SNAG resources

HETs involvemnet in the Big lottery funded Food For Life Partnership (FFLP) is to assist schools with the formation and development of a School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG), set up a process of pupil, staff and community consultation and develop both a school ‘action plan’ and a ‘whole school’ food policy.

The ‘whole school’ food policy outlines the key aims and objectives of the school in improving food culture. The ‘action plan’ provides the framework to work towards the Food for Life Partnership awards. Schools are then expertly supported in taking their action plan by the other partners – the Soil Association, the Focus on Food Campaign and Garden Organic. In order to achieve its particular remit HET has created, specifically for the FFLP partnership project, a range of innovative and exciting resources, shown below, which are available for all schools to use. These can also be view on the main FFLP website.

Getting Started

When starting to review your food in school it is important to have an action group to discuss and facilitate change. The following documents will assist you with setting up an action group. You may wish to call this a School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) or choose an alternative name. All of the documents refer to the action group as a SNAG.

There are a number of documents to help you, not only with the suggested process of your group, but also with the general administration of your meetings and tracking your progress with actions required.

Process Documents

SNAG briefing sheet: Concept and suggested membership of your action group
SNAG Champions
SNAG process guidance: Guiding your SNAG though the important process of food policy development within school. This will include consulting with the whole school and community; reviewing and prioritising issues; and taking action
Suggested agendas for your SNAGs – Primary 1, 2, 3; Secondary 1, 2, 3: These agendas have been put together as a guide for your meetings. We suggest meetings of approximately 1 hour every 4-6 weeks.

When starting your journey on the FFLP award scheme it is important to create an action plan to track your progress and provide your school with targets to work towards. You may wish to include this in your school development or school improvement plans to integrate the FFLP into the whole school ethos. Please find below a suggested action plan template.

FFLP action plan template:

The documents below will assist you with the suggested processes documented in the above SNAG process guidance.

Diamond ranking activity sheet: This activity will help your SNAG to prioritise the issues which need to be addressed
How, how, how activity sheet: This document will help facilitate how the actions will be addressed

Once your SNAG has completed the review of food in school and consultations have been completed with pupils, staff and parents you may like to assess your progress against the FFLP award criteria. The following documents will assist you with this task. These documents are suitable for all schools.

Assessment against the mark:
- FFLP Bronze Award Criteria
- FFLP Silver Award Criteria
- FFLP Gold Award Criteria

Pupil Engagement in SNAGs and SNAG Activities

Pupil engagement within SNAGs is an important part of making the changes in food culture at school successful and sustainable. The following documents will provide activities to build confidence and relationships between pupils and staff. These activities will also help to keep the SNAG process enjoyable and creative.

Pupil engagement in SNAGs: This document provides ideas to help keep pupils engaged throughout meetings
Warm-ups & icebreakers – Primary: This document suggests ways of reducing potential barriers between adults and pupils and also between people who do not know each other. These activities will help people to feel confident to speak out in meetings
Food bingo: Food bingo is a game to help people to feel confident and get to know the SNAG members
Food bingo – 2
Healthy eating quiz for adults
Food Growing Quiz: These cards can be downloaded and used as flashcards asking pupils to describe which fruit / vegetables is on the card and whether it grows underground, over ground or up in the trees
Love hate ice breaker
Food pairs

SNAG Administration Documents

The following documents will assist your SNAG will the general documentation and administration for your records.

SNAG attendance register
SNAG minutes template sheet
SNAG code: This document helps to determine the etiquette within your SNAG meetings
SNAG snacks & sustainability: You may wish to include drinks and snacks within your meetings. This guidance will help you to choose items which are in accordance with the FFLP ethos
SNAG Certificate – pupils template: you may wish to give pupils a certificate for their professional development files. This certificate will give pupils a sense of the importance of being a member of the school nutrition action group

SNAG Evaluation Documents

It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the SNAG meetings on a regular basis – this will ensure full engagement of the members. Please find below some suggested evaluation documents for both primary and secondary schools.

SNAG Consultation

The following documents have been designed to guide your school through the suggested process of consultation. There are a number of documents to choose ranging from simple comments cards to surveys.

Questionnaire guidance
Primary School Resources:
- Primary pupil comment card
- Primary pupil survey
Secondary Schools Resources:
- Secondary pupil comments card
Resources Suitable for All Schools:
- Pupil mystery shopper survey
- Parent compendium: These lists provide suggested questions you may wish to use for your consultations
- Staff compendium
- Pupils compendium
- Opinion finders

Structuring your Whole School Food Policy

Below are a number of policy documents to help you structure your whole school food policy. There are a number of different formats available to suit different age groups dependant on school preference.