2010School Food Trust

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• 1 . Lucky Dagenham Pupil Wins Tasty Prize

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• “Little Book of Goodness winner Georgia Tomlin tucking into her free school meal”.
• A Dagenham pupil is proof that sometimes there is such a thing as a free lunch – after winning a competition to enjoy healthy school meals at no cost for a whole year.
  Five year old Georgia Tomlin from Five Elms Primary school is being treated to her daily school meal by the School Food Trust after being picked as one of 50 winners of a prize of free school lunches in a competition across England. 
  Georgia’s parents entered the draw last September when they received their copy of ‘The Little Book of Goodness’, a booklet distributed by the Trust – the organisation charged with transforming school food and food skills - to 750,000 parents of primary school children across England.
  The book was developed by the Trust to give parents of children starting school for the first time information about the exciting menus now on offer in schools and the benefits of choosing school lunches instead of packing their own.
  Georgia's mother Mrs Tomlin said: "I am really happy that Georgia will enjoy free school meals for the next year. We try really hard as a family to make sure that Georgia and her brother and sister eat healthy food and giving them school meals is a great way to do that. We are on a tight budget so just to have the pressure taken off with free school meals for Georgia really helps."
  Five Elms Primary head teacher, Mrs Helen Collins, said: “The Little Book of Goodness is a fantastic idea – parents always have lots of questions about school food as their children start reception year, and the book is one way to make sure they have the support and information they need. We always want to encourage more children to try the delicious school lunches which our catering staff work so hard to prepare every day.”
  ‘The Little Book of Goodness’ was developed in response to research by the Trust which discovered that parents wanted more information and guidance on making the right decision about their child’s school lunch options.
  The School Food Trust’s Chair, Rob Rees, said: “School lunches are the healthiest they have ever been and really are having an impact – we know from studies in primary schools that children eating school lunch are now sitting down with healthier options on their plates. By choosing a school meal every day, parents are helping their children to get the nutrients they need to learn and grow.
  “I hope that Georgia’s prize also acts as a reminder to local families who might be entitled to free school lunches for their children but aren’t taking them. School lunch is a great way to ensure that your children are getting a nutritious meal every day so I would encourage anyone who thinks they might qualify to check.”
  The ‘Little Book of Goodness’ was so popular with parents that the Trust will be launching a second edition for all parents of new reception year pupils in September.

• 2 . Sunderland School Wins a Healthy £5000

• St. Anthony’s Girls’ School receives a ￡5,000 cheque for outstanding improvements to its school meals service.
  The improvements led to a 40% rise in the number of pupils choosing to eat school meals at St. Anthony’s since April 2009.
  School meals are now governed by standards which help ensure that children are receiving all the nutrients they need to learn and grow.
  The School Food Trust‘s Million Meals School of the Month award rewards schools’ excellence and innovation in school meals provision. Sunderland-born Jim Hopper, Millions Meals Manager, will hand over the ￡5,000 cheque to St. Anthony’s Girls’ School in a special presentation.
  St. Anthony’s Head Teacher Mrs Shepherd said:
  “We are delighted to have won the School of the Month award and prize money of ￡5,000. The Million Meals resources have been a huge help since we brought the management of school food back in-house in April 2009. Through our hard work, and the support of the School Food Trust, we are achieving our goals and improving the health of our pupils.”
  Before April 2009, only 20% of St. Anthony’s pupils were opting for school food. For inspiration, St. Anthony’s visited neighbouring schools St. Aidan’s Harrogate and Pelton Roseberry School, both of which manage their catering internally. Local suppliers were introduced at St. Anthony’s, providing locally reared meat and eggs, and a Consultant Food Technologist was brought in to advise on the nutritional aspects of school food.
  In addition, the school introduced a futuristic biometrics system which allows pupils and staff to ‘pay’ for their food using a fingerprint scanner. This has radically improved the flow of traffic in the dining hall, making lunch times less stressful.
  Following these initial changes, take-up of school meals rose to 76% and the increase has been sustained, ranging from 65% to 70%.
  St. Anthony’s Girls’ School is one of more than 6,000 schools signed up to Million Meals, which provides a wealth of free resources for member schools. This includes curriculum packs, recipe cards, promotional posters and school council packs to help improve and promote school food.
  Schools can register for Million Meals online at www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/millionmeals, where they also receive free resources and advice.

