School Dinners

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School Dinners

• Group C Presentation
• Dec 2006
• Taz Aldawoud, Mark Cade, Lisa Coulter, Richard
  Haddad, Aneela Malik, Tan Rafiq

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Aim

• To explore the issues raised by the September
  2006 School Dinners item, including the
  implications for General Practice

The main internet headline on BBCs Look North
15th September 2006, stated Parents who are
opposed to the introduction of healthy meals at a
South Yorkshire school have held a meeting with
its deputy head teacher. Some parents of
Rawmarsh Comprehensive pupils have been taking
orders for fish and chips and delivering it
through the fence at the Rotherham school.
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Parents feed pupils through gates

• Pupils at a South Yorkshire school are being fed
  fish and chips through the gates by parents who
  say the canteen is not providing what their
  children want.
• Students at Rawmarsh Comprehensive are not
  allowed out of the grounds at lunchtime, so some
  parents are taking their orders for the chip shop
  instead.
• They say pupils are not being given enough time
  or choice for their meals.

• But the school said it aimed to provide good
  quality food that helped pupils to concentrate in
  the afternoons.
• Julie Critchlow is one of the parents who
  delivers pupils' orders from the grounds of a
  neighbouring cemetery in Rotherham while the
  school gates are locked. "The children aren't
  eating what the school provide in the cafeteria
  because they don't like the quality of the food,"
  she said.

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Objectives

• To gain an overview of child nutrition
• To gain insight into childrens ideas on what
  foods they think are healthy
• To gain an overview of the political and
  organizational issues relating to school meals
  provision
• To address parents understanding/views on health
  eating and good nutrition
• To be able to apply what we have learnt today in
  the GP consultation
• To consider how GP services might contribute to
  improving child nutrition
• To have fun

5
What Children Really Eat!

• Survey of 20 kids
• Age range from 4 to 16
• Questioned during GP consultation
• Asked three simple questions
• What did you have for lunch today?
• What is your favourite food?
• What food do you consider to be healthy?

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What Children Really Eat

• Results
• Not one child had chips for their lunch!
• However, the food favoured by most children was
  chips! (10 out of 20 children)
• 11 out of the 14 children who had a school dinner
  mentioned having at least one vegetable with
  their main meal
• Only 2 of these 14 children had deep fried food
  for main meal i.e. nuggets or burger
• Of the 2 Asian children interviewed, both had
  traditional English meals which had been cooked
  with halal meat
• All children answered either fruit or salad to a
  healthy type of food
• Interestingly, all primary school children
  answered apple to a healthy type of food

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What Children Really Eat!

• Other information volunteered
• The majority of children, 14 out of 20, had a
  school dinner rather than packed lunch
• All children who had a school dinner were given a
  choice of two main meals
• Parents of 4 of the primary school children are
  actually invited to have lunch at their childs
  school on a daily basis
• Some children actually felt too unwell to eat
  their lunch, hence the reason they were at the
  Docs!

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What Kids Really Eat!

• What Can We Summarise From This Information?
• The Bradford schools catering for the children
  that we surveyed seem to be providing healthy
  choices for school dinners
• Despite the schools efforts, most children still
  prefer fatty foods, with chips, McDonalds, and
  chocolate topping the charts
• The only foods considered by the children as
  being healthy were fruit and vegetables
• ?Do children really know what types of food are
  nutritious?
• ?Are children being educated on this subject
  sufficiently in school/at home?

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Quiz True or false?

• How much do you know about school dinners?
• A school dinner costs 1.15p to buy in a Bradford
  primary school
• Dinner in a Bradford primary school costs 30p per
  head of ingredients
• Less than 50 of children in Bradford primary
  schools choose to have a school dinner
• Compared to Rotherham primary schools, Bradford
  is higher in the primary school meal league table
  (i.e. more money spent per head of ingredients
  compared to price charged)
• The first ever school dinner in Britain was
  introduced in Bradford in 1936

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QuizTrue or False?

• The average school cook earns 5.35p per hour
• All school cooks must have a basic food hygiene
  certificate and HACCP hazard analysis and
  critical control point training
• All school cooks must have a level 1
  qualification in Providing a Healthier School
  Meals Service
• School cooks are encouraged to obtain level 2 and
  3 qualification in food safety, preparing and
  cooking healthier meals, and the development and
  introduction of recipes City and Guilds
  accredited

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Quiz True or False?

