The National Database for School Catering

Barnardo’s report on the nutritional quality of school food (November 2004):
“Burger boy and sporty girl: Children and young people’s attitudes
towards food in school”
by Ludvigsen A, Sharma N.

Barnardo’s, the UK’s leading children’s charity, carried out a two part study to discover children’s perception of food choices within schools and an analysis of the nutritional content of school meals and packed lunches.

Three schools were investigated to discover the nutritional quality of their school meals, none of which met all of the Caroline Walker Trust guidelines set for school meals. Results also suggested that packed lunches tended to be high in fat, salt and sugar, and peer pressure was shown to have a big influence on children’s food choices.

Click here to view the full report.

School meals in secondary schools in England
Michael Nelson, Jane Bradbury, Jenny Poulter, Alice McGee,
Siphosami Msebele and Lindsey Jarvis
King’s College London
National Centre for Social Research
Nutrition Works!

The School meals in secondary schools in England, (2004) report gives a useful account of the historic development of nutrition standards for school meals since the first standards were put in place in 1906.

This national study reviewed the eating habits of 5,695 11-18 year olds across 79 schools, the nutrient contents of school meals and how these compared to dietary recommendations. Jointly conducted by the Food Standards Agency and the Department for Education and Skills, it highlights growing concerns about the nutritional standards of school meals.

Results suggest that school meals may be reaching targets but they are not reaching children! We review the main points, together with the study findings:

Local Authority Catering Association (LACA) LACA is the professional body representing over 600 catering managers providing services to all sectors of Local Authorities. Catering Managers include those working directly for Local Authorities, private sector companies and client departments. Additionally, we have many Associate members amongst which are over 200 suppliers responsible for the supply of over £250,000,000 worth of food and equipment annually to our service.
LACA School Chef of the Year // www.laca.co.uk/scoty.asp
LACA National School Meals Week // www.laca.co.uk/nsmw.asp

Child Poverty Action group (CPAG): Free school meals for children who need them
One in three school children live in poverty in the UK, yet only one in five school children are currently eligible to receive a free school meal. CPAG have campaigned to extend entitlement to free school meals to all children who live in poverty. Their site provides informative and thought provoking data.
www.cpag.org.uk/campaigns/school_meals.htm

School Milk Scheme
All primary school children in England and Scotland (5-11 years) and Wales (7-11 years) are entitled to break-time milk at a reduced price, thanks to an EU Subsidy Scheme. The problem is that many parents don't even know about the scheme, which offers children up to 250ml of semi-skimmed or whole milk a day at a cost of about £7 a term. Many Local Education Authorities (LEAs) are reluctant to get involved and many schools are wary of making extra work for already over-burdened staff. However, as participating Head Teachers can confirm, the benefits of running a school milk scheme far outweigh the small administration associated with the scheme.
If you would like to find out more about introducing a School Milk Scheme, the benefits of milk or to see how many schools in your LEA provide milk at break-time, visit The Dairy Council's school milk section on their website www.milk.co.uk

School Milk Project
The School Milk Project (TSMP) was established in 1998 by the Women’s Food and Farming Union and funded by the Milk Development Council with the aim of increasing the uptake of milk in primary schools. It is a non-profit making organisation, acting as an advisory and information group.
The Project funds and employs Facilitators to discuss with LEA’s, Schools and Administrators the best practices for the implementation of School Milk Schemes in their areas. www.schoolmilk.co.uk/

School Meals in the 21st Century

A Unison Report looking at current trends in the school meals service. Main areas include, type of provision, price of meals, service provider, impact of delegated budgets, nutritional standards and special initiatives.

UNISON commissioned the school meals survey from the Labour Research Department, in early 2002. An 80% return from LEAs was achieved, which means that the following information on the school meals service is probably the best available at this time. Findings suggest that fragmentation is increasing; that standard hot meals are rare in secondary schools; that there is a significant shift to private sector provision and that prices are rising higher than inflation.