. So far it has launched toolkits to tie-in with the following sub-brands: Breakfast4Life, Swim4Life, Walk4Life, Bike4Life, Play4Life, as well as a Local Supporter Toolkit.

The toolkits give ideas and information on how to engage young families with Change4Life and also on getting them eating a healthy breakfast, swimming, walking, cycling and playing.

b) Schools specific guidance

White Paper on Excellence in Schools (1997):

The White Paper on Excellence in Schools set out the Government’s intention to help all schools become ‘healthy schools’, a key part of which is the National Healthy Schools standard. The healthy schools standard requires a ‘whole school approach to health’, with a target that half of all schools will achieve the standard by 2006, and the rest working towards it by 2009. One of the four core themes of a healthy school is healthy eating, and from 2005 a school must satisfy all four core themes in order to reach the standard.

Children’s Act 2004: Section 10

The Children’s Act 2004 requires local authorities and their relevant partners to co-operate to improve children’s well being, which includes being healthy.

At the same time as the Act was passed, a green paper was issued by the Government ‘Every Child Matters’. Five intended outcomes are specified in the paper, including one to ‘be healthy’. One of the measures of healthy lifestyles is the percentage of children eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day.

Healthy Schools & Eco schools

Healthy schools is a long-term initiative that promotes the link between good health, behaviour and achievement. The Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP) is a joint initiative between DCSF and Department of Health (DH) - which promotes a whole school / whole child approach to health. The Programme has existed since 1999. It is recognised as a key delivery mechanism in the Children’s Plan (DCSF 2007) and in Healthy Weight, healthy Lives (DH 2008) – 21st Century White Paper reference.

Offering support and guidance to primary care trusts, local authorities and their schools, the scheme aims to equip children and young people with the skills and knowledge to make informed health and life choices and to reach their full potential.

More than 99% of schools nationally are now involved in the programme and over 76% of schools have achieved National Healthy School Status. This translates to around 4 million children and young people currently enjoying the benefits of attending a Healthy School.

Core themes are PSHE education, healthy eating, physical activity and emotional wellbeing.

In addition the Government in England wants every school to be sustainable by 2020. The DCSF launched their Sustainable Schools Framework in 2006 with long-term aspirations for schools to mainstream learning about sustainable development issues and sustainable practices into everyday school life.

Ecoschools is an international award programme that guides schools on their sustainable journey, providing a framework to help embed these principles into the heart of school life. It dovetails with the healthy school programme in that both have healthy eating (both at school and at home) as part of their philosophy.

c) Healthier Food Mark

In 2009/10 a new healthier food kite mark will be developed for public sector canteens that provide nutritious food and encourage healthier eating. The Government wants to support the public sector to lead the way in healthy eating by providing healthier food in their canteens. A kite mark will signal those public sector canteens that provide healthy, nutritious food to its staff and those in its care.

The new mark will be awarded to catering companies who serve the public sector if they meet certain criteria. The criteria will include:

the design of menus - providing nutritionally balanced, appetising and enjoyable menus built around choice and variety
sourcing ingredients that are lower in saturated fat, salt and added sugar
preparation and presentation of food, including portion sizes
procuring environmentally sustainable food.

Adoption of the mark will be voluntary. Its aim is to support those public sector institutions who wish to provide healthier, nutritionally balanced food.

d) In the devolved nations

Wales: Appetite for life sets out the Welsh Assembly Governments agenda for food and drink in schools.

The Appetite for Life Action Plan was developed through a consultation exercise with children and young people, detailed discussions with the Local Authority Catering Association and from lessons learned from other parts of the UK.

Scotland: The Scottish Executive has invested £63.5m over 3 years in a revitalised school meals service in Scotland . Nutritional standards have been developed for school meals and these will be enforced and monitored by performance management systems for schools. This initiative is integrated into a health promoting school approach and will create a supportive environment for healthier living (of which healthy eating is a part) in schools.

The Scottish Government has conducted a free school lunch trial for primary 1 to primary 3 (P1-P3) pupils. The trial is part of the Government's drive to improve the nation's health and encourage good eating habits from a young age. For a full report

e) Guidance from professional bodies

Whilst providing a policy setting for improving healthy eating amongst children, these central government policies and associated guidance rarely (if at all) recognise a role for Environmental Health or Trading Standards. However, statements issued by Trading Standards Institute (TSI) and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) both show the contribution made by their members to the healthy eating agenda.

a) In their document ‘Making the Connection’ TSI recognise that food safety enforcement can contribute to public health targets on cancer, coronary heart disease and like expectancy.

b) In "Environmental Health - 2012 - A Key Partner in Delivering the Public Health Agenda", a joint publication by CIEH and Health Development Agency, a strategic vision for its contribution to health development and well being is outlined. The document states that ‘the environmental health contribution to public health and health improvement will span quality and availability of safe and nutritious food supplies and support for local food production. To facilitate healthy decisions, environmental health practices will support steps to improve availability and access to healthy food.