• 3 . Case Study: Blatchington Mill School, Hove

• From kitchen to classroom: Hove school reaps benefits of healthy meals drive

  A Hove headteacher believes she has found the key to improving pupils’ concentration and behaviour during the difficult afternoon lesson period – by making a good lunchtime a highlight on the timetable.
  Since 2001, Janet Felkin, headteacher at Blatchington Mill School, has led a programme of gradual improvements to the catering and dining facilities at the school. She believes they have made a real difference to how pupils study and behave after their lunch break:
  "Afternoon lessons are traditionally a challenge in many schools as pupils’ energy and concentration levels drop which can lead to bad behaviour and unruly classrooms. The changes we have made to improve nutritional standards in our food, as well as the renovation to the dining room, have had a huge impact on performance levels throughout the school”.
  Blatchington Mill School originally relocated its 1970s-style kitchen and dining room in 2001 to improve efficiency and increase space. In the last two years, modernisation work has seen the dining room expanded even further and contemporary furniture installed, with a separate sixth form café built away from the kitchen.
  Alongside structural works, Blatchington Mill School has taken care in improving the quality of the food on offer in its canteen. All school food is prepared fresh on-site and breakfast, lunchtime and break time services are available with menus rotated every three weeks. Every meal is prepared from recipe cards, planned by development chefs, who are supported by specialist nutritionists.

  Blatchington Mill’s approach to school food is set out in its Healthy Eating policy. The policy ensures that all food meets the Government’s nutritional standards but also embeds healthy eating in the curriculum and gives students the chance to feed back and influence decisions about what they are eating at school.
  A well-structured queuing system is one improvement that has made a big difference. With a grant from the Local Authority, the school installed a computerised, cashless ‘Smart Card’ payment system which means that students can pass quickly through the servery to collect and pay for their food. Integrated plasma screens display the day’s menu alongside nutritional information about the food on offer. These improvements have resulted directly in an increase in take-up of school food.
  And the improvements are continuing. Blatchington Mill’s plans for the future include the introduction of a fashionable baguette bar and a facility for parents and guardians to top-up Smart Cards online.
  Jane’s views reflect separate research conducted in schools by the School Food Trust which found that, when students eat a good lunch in a pleasant environment, they are more focused in their lessons after lunch.
  The Trust’s Chair, Rob Rees, said: “We know from our research that a good lunchtime experience can, quite literally, make or break how students feel about their day, as well as having an impact on their performance.

  “It’s fantastic that teaching staff at Blatchington Mill are seeing those effects in action. Their hard work to improve the lunchtime experience shows how investing some time and getting everyone at school involved with improving lunchtime can really pay off – in every sense."

• The School Food Trust's Guide to Getting Started with Healthy Lunchtimes
  
  If your school is interested in learning about how it can improve lunchtimes for students, check out the School Food Trust's guide 'A Fresh Look at the School Meal Experience' at www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk for simple tips and tricks that are easy to implement and don’t cost the earth.
  Schools can also sign up to the Trust's Million Meals campaign to access free resources to help them - from no-cost marketing materials to menu ideas. Visit www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/millionmeals
  
  The above resources will help you with the following questions:
  - How do we change our dining space on a budget?
  - We don't have much space - how can we make the best use of it?
  - How can we make it feel like a dining room, when we also use it for other purposes?
  - How can we shorten queues?
  - How can we make sure pupils have enough time to sit and eat whilst keeping behaviour in check?
  - How do we get students to eat lunch at lunchtime instead of in their breaks?