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Background – The National Picture

School meals funding was the biggest single item delegated to secondary schools during the second phase of the government’s fair funding initiative in 2000.  Primary and Special schools can opt for delegation. Where a school has a delegated budget for meals, the governing body take on a responsibility for the provision. Clearly in some schools where meal provision was not seen as a priority, nutritional standards had declined and choice was limited (Storey et al 2005)

Following concern about quality of children’s diets and the contribution of school meals, Statutory National Nutritional Standards were reintroduced in April 2001. These standards set out the frequency with which school caterers must provide items from the main food groups (starchy foods, milk and dairy, fruit and vegetable, meat, fish and alternative sources of protein). They apply to all maintained schools in England. 

Evidence suggests that these food based standards were not working    partly because they were neither based on nutrients nor adequately monitored. (Food for Life Action Pack October 2003)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Department for Education and Skills (DfES) commissioned research which confirmed these concerns. One study in secondary schools showed that the majority of children were not making healthy food choices.  Moreover practices in the dining room intended to promote healthy eating had little positive influence on pupil’s choices.

(Nelson et al: 2004)

A further study by DfES carried out in 2003/2004, which examined nursery, infant and primary schools highlighted a number of key factors that impeded effective food and nutrition education in a significant proportion of the settings visited:

·        In the schools, there was rarely a coherent programme of food and nutrition education that built children’s knowledge and understanding of healthy eating in a planned and systematic way.  As a result children’s knowledge of food and nutrition was generally poor and what they learned had very little impact on what they chose to eat and drink, even though they had the opportunity to select from a range of options.

·        Teachers and others involved in food and nutrition education lacked accurate and up-to-date nutrition knowledge and the skills they needed to teach children how to prepare and cook food.

·        The meals provided in most of the schools did not complement sufficiently the healthy eating messages that the teaching sought to convey (DfES, FSA 2004).

Clearly there were concerns about the quality and health issues relating to food provision in schools.  These concerns were set against a background of further concerns about the rapid rise in obesity and associated health risks to the population,  particularly in relation to children and young people.

Food and academic achievement

Many studies have attempted to examine the link between nutritional standards and academic attainment. Several studies have shown that children eating breakfast can improve their academic performance both in the short and long-term. These seem to be most important in children who already suffer from malnutrition. However, on a physiological level we know that children distracted by hunger or low-energy levels may find it hard to maintain attention in order to learn.  (Changing Diets, Changing Minds report, Sustain 2005)

Choosing Health commitments

Children spend on average a quarter of their waking lives in school. The school environment, attitudes of staff and other pupils, as well as what children learn in the classroom, have a major influence on the development of their knowledge and understanding of health. Action to encourage people to eat more healthily, and especially to protect children from unhealthy choices, is set out in Choosing Health and Choosing a Better Diet.(Department of Health 2004)

Choosing Health sets out an action plan to ensure children and young people are supported to choose a healthy lifestyle. An integrated approach will see the benefits of good nutrition taught in the classroom, whilst healthier choices are available at lunch and breaktimes. Outside of school, there will be restrictions on the promotion of less healthy foods to children. In terms of action on nutrition, that means all schools need to be supported in:

·        delivering clear and consistent messages about nutrition and healthy eating;

·        providing opportunities to learn about diet, nutrition, food safety and hygiene, food preparation and cooking as well as where food comes from; and

·        actively promoting healthy food and drink as part of an enjoyable and balanced diet and restrict the availability and promotion of other options.

The Caroline Walker Trust (CWT)

The CWT was set up in 1987 to improve Public Health through good food. It produced its first Expert Report Nutritional Guidelines for School Meals in 1992 and this has been widely used as the definitive document for nutrient- based standards for school meals. To date these standards have not been made statutory in England.

A new, updated report on Nutrient based standards for school food was produced by the CWT and the National Heart Forum in Autumn 2005.

