School Food and Health: Whats Happening

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School Food and Health Whats Happening

• Catherine Goodridge
• Regional School Food and Health Co-ordinator
• Catherine.goodridge_at_sandwell-pct.nhs.uk
• 0121 612 1460

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Catering Turning the Tables Transforming School
Food Increase uptake of school meals 4 by March
2008 10 by September 2009
Education Every Child Matters Education and
Achievement Be healthy Stay safe Enjoy and
achieve Make a positive contribution Achieve
economic well-being
Food and Public Health Choosing Health Choosing
a Better Diet Childhood Obesity Halting the year
on year rise in obesity among children under 11
by 2010 in the context of a broader strategy to
tackle obesity in the population as a whole
Wider Community/Industry Involving
Parents/Carers Sustainable Schools Cooking in
School Food Manufacture
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• Obesity PSA Target

Halting the year on year rise in obesity among
children under 11 by 2010 in the context of a
broader strategy to tackle obesity in the
population as a whole Ambition By 2020 the
trend in increasing obesity will be reversed and
everyone will have a healthy weight
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Obesity among under 11 year olds is rising each
year by 2010 1.4 mil children in England will be
obese or overweight
Indicative trajectory- current trends
21.2
20
15.5
17.6
PSA target
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13.4
Indicative trajectory- meeting the PSA target
13.7
10.9
13.1
10.6
obese children
9.9
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HSE 2004 Child obesity data released Feb 2006
9.9
5
0
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
Year
(Health Survey for England, data from 1995-2003.
Only statistically significant on basis of 3 year
rolling average)
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(No Transcript)
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2006 Childhood Obesity Monitoring Data for West
Midlands PCTs
Reception 10.1 (10 for England) Year 6
17.6 (17.3 for England) National Child
Measurement Programme Data for 2007 more complete
As many as 1 in 5 children in year 6 are obese
in some areas
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Child Obesity Conference
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The Balance of Good Health
1. Base your meals on starchy foods 2. Eat lots
of fruit and veg   3. Eat more fish   4. Cut down
on saturated fat and sugar 5. Try to eat less
salt - no more than 6g a day   6. Get active and
try to be a healthy weight 7. Drink plenty of
water   8. Don't skip breakfast
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What influences our childrens food choices?
Access Availability Awareness Attitudes Parental
influence Advertising and Marketing Peer
pressure Changing food culture
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Regional Food and Health Objectives
Promote healthy eating among young children and
their families Increase fruit and vegetable
consumption with various settings, with a focus
on areas of deprivation Accelerate progress on
healthy eating theme of the Healthy Schools
Status Increase local breastfeeding initiation
rates
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National Healthy Schools Programme

• Structure in the West Midlands
• Regional Co-ordinator Emma Balchin
• 14 local programmes
• All schools can be involved
• Targets/Milestones
• 55 of schools to have achieved healthy school
  status December 2007
• All schools to be on the programme by December
  2009
• 75 of schools to have achieved new healthy
  school status by December 2009

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National Healthy Schools Programme
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National Healthy Schools Programme

• What is Healthy School Status?
• Schools are asked to demonstrate standards in the
  core themes using a whole school approach
  involving the whole school community
• Personal Social and Health Education including
  sex and relationship education and drug education
• Healthy eating
• Physical activity
• Emotional health and well being (including
  bullying)

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A Whole School Approach
Leadership, management management of change
Policy development
Curriculum planning resourcing,
Assessing, recording reporting achievement
Healthy Eating
Teaching learning
Partnerships with parents/carers local
communities
School culture
Giving pupils a voice
Pupils support services
Staff professional development, health
well-being
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Food in Schools Toolkit
offers support, guidance and inspiration to
governors, teachers, caterers, parents, pupils,
health professionals and others in making healthy
eating and drinking a reality in schools
supports the whole school approach to healthy
eating and drinking supports schools in
achieving National Healthy School
status. www.foodinschools.org
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School Food Trust aims to

• Ensure all schools meet the relevant standards
  for lunch and non-lunch by recommended timeframes
  
• Reduce diet related inequalities in childhood
• Increase the uptake of school meals (currently
  average 5 drop in secondary schools)
• (4 by March 2008 10 by September 2009)
• Improve food skills through food education and
  school and community initiatives

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Whats happening to food in schools?

• The government has introduced new standards for
  food in schools.
• From September 2006, all schools must offer
  healthier (better balanced) choices at lunchtime.
• Food served in school at other times of the day,
  for example, in breakfast clubs, tuck-shops and
  vending machines also needs to to meet the new
  standards from Sept 2007.

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What are the new standards?On the menu!

• ? More Fruit and Vegetables
• At least two servings of fruit and vegetables
  available at lunch.
• ? More Oily Fish
• Oily fish such as mackerel and salmon served at
  least once every three weeks.
• ? Bread
• Bread available at lunch every day.
• ? Drinking Water
• Free, fresh drinking water available at all
  times.
• ? Healthier Drinks
• The only other drinks available are skimmed or
  semi-skimmed milk, pure fruit juices, yoghurt and
  milk drinks, smoothies, tea, coffee and
  low-calorie hot chocolate.

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What are the new standards?Off the menu!These
foods are no longer allowed or restricted

• ? No Confectionary
• Chocolate bars, chocolate biscuits and sweets are
  not allowed.
• ? No Savoury Snacks
• Savoury snacks such as crisps are not allowed.
  Only nuts and seeds with no added salt, sugar or
  fat are allowed.
• ? Salt
• Not available at lunch. Condiments, such as
  ketchup and mayonnaise, only available in
  sachets.
• ? Deep-Fried Foods
• No more than two deep-fried foods, such as chips,
  in a week.
• ? Manufactured Meat Products
• These products, such as chicken nuggets and
  burgers, can only be served occasionally and must
  meet standards for minimum meat content.

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Why have the new standards been introduced?

• To make it easier to choose a healthy balance of
  food during the school day
• e.g. more fruit and vegetables and less fatty and
  sugary food
• To improve the quality of the food available
• e.g. better quality meat

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Food in Schools Encouraging healthier
eatingOFSTED October 07

• Aimed to evaluate the progress schools are making
  in meeting the new food standards
• Aimed to identify successful strategies to help
  pupils and their families understand healthier
  eating
• 18 primary schools and 9 secondary schools in 12
  local authorities. 10 from the West Midlands

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Key FindingsOFSTED October 07

• All schools met new interim food standards
• Headteachers views on school meals and the
  priority they gave to healthy eating influenced
  the quality of provision
• Take up of school lunches fallen in 19 of the 27
  schools
• Knowledge of healthy eating had little bearing on
  food choice
• FSM pupils stigmatisation reduced uptake
• Dining environments were an issue
• Cross curricular approaches were very effective
• Most impact where effective partnerships were in
  place

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RecommendationsOFSTED October 07

• Schools should
• Monitor the take up of school lunches
• Identify factors which discourage school meal
  uptake and work to eliminate them
• Look at cost and methods of payment
• Work with families on healthy packed lunches
• Improve dining environments
• Allow enough time for lunch
• Provide consistent messages on healthy eating
  across the curriculum
• Give pupils practical experience of food
  preparation
• Involve pupils closely in developing school menus
  and in exploring a wider range of food

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Teaching and the Curriculum

• The school had converted a classroom into a
  smart, professional, contempory restaurant which
  belied its origins. The pupils in years 10 and
  11 worked under the guidance of their food
  technology teacher and professional chef to
  produce high quality imaginative menus of fresh
  seasonal food. This was prepared during the day
  and served in the evening when pupils practised
  waiting on, to silver service standard. Parents
  and local employers were very supportive of these
  developments and all the pupils at the school
  were able to follow an accreditated food related
  BTEC course