• The largest food supplier to schools across the
  country is called Rentokill
• Since August 2006, schools have not been allowed
  to sell confectionary, savoury snacks and
  sweetened drinks from tuck shops and vending
  machines
• The potato is classed as one of the five a day
  recommended fruit and veg
• One McDonalds quarter pounder with cheese and
  medium fries equates to 54g of total fat
• According to the 2002 Wanless report into NHS
  requirements, treating diet-related diseases
  already costs the NHS 6.2m a year

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Quiz Answers

• Answers to be discussed in talk
• Taz this slide is for you -you dont need to show
  it to the audience
• True Lowest in the country in primary school
  league table
• False 30p until Jan 2005, then increased by 16p
  per head to 46p
• False 56
• True See league table which compares other
  Yorkshire towns
• False In 1906 by Labour MP Fred Jowett, member
  of school board
• False This is minimum wage. Average cook earns
  between 6.50p and 7.50p
• True This is all that is required
• False Optional
• True Optional
• True How Scary!
• False This rule comes into play in September 2007
• False Potato is not classed as one of five fruit
  and veg
• True Remember the adult daily allowance id only
  70g!
• True And the obesity crisis will make this figure
  much worse

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Government Pledge

• School dinners progressed from national joke to
  top of political agenda
• Battle for better meals in schools brought to
  public eye by Jamie Oliver revealing shocking
  state of childrens diets in 2005 TV series,
  Jamies School Dinners (as seen in video clip)
• Jamies campaign pressure from parents other
  pressure groups, led to former Education
  Secretary Ruth Kellys pledge to put 280 million
  toward school dinners in April 2005

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The New Rules

• From August 2006
• School dinners now exclude crisps, chocolates,
  fizzy drinks and low quality meat
• School children will be served at least two
  portions of fruit and veg with every meal
• Deep fried food will be restricted to two
  portions per week
• From September 2007
• Additional rules in place about what can be sold
  from school tuck shops and school vending
  machines
• Schools will not be allowed to sell
  confectionery, savoury snacks (unless theyre
  free from added salt, sugar or fat) or sweetened
  drinks
• Must also sell variety of fruit and veg products
• Must provide access to free, fresh water
• From 2008
• Primary schools will need to stipulate vitamin
  content of school meals
• From 2009
• Secondary schools will need to stipulate vitamin
  content

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School Cook Training

• School catering staff need to be valued as part
  of their school communities
• Vital link in helping children change attitudes
  towards healthy eating
• Training aimed at providing skills needed to
  prepare healthy meals which not only meet new
  nutritional standards, but are also popular with
  children they provide for
• Must have basic food hygiene and certificate
  HACCP
• Since Sept 2005 encouraged to obtain level 1, 2
  and 3 qualifications which will enable school
  caterers to
• Understand how to provide range of healthier
  meals
• Understand why it is important
• Develop marketing ideas and material to promote
  healthy food choices to kids

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Bradford Policy

• Bradford primary schools spend 46 pence per head
  of ingredients
• This has increased by 16 pence per child since
  January 2006
• According to the primary school meal league
  table, in which the cost per head of school meals
  per local education authority is recorded,
  Bradford charges the lowest in the country for a
  school meal
• More than 50 of children choose to have a school
  meal in Bradford Primary Schools, which compares
  well to other LEAs (Local Education Authorities)

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Primary School Meal League Table2006, Yorkshire
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Bradford Success Stories

• August 2006
• Introduction of classic English dishes
  reinvented to include halal meat for Muslim
  school children
• Two month trial across 6 primary schools in the
  area proved to be hugely successful
• November 2006
• Bradford gardener wins Soil Association School
  Food Award for services to Haworth primary School
  running after school gardening club, which
  involves the children growing vegetables for
  their school meals
• Soil Association School Food Awards celebrate the
  importance of providing healthy and sustainable
  school meals and better classroom education on
  food and where it comes from. The Awards aim to
  recognize and champion caterers and primary
  schools that provide healthy, freshly prepared
  school meals and are working toward sourcing
  local and organic ingredients

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Summary What else is being done?

• School Food Trust (funded by Department for
  education and skills and Lottery Fund) set up to
  work with schools and parents to improve meals
• School food has become part of OFSTED inspections
• Campaigners calling for cooking lessons to be
  brought back to school
• Currently food education is scattered around
  curriculum, but pupils are more likely to learn
  how to design packaging than learn how to make
  fresh, wholesome food
• New tuck shop/ vending machine rules from 2007

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SummaryWhat else is being done?

• Increased funding for school dinners may make
  positive impact - but no one knows whether the
  increased funding in England will be maintained
  in future budgets
• One thing is for certain, parents matter
  enormously in this debate, whether theyre
  encouraging healthy eating at home or taking an
  interest in whats dished up at school

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References

• www.education.guardian.co.uk/schoolmeals
• www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk
• www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/schoolmeals