 Further information including this report can be found on the website www.cwt.org.uk

 The local situation

Against this background, concern was expressed locally from a number of quarters – health professionals, local authority staff, parents/ carers etc about the quality of school meals and the general approach to food issues in schools.

Other local initiatives were also moving forward. The Education, Youth, Culture and Leisure (EYCL) Overview and Scrutiny panel began undertaking a review of primary school meals in Bath and North East Somerset in March 2005  

The Bath and North East Somerset  Food for Life Project Group was convened for the first time in September 2004 and in December 2004 a group of concerned local parents published a report into School Meals in Bath and North East Somerset (Hanney et al 2004). This group is now known as “Get Real School Meals” . This group strongly lobbied Overview and Scrutiny in terms of changes relating to ‘local’ and ‘organic’ food.

Background to National Food for Life project

The Soil Association developed the National Food for Life Project. In 2002, Jeanette Orrey, now the Soil Association’s school meals policy advisor, got together with two other experts interested in nutrition and local farming to discuss how school meals could be improved. Together with the Soil Association they devised and piloted the first Food for Life projects. The findings, along with other extensive research into school dinners, were written up into the Food for Life report and published in October 2003. The report highlighted concerns and the Soil Association began its lobby on Government for changes to the school meal service whilst working with a variety of schools, councils and individuals to develop the Food for Life programme and implement its targets.

Food for Life’s policy work called for more money to be invested, the development of quantified nutritional standards and to have school meals covered by every school’s Ofsted inspection. It continues to push for change at National Government level as well as offering information and practical support for school communities, councils and caterers who wish to improve their catering arrangements, and work towards the Food for Life targets using a 'whole school' approach.

This programme encourages schools to follow targets that meet the nutritional needs of children, providing fresh ingredients from the local area with a preference for organic produce where possible. Menu development is encouraged to help keep processed food to a minimum, ensuring that plenty of fresh, nutritious food is used and that salt, sugar, harmful additives and hydrogenated fats are excluded.

The National Food for Life targets:

·        School lunches should aim to provide food that meets the nutrition targets set by the Caroline Walker Trust

·        At least 75% of all foods consumed (over a week) made from unprocessed ingredients

·        At least 50% of meal ingredients sourced from the local region

·        At least 30% of food served should be from certified organic sources

·        Better classroom education on food and sustainable food production, ensuring that all children visit a farm at least once during their time at school

The ‘whole school approach’ to food is crucial in working towards the targets and making Food for Life a success. This is achieved by involving all members of the school community, pupils, teachers, catering staff, parents and governors in creating a culture of valuing, enjoying and learning about and understanding food, as a fully integrated part of school life. By putting the school at the centre of community activity and taking up opportunities to revitalise a food culture, bridges between rural and urban communities can be built.

Through classroom activities, farm visits, growing projects, cooking classes, healthy eating lessons and initiatives and a pleasant dining environment, children can appreciate food and understand the links between what they eat and the world in which they live.  

Further information about Food for Life can be found at www.foodforlifeuk.org

Background to the Bath and North East Somerset Food for Life Project

Bristol City Council and Bath and North East Somerset Council are linked by the procurement of food and have worked closely together since the County of Avon was replaced by four Unitary Authorities.   Both Authorities are committed to improving the quality of the food and the menu choices that Catering Services provide for the health and wellbeing of children.  A steering group was set up by Bristol City Council in the Spring/Summer of 2004 and Sue Eades the Service Team Manager for Catering at Bath and North East Somerset Council was invited to join the group. 

The inaugural Meeting of Bath and North East Somerset Food for Life steering group was held in September 2004 and involved a local Councillor, Commercial services, Food and Trading Standards, the PCT,  Envolve and local suppliers.  Having agreed that Bath and North East Somerset wished to move forward with a Food for Life Project, the objectives of the working group were agreed to be:

a)  Determine the entry criteria for schools in Bath and North East Somerset   

     seeking to pilot Food for Life.

b)     Consider the Future Management of the Food for Life scheme with a view to making recommendations about the future sourcing and preparation of school meals in .Bath and North East Somerset

At this time Bristol City Council had already embarked on a Food for Life pilot with National Food for Life targets.  