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Teaching and the Curriculum

• The boys had asked to begin their PE lessons
  with a short cross country run. They monitored
  their performance and regularly set themselves
  new goals to improve their performance. Through
  discussing their progress with teachers and
  others, they had become aware of the potential
  impact of diet on their performance. The food
  technology department decided to build on this
  interest to extend the boys understanding
  further through involving them in planning and
  preparing healthy dishes

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Food in Schools Audit
Food in Schools Audit Follow up to the 2005
Baseline Survey of Food in Schools in the West
Midlands Additional questions added to identify
changes as a result of new school food
standards Initial results show some significant
changes 50 increase in schools with Whole
School Food Policy (30 2005 to 73
2007) Research into implementation of WSF
Policies To be commissioned
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Whole School Food Policy

• There was more than a 50 increase in the number
  of schools with whole school food policies - 73
  (2007)30 (2005)

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Cooking Clubs

• There was almost a 50 in increase in the number
  of schools with cookery clubs - 29 (2007)17
  (2005)

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Can you identify changes children and young
people are making to food choices across the
school day?
A lot of children are bringing in healthy snacks,
and children are choosing fruit as part of their
breakfast at the club
Big increase in school lunch uptake since school
employed its own chef and ran canteen along
healthy food guidelines
Better choices and better food in lunchboxes
Children appear to have healthier lunchboxes
containing more fruit items. School cooked
lunches allow more choice for healthier options.
Children are becoming more willing to try new
foods
Pupils having school cooked meals dropped by
about a third in 2005. To date numbers have gone
up and exceeded by about 50 what they were pre
new school food guidelines
A bigger uptake of school dinners - lots of work
on these since September, new menus, veg/salad
options etc
Children are aware of healthy choices they can
make - but don't always make them!
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Sustainable Schools and theYear of Food and
Farming

• Providing learning opportunities, through
  stronger links between learners and staff in the
  education sector with those working in the food
  and farming sectors.
• 5 Rural Hubs
• Herefordshire (Sandwell and Dudley)
• Shropshire (Telford and Wrekin and Wolverhampton)
• Staffordshire (Walsall)
• Warwickshire (Solihull, Coventry)
• Worcestershire (City of Birmingham)
• Activities to promote Year of Food and Farming
  and Public Health Messages around food and health
• Working closely with Healthy Schools
  Co-ordinators

www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk
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Food Partnership Training

• Aims to
• Increase pupils experience of working with food
• Increase pupils knowledge of nutrition, healthy
  eating and the food chain principles, food
  hygiene and safety
• Help raise the standards of achievement in food
  education
• Support the Healthy Eating core theme of the
  Healthy Schools Programme
• Increase teachers confidence and competence in
  teaching about food and nutrition
• Develop a supportive network between schools
  concerning food issues and promote liaison
  between primary and secondary schools
• 6 Courses within the West Midlands 2007/2008

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Healthy Packed Lunch Workshops
Training for School Nurses/School staff working
with parents 2.5 hour practical workshop 216
professionals trained (13 workshops) Dudley,
Shropshire, Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent,
Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton Dates set
for Birmingham, Worcestershire, Wolverhampton
Nutrition and Food Hygiene Workshops

• Training for teaching staff to support with HS
  Healthy Eating Criteria 2.2
• Two hour workshop
• 284 teaching staff trained (15 workshops)
• Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and
  Dudley

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Food For Life Partnership Soil Association
Focus on Food Campaign Garden Organic
Health Education Trust
180 schools in diverse communities across
England will become Flagship Schools and
Communities, showcasing good food culture to
inspire students and parents across the country
to start cooking, re-skilling dinner ladies, and
offering farmers secure markets for local,
organic, seasonal and sustainably-produced food.
All schools will be able to work towards a new
Food for Life Partnership Mark, which will be
launched in September 2007. www.soilassociation.
org
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Useful Websites

• www.healthyschools.gov.uk
• www.soilassociation.org/foodforlife
• www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk
• www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk
• www.food.gov.uk
• www.5aday.nhs.uk