School DinnersSchool Dinners

Group C Presentation

Dec 2006

Taz Aldawoud, Mark Cade, Lisa Coulter, Richard Haddad, Aneela Malik, Tan Rafiq

AimAim

• To explore the issues raised by the September 2006 ‘School Dinners’ item, including the implications for General Practice

The main internet headline on BBC’s Look North 15th September 2006, stated:

“Parents who are opposed to the introduction of healthy meals at a South Yorkshire school have held a meeting with its deputy head teacher. Some parents of Rawmarsh Comprehensive pupils have been taking orders for fish and chips and delivering it through the fence at the Rotherham school”.

Parents feed pupils through gatesParents feed pupils through gates

Pupils at a South Yorkshire school are being fed fish and chips through the gates by parents who say the canteen is not providing what their children want.

Students at Rawmarsh Comprehensive are not allowed out of the grounds at lunchtime, so some parents are taking their orders for the chip shop instead.

They say pupils are not being given enough time or choice for their meals.

But the school said it aimed to provide good quality food that helped pupils to concentrate in the afternoons.

Julie Critchlow is one of the parents who delivers pupils' orders from the grounds of a neighbouring cemetery in Rotherham while the school gates are locked. "The children aren't eating what the school provide in the cafeteria because they don't like the quality of the food," she said.

ObjectivesObjectives

• To gain an overview of child nutrition

• To gain insight into childrens’ ideas on what foods they think are healthy

• To gain an overview of the political and organizational issues relating to school meals provision

• To address parents’ understanding/views on health eating and good nutrition

• To be able to apply what we have learnt today in the GP consultation

• To consider how GP services might contribute to improving child nutrition

• To have fun

What Children Really Eat!What Children Really Eat!

• Survey of 20 kids

• Age range from 4 to 16

• Questioned during GP consultation

• Asked three simple questions:

1. What did you have for lunch today?

2. What is your favourite food?

3. What food do you consider to be healthy?

What Children Really EatWhat Children Really EatResults

• Not one child had chips for their lunch!

• However, the food favoured by most children was chips! (10 out of 20 children)

• 11 out of the 14 children who had a school dinner mentioned having at least one vegetable with their main meal

• Only 2 of these 14 children had ‘deep fried food’ for main meal i.e. nuggets or burger

• Of the 2 Asian children interviewed, both had ‘traditional English’ meals which had been cooked with halal meat

• All children answered either fruit or salad to a healthy type of food

• Interestingly, all primary school children answered ‘apple’ to a healthy type of food

What Children Really Eat!What Children Really Eat!

Other information volunteered

• The majority of children, 14 out of 20, had a school dinner rather than packed lunch

• All children who had a school dinner were given a choice of two main meals

• Parents of 4 of the primary school children are actually invited to have lunch at their child’s school on a daily basis

• Some children actually felt too unwell to eat their lunch, hence the reason they were at the Docs!

What Kids Really Eat!What Kids Really Eat!

What Can We Summarise From This Information?

• The Bradford schools catering for the children that we surveyed seem to be providing healthy choices for school dinners

• Despite the schools’ efforts, most children still prefer ‘fatty foods’, with chips, McDonalds, and chocolate topping the charts

• The only foods considered by the children as being healthy were fruit and vegetables

Do children really know what types of food are nutritious?

Are children being educated on this subject sufficiently in school/at home?

Quiz Quiz True or false?True or false?

How much do you know about school dinners?

1. A school dinner costs £1.15p to buy in a Bradford primary school

2. Dinner in a Bradford primary school costs 30p per head of ingredients

3. Less than 50% of children in Bradford primary schools choose to have a school dinner

4. Compared to Rotherham primary schools, Bradford is higher in the primary school meal league table (i.e. more money spent per head of ingredients compared to price charged)

5. The first ever school dinner in Britain was introduced in Bradford in 1936

QuizQuizTrue or False?True or False?

6. The average school cook earns £5.35p per hour

7. All school cooks must have a basic food hygiene certificate and HACCP – hazard analysis and critical control point training

8. All school cooks must have a level 1 qualification in ‘Providing a Healthier School Meals Service’

9. School cooks are encouraged to obtain level 2 and 3 qualification in food safety, preparing and cooking healthier meals, and the development and introduction of recipes – City and Guilds accredited

Quiz Quiz True or False?True or False?