All schools receiving their catering from Commercial Services were invited to apply and those chosen committed to promoting a whole school approach to food. This is a significant aspect of the Food for Life project. Participating schools undertook to:

• Provide written commitment by the Head Teachers and their heads of kitchen.

• Actively promote the pilot scheme to parents, carers, and children, to increase the uptake of school meals.

• Meet the cost of any changes (estimated at 13p per meal) either by increasing the uptake (i.e., the number of paid school meals) or otherwise, as determined by the Head Teacher/Governors.

• Form a school nutrition action group (SNAG) ideally comprising a school governor, a teacher, the head of kitchen, a parent and a pupil.

• Join the National School Fruit and Vegetable scheme for Key Stage 1

• Promote the 5-a-day national initiative to eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day

• Participate in the Farm Link scheme

Within Bath and North East Somerset it was recognised that a key aim of the scheme would be to focus on healthy eating and this would be a priority throughout the project.

 Information and Data analysis

As the project progressed a number of partners committed to gathering information and data to assist with monitoring the project.

• The Food and Trading Standards team sampled 10 meals from 2 schools over a 6 month period for a comparison of fat, salt and sugar content.
• Major suppliers A David & Co and Charles Saunders & Co provided a food ordering audit check for the three months prior to the project and during the project so that changes could be identified - particularly in respect of moving from processed to unprocessed foods.
• Monitoring of waste and meal uptake by commercial services.

Nine schools were eventually accepted on to the pilot which was launched on 21 February 2005 at Bathwick St Mary CE Primary, Bath and Fosseway School, Midsomer Norton.

The nine schools who participated in the pilot were:

Bathwick St Mary CE Primary

Bathford Primary

Bathampton Primary

Fosseway School

Oldfield Park Junior

Saltford CE Primary

St Saviours CE Primary Junior

Swainswick Primary

St Stephens CE Primary

The pilot has involved schools with an attendance roll of 1807.

It had been hoped to include a Secondary school and a school with 20% or more free school meals but this was not possible as some of the schools felt unable to commit to the entry criteria.

The National Healthy School Programme and Food for Life

Bath and North East Somerset have been involved in a nationally accredited ‘Schools for Health’ scheme since 1999, with over 80% of schools taking part.

The National Healthy School Programme was re-launched in September 2005 and the local programme is now known as Bath and North East Somerset Healthy Schools Programme.

52 of the 81 schools in the authority immediately signed up into one of two ‘Phases’ that will be working towards National Status by October 2006. This is a good indication of the willingness of local schools to engage in a programme that promotes health in its broadest sense, using a whole school approach.

The national programme has the following strategic aims:

• To support children and young people in developing healthy behaviours
• To help raise pupil achievement
• To help to reduce health inequalities
• To help promote social inclusion

The programme requires schools to produce rigorous evidence within four criteria:

• Personal, Social and Health Education including sex and relationships education and drug education (including alcohol, tobacco and volatile substance abuse)
• Healthy Eating
• Physical Activity
• Emotional Health and well-being (including bullying)

In order to gain Healthy School Status, a school must meet all the minimum evidence requirements across all four key criteria as laid out in the national guidance – National Healthy School Status – a guide for schools.  Details of this can be found at www.wiredforhealth.gov.uk

The Every Child Matters, Change for Children white paper requires schools to demonstrate how they meet the five outcomes for children. Schools can use the Healthy School Programme as an indicator of how they meet the ‘Being Healthy’ outcome as well as contributing towards ‘Staying Safe’, ‘Make a positive contribution’ and ‘Enjoy and achieve’. Achieving Healthy School status contributes significantly to the school self evaluation form and provides rigorous evidence for OFSTED inspections.

