EYFS Best Practice in Schools: Chewing it over

Download the PDF of this article

With one in five children now classed as overweight or obese by the time they start in Reception, it is clear that schools have a crucial role to play in providing children with healthy food and promoting healthy eating habits.

However, what that role should be remains up for debate and delivering on it is becoming more challenging as costs rise.

Ofsted sparked controversy this summer when it downplayed the contribution that schools could realistically make in tackling the childhood obesity crisis. Its July report Obesity, healthy eating and physical activity in primary schools also advocated a move away from a whole-school approach to healthy eating – given the risk of it increasing staff workload – in favour of developing children’s knowledge and skills in the classroom alone.

The expert panel advising Ofsted has claimed that the inspectorate has gone against its advice.


QUALITY

School meals have been under the spotlight since celebrity chef Jamie Oliver brought the infamous Turkey Twizzler to the attention of the nation in 2005. Mr Oliver’s Feed Me Better campaign had a far-reaching effect, says Rob Percival, policy and campaigns manager at The Soil Association, which runs award programme Food for Life.

‘Jamie’s campaign resulted in the first legal minimum standards for school food, which were updated in 2015,’ says Mr Percival. ‘In this period, school food noticeably improved.’
However, that may be about to change. ‘Over the last year or so there has been a cocktail of pressures on school caterers: Brexit driving up ingredient costs, increases to the National Minimum Wage, the Apprenticeship Levy, and squeezed school budgets,’ says Mr Percival.

He adds, ‘In response, we are seeing what threatens to be a dropping back in the quality of food, a move from hot to cold service, and replacing healthier items with cheaper items.’
While the School Food Standards are mandatory, there is no monitoring of whether schools meet them. The Government recently published the second part of its obesity action plan, but a raft of school-related initiatives put forward in the first plan in 2016 have not yet seen the light of day.

‘We’ve seen no sign of the Healthy Rating Scheme for primary schools, which was proposed in the first plan, and we’re still waiting to find out what role, if any,
Ofsted will play in rating schools on school food and pupil health and well-being,’ says Mr Percival.

While there is no Government-run Healthy Rating Scheme, schools can sign up to the ‘Food for Life Served Here’ catering standard. Half of all primary schools display the logo, which guarantees the majority of food will be freshly prepared, free from trans fats, sweeteners and additives, cooked by trained chefs, and use ingredients from sustainable and ethical sources.

Around 1,200 primary schools have also signed up to the wider Food for Life Schools Awards Programme. Criteria for a bronze award include the use of seasonal ingredients that are at least 75 per cent freshly prepared. Silver schools must use a minimum of 5 per cent organic food and local ingredients, while gold schools must meet standards that show the food served is healthy, ethical, animal- and climate-friendly, at least 15 per cent organic and 5 per cent free-range.

Food for Life supports schools to meet these standards. An independent evaluation shows that at such schools: