Too Cool For School

Oh dear. I’ve just seen something. And now I need to sit down. Be warned — it’s unpleasant. And a reminder that we need to do something about the way we feed our children. Have a look. Which is why today is such a big day. It sees the publication of a plan that will, hopefully, start to improve the quality of many children’s lives. Henry and John from Leon have been working with teachers, heads, cooks, caterers, parents, children and government (plus British Street Food, of course, but now’s not the time) to determine how to increase the number of children eating good food in schools and to define the role of food more broadly in school life. The plan is designed to increase the quality and take up of school meals and to divert some of the £1bn parents spend on packed lunches back into schools. They also want every school to develop a strong food culture that will inspire a love of good food in children (hence the street food link, but See Above), boost both their academic performance and help them to lead healthy lives. Despite a huge improvement in quality, take-up of school food remains stubbornly low across the country. It has recently risen from a low of 38% to 43%, but the majority of children either bring in a packed lunch (which are almost always less nutritious than a cooked meal) or buy something outside school (most often junk food). This matters because it means that not enough children are eating well and not enough money is going into the system to ensure that it can provide great food and pay its way. The Plan contains 16 actions to transform what children eat at school and how they learn about food.  They include:

• A £16.1 million injection of cash from the Department for Education over the next two years. This includes £11.8 million to help schools to increase take-up of meals, and £3.15 million to ensure healthy breakfasts are available for thousands of children who arrive at school hungry.
• A practical checklist for head teachers, listing the most important things they or their team can do to that can make a big difference to take-up and food culture in schools. They are designed to be pinned up in the head’s office and the kitchen.
• Suggested actions include:
  • Lowering the price of school meals – consider subsidising school meals for your reception and year 7 classes for the first term, or offer discounts for parents of multiple children or those whose children eat a school lunch every day;
  • Teachers should be encouraged to eat with the children in the dining hall;Have a stay-on-site rule for break and lunch time;
  • Have a cashless payment system to shorten queuing times and prevent free school meal children from being stigmatised;
  • Offer after school cooking lessons for parents with their children;
  • Make sure packed lunches are not more exciting than school lunches. Ban sugary drinks, crisps and confectionery, or offer prizes and other incentives for bringing in a healthy lunch. Or ban packed lunches altogether (it can be done!);
  • Watch what gets served at mid-morning break. Many children eat their main meal at this time which too often means filling up on pizza, panini or cake.

Street food can help link children with the food they’re eating. And get them excited about it. But it’s about more than packaging. This is only the beginning of the journey. Please keep visiting www.britishstreetfood.co.uk and www.schoolfoodplan.com to follow developments. Do you reckon this is one we can win?