The Food for Life pilot has clear links with National Healthy School Status, particularly in the Healthy Eating criteria outlined below, as well as contributing towards national targets such as the Public Service Agreement target to “halt the year on year rise in obesity among children aged under 11 by 2010 in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole”. 

The main differences between the two projects are that the Healthy Schools Healthy Eating criteria covers all food and drink taken during the whole school day, including water provision, breakfast clubs, tuck shops and lunch boxes, but excludes school meals that are provided by Commercial Services whereas the Food for Life project looks more specifically at mid day school meal provision working in close association with school meals services. The two projects together encourage a whole school approach and therefore ensure high quality food and drink is accessible to all members of the school community throughout the day.

Newsletters

Coinciding with the launch a newsletter was produced by the steering group and together with copies of the new Food for Life menus (which were developed by Commercial Services) were circulated to all children and families attending the Food for Life schools (1600 copies). Throughout the pilot, three newsletters have been issued which are included at Appendix 1

Overview and Scrutiny Review (Education, Youth, Culture & Leisure)

Bath and North East Somerset’s Education, Youth, Culture and Leisure Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Panel were undertaking a review of the Primary School Meals Service and the Councillors sampled some meals in various Schools.   The O&S decided to hold a Contributors Day on the 13^th April 2005 and sent a questionnaire to all Schools asking for their views on the Primary School Meal Service. Heather Baker, Sue Tugwell and Jane Weeks,  Cooks in Charge of production kitchens were invited to talk and answer questions about the new menu, quality of the food and their concerns about staffing hours and training.   Heather, Sue and Jane all spoke extremely well and said that they felt very proud of their jobs and that they were not “dinner ladies”. The Food for Life Steering Group were also invited to speak to the panel about the pilot project on 13 April 2005. Although the Food for Life Project was in its infancy, representatives of the Steering group attended and gave evidence as a presentation to the panel.

Nutrition Training Session for School Caterers

A nutrition training session took place in January 2005 for kitchen staff of Food for Life schools.  11 staff attended from the five production kitchens of the nine pilot schools. The course took place over half a day on one of the staff cleaning days.

The course was developed locally by the health promotion specialists responsible for Food and Health in Bath & North-East Somerset and in Bristol.

The course objectives were as follows:

·        To develop an understanding of the food model Balance of Good Health

·        To explore current issues in child nutrition

·        To raise awareness of nutritional issues for young people

·        To provide information on how simple changes can bring a diet in line with healthy eating advice

·        To develop an understanding of barriers to healthy eating through case histories

·        To raise awareness of a whole school approach to food and health

Specific issues arose included managing the expectations of staff, pupils, parents/carers and teachers around ‘What is healthier catering?’ In addition to examining food groups the participants reviewed portion sizes, food labelling, and the salt and sugar contents of processed foods.

Results from the evaluation of this short course can be seen in Appendix 2

 Visits to an organic farm

In order to make Food for Life a success, catering staff and children need to be involved in the work. 

The catering staff prepare, cook and serve the food to the children and therefore play an important role in encouraging them to try new dishes. The children have to recognise and accept any changes to the school meals and therefore they have to have a good understanding about their food, where it comes from and what it is.

To this end the Soil Association organised visits to an organic farm for cooks and School Nutrition Action Groups. SNAGs can help involve children with food and thus improve their understanding and appreciation of it. The Soil Association were successful in obtaining funding to run these visits and took the groups to Farrington’s, a farm in Farrington Gurney in Bath and North East Somerset who are keen on supplying their organic vegetables into the council’s school meals service. The cooks visited in September and two visits (to accommodate all attendees) took place for the SNAG groups in February. The days ran from 10am until 3pm.

i) School Catering Staff

Turnover in catering staff can be high. Food for Life has shown that catering staff who feel valued and part of the school community are more likely to remain motivated and stay for longer in their jobs. It was therefore important to involve them in the Food for Life pilot and ensure that they were clear about its purpose and how crucial their role was.