Local Policy

National Indicators and Local Authority Agreements

Local authorities are required to work together with other local services, such as police, health services, those involved in skills or economic development and third sector groups in a strategic partnership, is an important means of meeting the council's 'place shaping’ role. Local Area Agreements (LAA) began in 2004 and contain the strategic partnerships ambitions for the area set out in a formal agreement.

The Government has produced a list of 198 national indicators designed to measure progress on national priorities where they are delivered by local councils acting alone or in partnership through their LAA. Each strategic partnership must negotiate up to 35 targets for its LAA from this list (plus 16 statutory early years and school attainment targets).

Many LAAs include ambitions around childhood obesity levels and all must include Nis relating to children’s health & education. As such work with schools on healthy food fits neatly into current local priorities.

3. What action can I take?

The following table sets out how work by Councils can help meet the relevant National Indicator and how you can take action on this issue. Food Vision believes that regulatory services (environmental health and trading standards food officers) are in an ideal position to work with schools to contribute to childhood obesity targets in a number of ways including those below:

National Indicator	How EH & TS can contribute?	Case study
NI55:Primary school age children in reception.	Working with schools and healthy school coordinators to support education on safe and healthy eating.	Stratford on Avon District Council and Warwick District Council’s Food Hygiene Schools Theatre
NI 56:Obesity in Primary school children in year 6	Working in partnership to ensure all work on food is safe and compliant with UK food law e.g. food hygiene training for school cooking clubs	Bristol Food Champion Award winner (community food and nutrition) Food Safety Team contribution to the Cooking from Scratch Project

Other areas where Food Vision believes EH & TS might work to help improve school food:

Theme	Issue	Case Study
Monitoring the school meals contract	Food Standards officers can take samples of food supplied to schools carries out analysis and microbiological examination. The results are then fed back to the supplier and used as a method to monitor compliance with the contract.	Kent Trading Standards worked with the Council’s Education and Libraries Service and Kent Scientific Services (KSS) to examine the nutritional standards of school meals in the County’s primary schools.
Monitoring the nutritional value and / or microbiological safety of foods provided by a school or parents.	Carried out by sampling. As well as sampling against minimum nutrition standards criteria or against other criteria set by the authority (for example presence of GM ingredients, ‘localness’ of meat, presence of allergens) and against microbiological criteria.	West Sussex County Council Trading Standards undertook a nutritional analysis of school lunch boxes, which were provided by the Council to primary school children instead of a cooked meal. Oxfordshire Trading Standards devised and used checklists based on the school meal standards in the 2000 regulations. Officers visited schools to complete the checklists and also took samples for nutritional analysis and composition. The results were passed to the school and to County Facilities Management (school meals provider).
Provide healthy eating and food safety messages to pupils;	Encourage pupils to help make healthy choices themselves and improve their food safety awareness when preparing foods. Information could be provided on reading food labels, hand washing, ‘5 a day’, foods as a source of vitamins and minerals etc.	Bristol City Council’s (FSA National Food Champion Award winner for community food and nutrition) Food Safety Team contribution to the Cooking from Scratch Project Trading Standards East Midlands ‘Check the Label’ campaign
Improving school food in your local area	Helping LEA provide healthier school food and healthy eating messages in school environment	The FSA has a number of resources aimed at children, which can be used to promote healthy eating including quizzes, games, Dish it Up! CD Rom and materials for Eat Smart, Play Smart and Five a day the Bash Street Way. Kent County Council run a number of events in Schools to promote healthy eating in a fun way.
Helping the caterer plan a nutritionally balanced menu/ helping pupils choose healthier meals	Computer software programmes are available which help caterers and pupils assess their meal choices. Sampling could also be used to analyse proposed menu changes before they take place, or a menu planning checklist could be devised to ensure that the regulations are being complied with.	Durham Trading Standards Café Life Project, aspires to educate children on how to choose healthy eating options in a fun way.
Improving the food at different stages of the school day	School lunches are only one part of the day. Consider the food provided at breakfast clubs, tuck shops, vending machines, the availability of fresh water or lunchboxes.	This project, delivered through the Kids Club Network, based at various locations throughout East Ayrshire is targeted at primary school aged children and includes: Provision of healthy snacks for children attending the Kids Clubs on a rotational basis. The Tasty Tuck Award is an initiative focusing primarily on Oral Health Promotion through promoting healthy snacks and drinks for consumption by children within Primary and Special Schools across Halton, Chester and Ellesmere Port.
Encouraging sustainability in school foods	This may include introducing more organic foods or foods from local producers.	Hampshire County Council have worked with school food supplier 3663 to secure a free range egg supply that comes 100% from the local area, food miles were reduced significantly.

Organisations and People you might wish to contact and involve in a school meals project.

