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| Eat Better Do
Better |
September 2011 |
Welcome to the Eat Better Do Better
newsletter
from the School Food Trust
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If you cannot read this email or
have problems with links you can see a copy online
here:
Or you can download a pdf version
from the Trust's website here:
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Education
News
| Need help to increase
your free school meal take up? Out of ideas to engage parents and
pupils with healthy food at school? No budget for marketing? Not
sure how to use cooking in the curriculum? Feel like your menu needs
more flexibility? Get the answers you need with our low-cost, high-impact training courses which tackle the issues you ask us about most frequently. The first sessions will be held in Birmingham and London in October and November, and prices range from £150-£195 per delegate. Book online today by visiting  |
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Strike while the iron is hot this
term and get your new starters into your dining room with our free,
online school food marketing library, MADGe. You’ll find posters,
menu templates and many more materials which you can adapt to suit
your promotions in these crucial first weeks of term.
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You might have heard both our
Director of Programmes and Partnerships David Edwards and senior
nutritionist Patricia Mucavele talking to BBC Radio 5Live for a
series of special reports on ‘back to school’ issues. Read what we
had to say:
Trust responds to ‘Beware
lunchbox fillers’ report from Which? Trust responds to Which? poll on
school meal prices However you’re involved with
school food delivery, we’re here to help you keep prices affordable.
It’s one of our six staples of good food at school – the things that
we think are essential if we’re going to keep meal numbers rising.
Our research shows that the standards are making a real impact on
the food that children eat at school, and that take up of healthy
school meals is particularly sensitive to changes in
price.
Primary school food survey 2009
full technical report www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/documents/primaryschoolfoodsurvey2009/fullreport An analysis of the relationship
between school meal take-up and prices www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/documents/priceelasticity |
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| Thumbs up for… |
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If your school will be looking at
food waste as part of the curriculum or through the school council
in the coming year, check out our new curriculum pack, ‘Food Waste
Heroes’.
Stacked full of resources, this puts pupils in the driving seat - challenging them to inspire and lead changes in school which will reduce avoidable food waste. |
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We’ve got a great range of other
resources to help you use food in the curriculum this year. Whether you’re working
with pupils in primary or secondary schools, or if your school council
is working on food issues, our ideas packs do the hard work for you. You
can also buy copies of our Little Book of Goodness guide, which explains why
school meals are the healthiest option – perfect for handing out to families
of prospective new starters at open evenings this term.
Resources
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Free school meals matter, yet too
many children from low income families either haven’t registered for
them, or choose not to eat them. Many parents don’t even realise
that their child is entitled to a free school meal. If you’re
struggling with any of these issues our new Free School Meals Matter
Toolkit contains everything you need to know about the Pupil
Premium, tackling stigma, eligibility criteria, and a host of
practical tips and resources including posters, letters to send to
parents and leaflets. |
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If your school is making a big
change to its school food service this year, you’re not alone.
Listen again to the interview with Ravensdale Junior School in Derby
by BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme. Radio 4 will be following the
school’s progress as it brings catering in-house for the first time
– we’ve been supporting the school throughout this complex process.
Contact us using the details below if you’re in a similar position
and need our help.
Ravensdale Junior School
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As term gets underway, our expert
nutrition team is on standby to help you with your questions about meeting the national
standards for healthy school food. They can also offer you individual support
if you need help to check that your menu meets the standards, or if you’re
struggling with a particular issue at the moment.
You may find the answer you’re looking for online, in our frequently asked questions section below, you can email our nutritionists at info@schoolfoodtrust.org.uk. or call 0800 089 5001. |
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Our website is a hub for all the latest information on schools' responsibilities when it comes to school food. However, if you’re a head teacher or a governor, you can also read about your responsibilities on the Department for Education’s advice pages. Here, you’ll find a breakdown of your role when it comes to school food, information on the national school food standards and how they should apply at your school, details of the relevant legal requirements and information on how legislation applies to school food. |
Health
News
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In the
coming weeks, we’ll be announcing the first five local areas that
will pilot national, voluntary guidelines on healthy food for
children in childcare. We’ll be working with early years specialists
and nursery staff in each area to test the guidelines and the
training support we’ve designed around it. We’ll also be training
staff on the ground to deliver healthy cooking sessions for families
with young children. You can follow the project here.
If you’re interested in this
work, you might also want to read the evaluation of a scheme called
Cook4Life, which helped to develop this new
programme.
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In our latest research
commission, from international dairy food and water giant Danone,
we’ll be conducting an independent evaluation of the impact of
Danone’s ‘Eat Like a Champ’ healthy eating programme for children in
school – measuring its impact on what children are eating. We plan
to start fieldwork in schools
in January and to publish the findings in August, so watch this
space!
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If you work for a charity that’s focused on improving health
for people of any age, or for a business that wants to help staff to
live more healthily, our Let’s Get Cooking programme can help. Our
two-day Demonstrator Training course will give you all the practical
cooking skills and knowledge you’ll need to teach healthy cooking to
groups in the community. Training is great fun, and is accredited by
the Royal Society for Public Health. The next dates are in Bristol
and Newcastle.
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News from SFT
HQ
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We’ve welcomed six new faces to our board, as we get ready to complete our move into the third sector. These experts in health, local government and marketing join the team as we continue our work as a charity and social enterprise:
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…our Chief Executive, Judy
Hargadon – awarded an OBE for services to children’s health in the
Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
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