The purpose was to engage catering staff through ‘experiential learning’ in order to help them in their understanding and delivery of the Food for Life targets. The issues were:

·        local produce,

·        organic,

·        seasonality,

·        farming/vegetable growing;

The day was set in the context of their school meals and allowed the cooks to hear from the farmers about why they want to supply their produce into the school meal service.

Farrington’s grow vegetables and have a farm shop selling local and organic food. The visit included:

·        a trip round the growing areas with details of organic growing

·        tasting vegetables from the fields

·        tasting of vegetable dishes designed to appeal to children and a discussion of menus which could be prepared to include vegetables that they had seen and tasted during the day as well as other local produce.

There was plenty of time throughout for questions and discussion.

16 catering staff attended from six of the participating schools.  They all benefited from the day and enjoyed the experience.

Examples of the feedback received can be seen in Appendix 3 (Catering staff visit to Farrington Farm) 

ii) School Nutrition Action Groups

SNAGs can play a crucial role in engaging children with food by taking a lead in the development of a school food policy and helping to implement some of the key actions identified. They are also important in delivering the DH/DfES Healthy Schools Initiative that tie in with Food for Life.

Tailored farm visits to Farrington’s, were offered for up to four SNAG members from the Food for Life pilot schools. The purpose was similar to that of the cooks’ visit with the additional opportunity to:

·        link with a farm for future school visits

·        identify opportunities for curriculum links with food and farming

·        hear from the farmers about why it is important to supply their food to schools

·        gain inspiration for drawing up a whole school food policy

·        network with other schools in the pilot to share ideas and experiences

·        plan food related activities for their school

Time was built in for discussion and questions.

25 people attended the two visits including four pupil SNAG representatives. Despite the vegetable growing area not being very productive in February (and extremely cold!) there was still enough to be of interest and highlighted how growing on even a relatively small scale requires year-round commitment and dedication. It was also useful to see how much more complex it is to grow a wide variety of fruit and vegetables instead of large field-scale, single crop production.  Discussions around what can be done to overcome the less productive times of year were also informative.

Everyone attending enjoyed the day and came away with a greater appreciation of what is involved and the importance of supporting local farmers. They found the networking with other schools who have been on the pilot and opportunities to learn from each other extremely beneficial.

They were also keen that a cross section of council employees and members should also experience the visit.

Examples of the feedback received can be seen in Appendix 4 (SNAG visits to Farringtons Farm)

National Food Safety Week 13-19 June 2005

Six of the pilot schools received a Theatre in Education performance during National Food Safety week. “Captain Cholesterol and the Grannies from Mars” explored health, nutrition and food safety issues in a fun and exciting performance.

Progression of the project

The main steering group continued to meet at regular intervals throughout the project. However it was recognised that evaluation and education issues required more in-depth consideration and to this end a sub-committee was set up. This group met during the latter 6 months of the project enabling these issues to be addressed as the project progressed. Envolve were able to gain funding from the council’s corporate sustainability team to enhance the work of the Food for Life Project by delivering educational programmes alongside the menu changes and whole school approach which the project had encouraged.

It was decided that the evaluation would take the form of a series of road shows to each of the schools where staff, children, parents and carers would have the opportunity to visit a range of stalls and  activities on a food and sustainability theme. The project workers would be able to carry out a qualitative evaluation of the project. This would complement the empirical data gathered throughout the pilot on such issues as uptake, wastage, ordering and food sampling etc.

Food Standards Agency Consultation

UK Target Nutrient Specifications for Manufactured Products used in school Meals.

The FSA consulted in the Autumn of 2005 on target maximum and minimum values for a range of nutrients in manufactured products used in school meals.

A response to this consultation was sent on behalf of the Steering Group.

Sampling by Trading Standards Service

The Food and Trading Standards Service undertook to sample 10 meals from 2 schools over a 6 month period for a comparison of fat, salt and sugar content. These samples were submitted to the Scientific Services Department, Bristol for analysis...

