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School
Fruit Pilot – London
Alison Stafford
5-A-Day and Fruit Scheme Coordinator for London
Department of Health |
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A resounding success
Over 280,000 four to six year old school children in London are enjoying
a free piece of fruit every day as part of the lottery-funded School
Fruit Pilot programme. Across the capital almost 90 per cent of
children in this age group are receiving a variety of fruit (apples,
pears, satsumas and bananas) and are benefiting from the early
development of healthy eating habits.
London was the second region to benefit from the scheme, launched in October 2002 by the Department of Health and funded by the largest of the lottery distributors, the New Opportunities Fund. There are a number of boroughs in London that have already achieved the 100% target for eligible pupils receiving their fruit. These are: Greenwich – 10,560
pupils; Haringey – 11,205 pupils; Hammersmith & Fulham – 4,975
pupils; Enfield – 12,609 pupils. |
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10% still to join
However, some schools are still missing out on the opportunity to
give children a daily portion of free fruit. Those schools are
now being urged to join the scheme that currently sees 1.4 million
pieces of fruit distributed across London each week.
Many
of the schools that haven’t joined already have
systems for distributing or selling fruit to their pupils.
Others have
not joined due to a perceived increase in workload for their
staff, which has not been the case for the schools involved.
Schools that took part in a recent survey were enthusiastic
about the scheme and felt that it was an easy scheme to manage
with
minimal paperwork and form filling. Small scale to large scale
The National School Fruit Scheme (NSFS) was first devised as
part of the NHS Plan, published in July 2000. The scheme
was initially piloted in 500 schools throughout England
from Autumn
2000. The current large-scale pilot is a region-by-region
roll out that started in the West Midlands in May 2002,
followed
by London in October 2002, the North West in January 2003
and the East Midlands in May 2003. Further regional roll
out is
planned. £42 million from the New Opportunities Fund
has been committed from May 2002 to March 2004. |
Avondale
School The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea |
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Fruit
supply and distribution
In the original pilot areas, various fruit supply options were set up using different
distributor companies. These were evaluated and informed the scale up of the
scheme. During the scale up, separate tenders for the supply and the distribution
of fruit were issued to cover each region. Key requirements included continuity
of supply, food safety, traceability and quality management.
The
Department of Health is keen to promote sustainable procurement
whilst remaining within existing procurement law and securing
value for money. Other supply and distribution models are being
considered.
Vegetables are also being integrated into the scheme.
Sue Atkinson, Director of Public Health for London says: “I
am delighted that schools in London have shown such commitment
to making sure 4-6 year olds get a piece of fruit each day. Particularly
those areas reaching 100% of this target group.” She adds: “The
benefits of developing healthy eating habits as a child are immeasurable.
The risk of developing a serious illness in later life is greatly
reduced by having a healthy diet throughout your childhood. Current
evidence suggests that one in five children do not eat any fruit
in a week. Those children benefiting from the scheme will also
benefit in the longer term. “I would encourage those schools
that are not participating in this scheme to sign up now and
provide the same benefits for their pupils.” |
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In
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Summer
2003 Newsletter Page Six
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