How spotlight on health and nutrition improves children's eating habits
Jo Stephenson
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Whole-school nutrition programme boosts the number of pupils eating their five fruit and veg a day.
Project: Food for Life Partnership
Purpose: To improve the quality of school food and improve understanding of nutrition and healthy eating
Funding: Mainly via local authority public health teams. Most recently the initiative won a Big Lottery Fund grant of £1.8m a year for two years to expand the approach to other settings including hospitals and nurseries
Background: Research carried out by the Soil Association in 2007 raised concerns about the quality of school food, low take up of school meals and children's understanding of food. The organisation went on to team up with three other charities - Garden Organic, Focus on Food and the Health Education Trust - to develop a holistic programme that would not only improve school meals but transform the whole school experience.
Action: The programme, which involves training and support for school staff, was initially piloted in 200 primary and secondary schools. "If you work directly with children, you have to teach the same things every year," explains director Libby Grundy. "So we work with teachers and caterers to ensure change is sustainable. When they see the improvement from more children eating good food, they are keen to continue the work."
The initiative fosters a "whole school approach" and has four key strands. The first is "food leadership" with head teachers and staff championing the importance of quality food. Schools form Nutrition Action Groups made up of teachers, pupils, parents and caterers to devise a food policy. Food quality is another element, with schools encouraged to use more locally sourced fresh food and devise healthy, nutritious menus and to aim for an accredited Food for Life Catering Mark.
The third element is food education with an emphasis on children learning about food, including how to grow their own, where food comes from through farm visits, and how to prepare and cook food. Where schools have limited space or facilities, they may need to be creative such as using school kitchens to cook food prepared elsewhere. "You can grow food in the tiniest of spaces," adds Grundy. "It's important children experience the thrill of being able to grow something and eat it for their lunch even if it is just mustard and cress." Food education ought to be embedded into the curriculum and can be slotted into any number of subjects including history, geography and science, she adds.
Finally, schools are encouraged to work in partnership with other organisations and engage parents and the wider community with events like farmers' markets and roast dinner day where families are invited to eat a school meal. "A lot of people think school food must be like the food they had when they were young and often assume school food is bad," says Grundy. "But it is a lot better now."
Schools work towards bronze, silver and gold awards, and are encouraged to share good practice with others and establish local networks for school caterers so they can share recipes, information about suppliers and tips. Involving caterers is vital to the scheme's success, says Grundy, as is involving children and ensuring their opinions are heard and acted on. "Children do have a perspective on food and often are not as fussy as you might think," says Grundy.
Outcome: The initiative has been the focus of several major independent evaluations including one by the University of the West of England and Cardiff University, published in 2011. This found the programme had led to healthier eating habits among primary school-aged children, with a 30 per cent increase in the number eating four or more portions of fruit or vegetables per day and a 28 per cent increase in the proportion eating five portions.
Forty-five per cent of parents also reported eating more fruit and veg, while 43 per cent said they had changed their food-buying habits.
There was evidence the programme had boosted take-up of free school meals with an average increase of 13 percentage points over two years in participating schools. Secondary schools saw a 20.9 per cent increase in take-up.
Food for Life schools also saw a greater increase in pupil educational attainment compared to the national average.
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