Head Teachers
School Governors. The FSA has produced a strategic policy framework for governing bodies regarding food issues in schools. The framework leads governors step by step through actions they can take to encourage their school to adopt a whole school approach to food and nutrition.
Parents (Non Governors). The School food trusts site has advice for parents on how they can help their own food provision to be healthier but also how they can get involved ay school.
Pupils through, events; Taster sessions, via Consultation and feedback – using the school council where one exists and possibly, healthy recipe competitions (winners could be added to the school menu), Pupil run healthy tuck shops .
School Caterers. Guidance is available for caterers on how to meet the nutritional standards (see resources section).
Local Health Professionals – Dieticians, 5 a day co-ordinators, health improvement personnel, oral hygienist.
Local authority education department
School Nutrition Action Groups (SNAGs). These are school based alliances in which staff, pupils and caterers, supported by health and education professionals work together to review and expand the range of food and drink to increase the uptake of a healthier diet and ensure consistent messages from the curriculum and food service.
Your regional Healthy Schools coordinator (based in regional government office)
Public Analyst (if samples are to be taken)
School Food Trust There is advice for all these groups on the school food trust website.

Local government: powers to get involved.

Local Government Act 2000:

The Local Government Act 2000 introduced powers for local government in England and Wales to do anything they consider likely to improve the economic, social or environmental well-being of their area. These powers could be relevant in connection with a wide range of food related health initiatives including those related to school food.

Health and Social Care Act 2001:

Gives English authorities with responsibility for social services, the power to make reports and recommendations on matters related to the local health service.

4. Where can I find further information and inspiration?

The following links take you sources of information which will help develop policies, practices and projects to help improve food in schools.

a) DfES publications

Report of the School Meals Review Panel:
Guidance to caterers on the compulsory nutritional standards for school lunches which came into effect on 1 April 2001:

For nursery school lunches
– introduction and downloadable "Healthy School Lunches" school caterers guidance document.

For secondary school lunches
– introduction and downloadable "Healthy School Lunches" school caterers guidance document.

A copy of the report ‘School Meals in Secondary Schools in England’ – produced in conjunction with the Food Standards Agency

Food in Schools: A short guide for parents and carers

b) Food Standards Agency

Food Standards Agency, Information on school based food initiatives, including Cook It! and ‘Five a Day the Bash Street Way’

Information for school governors about how to encourage their school to adopt a whole school approach to food and nutrition. It also details individual policy areas such as breakfast clubs, tuck shops and school lunches

A practical guide to planning and running a school fruit tuck shop

c) Sustainability

Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative (PSFPI)
PSFPI aims to procure food in a manner that promotes sustainable development and removes barriers to small and local suppliers' in order to raise farming standards, encourage more tenders from small local producers, demand healthy food, reduce environmental impacts and remove barriers to supply.
For schools, the PSFPI provides: Material for raising awareness, guidance on procuring more sustainable food, links to useful information on helping caterers sourcing and cooking local seasonal food, tools such as the Catering and Food Procurement Toolkit and case studies to promote best practice.

Soil Association: Food for Life Partnership
The Food for Life Partnership is a network of schools and communities across England committed to transforming food culture. It helps schools create a healthy food culture and also runs the food for life awards. It aims for schools which serve meals made from fresh, seasonal, local and organic ingredients and teach young people about where food comes from through practical education like cooking, growing and farms visits.

d) Others

Curriculum pack with activities and resources:
http://www.farmtrails.org.uk/fflcurrpack

The Caroline Walker Trust: Nutrient based standards for school food:
http://www.cwt.org.uk/publications.html#school

Teachernet website contains some useful information on food throughout the school day, as well as case studies from schools who have done work in this area.

5 a Day: This school fruit and vegetable scheme is part of the Government 5 a day programme to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Under the Scheme, all four to six year old children in LEA maintained infant, primary and special schools are entitled to a free piece of fruit or vegetable each school day.

Health Education Trust: Independent National Database of Information on Catering Excellence in Schools

School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) web pages. Includes a newsletter with examples of SNAG successes and failures.

Order a copy of ‘The Chips are Down’ from the Health Education Trust– a comprehensive guide to food policy in schools

Sustain’s ‘Grab 5’ initiative is a project which encourages primary school pupils to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. The site contains many useful resources which are available to download, including; A model school food policy; Setting up a fruit tuck shop

Water in schools
www.wateriscoolinschools.org.uk

Chew on This – a website from the Food Commission for 11-14 year olds which explains how food is produced and it’s affects on health

Starting and maintaining an organic food garden – a website for schools from Garden Organic (The Henry Doubleday Research Association)

Heart of England fine foods (HEFF) has created ‘Meaty Meals’ - a cook book full of ideas for using cheaper cuts of meat for school meals. This book for all primary and secondary schools is available for download.

National Audit office publication: Smarter food procurement in the public sector includes a chapter on more sustainable procurement.

This toolkit was updated January 2010 to reflect the radically different school food environment which exists since Food Vision first wrote a ‘Food in Schools’ toolkit in 2004.

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