Each of the schools were visited on week 3 of the menu. Samples were taken of an average plated main course meal. These were frozen and collected and delivered to the public analyst in October 2005.

Concerns were raised by the Public Analyst regarding seven meals where the salt content would contribute more than half of the maximum daily consumption... The daily recommended maximum intake of salt for a child aged 7-10 years is 5g (Food Standards Agency).

The guidelines from the Caroline Walker Trust suggest that no more than 30% of daily energy needs should be provided by the school meal.  

At the time of the sampling there were a number of concerns regarding menus. This was highlighted at both kitchens from which samples were taken. When asked to produce recipes for the new menus, both kitchens did not have complete recipes. They were relying on ex-Avon recipe books to obtain modified recipes. It was apparent that problems were being caused by a lack of oven space for home made products. Descriptions on menus did not reflect foods used i.e. ‘local’ produced potatoes which were sourced from Market Drayton near Heathrow. Cooks had to improvise on occasions when ingredients were not readily available.

Classroom Based and Whole School Education Programme

With the menu changes in place and training for school meals staff ongoing the programme of whole school education began in September 2005.  As outlined previously a programme of whole school education was central to the success of the national Food for Life programme and the BANES Food for Life programme wished to follow that whole school model.

Key Elements of the Education Programme

A programme of inputs was drawn up by the Food for Life Education Officer in collaboration with the culture group.  The programme was intended as a ‘menu’ offered to all the nine pilot schools that could then choose the elements that were most suitable for their individual school.  The schools were offered:

• Classroom workshops on the themes of:
  •  The Food Groups and Balanced Meals
  •  Healthy Lunchboxes
  •  Where our Food Comes From – Food and Farming
  • Global Food- Food Miles and Fair Trade
  • Food Packaging and Recycling’
  • Eating with the Seasons – local food and seasonality

• Food for Life assemblies
• Cookery Sessions – classroom based
• Recipe challenges – working as a whole school to create a school recipe book
• Family cookery sessions – after school
• Food for Life road shows
• Staff meeting inputs and inservice training
• Inputs into SNAG group meetings and school council meetings

The rationale for the education programme was:

• To reinforce the ‘healthy eating’ focus of the BANES Food for Life Project
• To give schools the opportunity to explore some of the sustainability issues around food, linked to the aims of the project in increasing local, organic fresh ingredients in school meals.
• To involve the whole school community (ie. students, parents, teaching staff, teaching support staff, governors, school meals staff).
• To give teaching staff the support and input needed to continue food based work in the curriculum after the project had ended.
• To provide as many opportunities as possible for active learning

Delivery of the Education Programme

1.  An initial meeting was arranged by the Food for Life Education officer with the head teacher /designated member of staff of each of the pilot schools.  At these meetings an overview of the education programme was given. The best way to implement the programme for that individual school was then decided on and further meetings arranged.

      The initial meeting was also attended by the Healthy Schools Coordinator.  This meant that the Food for Life education programme could be set in the context of the Healthy Schools programme for that school.  SNAG Groups were also highlighted at the initial meeting and sources of support for these were given.

2.      Further meetings with whole staff and individual class teachers than allowed the Food for Life work to be timetabled for the school.  After this point the delivery was tailored to the individual needs of the school.

Differing Models of School Based Delivery – Tailoring the Programme

Individual school had different requirements regarding the timing and delivery of the programme.  Three main models emerged for the delivery of the education programme. These are outlined below:

Model A

·        Classroom sessions delivered over a period of time as an addition to current curriculum

Model B

·        Food for Life workshops integrated into curriculum to augment lessons that were scheduled to take place in any case.

Model C

Whole school taken off curriculum for special ‘Food For Life’ week.  All activities in this week linked to food for life themes and workshops run by Food for Life Education Officer backed up by all other work done by school staff in that week