10 The largest food supplier to schools across the country is called ‘Rentokill’

11 Since August 2006, schools have not been allowed to sell confectionary, savoury snacks and sweetened drinks from tuck shops and vending machines

12 The potato is classed as one of the five a day recommended fruit and veg

13 One McDonalds quarter pounder with cheese and medium fries equates to 54g of total fat

14 According to the 2002 Wanless report into NHS requirements, treating diet-related diseases already costs the NHS £6.2m a year

Quiz Quiz AnswersAnswers

Answers to be discussed in talk Taz this slide is for you -you don’t need to show it to the audience

1. True Lowest in the country in primary school league table2. False 30p until Jan 2005, then increased by 16p per head to 46p3. False 56%4. True See league table which compares other Yorkshire towns5. False In 1906 by Labour MP Fred Jowett, member of school board6. False This is minimum wage. Average cook earns between £6.50p and £7.50p7. True This is all that is required8. False Optional 9. True Optional10. True How Scary!11. False This rule comes into play in September 200712. False Potato is not classed as one of five fruit and veg13. True Remember the adult daily allowance id only 70g!14. True And the obesity crisis will make this figure much worse

Government PledgeGovernment Pledge

• School dinners – progressed from national joke to top of political agenda

• Battle for better meals in schools brought to public eye by Jamie Oliver revealing shocking state of children’s diets in 2005 TV series, Jamie’s School Dinners (as seen in video clip)

• Jamie’s campaign + pressure from parents + other pressure groups, led to former Education Secretary Ruth Kelly’s pledge to put £280 million toward school dinners in April 2005

The New RulesThe New RulesFrom August 2006• School dinners now exclude crisps, chocolates, fizzy drinks and low quality’ meat• School children will be served at least two portions of fruit and veg with every meal• Deep fried food will be restricted to two portions per week

From September 2007• Additional rules in place about what can be sold from school tuck shops and school

vending machines• Schools will not be allowed to sell confectionery, savoury snacks (unless they’re free

from added salt, sugar or fat) or sweetened drinks• Must also sell variety of fruit and veg products• Must provide access to free, fresh water

From 2008• Primary schools will need to stipulate vitamin content of school meals

From 2009• Secondary schools will need to stipulate vitamin content

School Cook TrainingSchool Cook Training

• School catering staff need to be valued as part of their school communities

• Vital link in helping children change attitudes towards healthy eating

• Training aimed at providing skills needed to prepare healthy meals which not only meet new nutritional standards, but are also popular with children they provide for

• Must have basic food hygiene and certificate HACCP

• Since Sept 2005 encouraged to obtain level 1, 2 and 3 qualifications which will enable school caterers to:

– Understand how to provide range of healthier meals– Understand why it is important– Develop marketing ideas and material to promote healthy food choices to kids

Bradford PolicyBradford Policy

• Bradford primary schools spend 46 pence per head of ingredients

• This has increased by 16 pence per child since January 2006

• According to the primary school meal league table, in which the cost per head of school meals per local education authority is recorded, Bradford charges the lowest in the country for a school meal

• More than 50% of children choose to have a school meal in Bradford Primary Schools, which compares well to other LEAs (Local Education Authorities)

Primary School Meal League TablePrimary School Meal League Table2006, Yorkshire2006, Yorkshire

Cost per head (p)

Price charged (£)

Average % eating

Bradford 46 1.15 56

East Riding of Yorkshire

44 1.42 43

Leeds 59 1.45 42

Rotherham 37 1.50 43

Sheffield 45 1.45 41

Wakefield 40 1.20 33

York 44 1.52 35

Bradford Success StoriesBradford Success Stories

August 2006• Introduction of ‘classic’ English dishes reinvented to include halal meat for

Muslim school children

– Two month trial across 6 primary schools in the area proved to be hugely successful

November 2006• Bradford gardener wins Soil Association School Food Award for services to

Haworth primary School – running after school gardening club, which involves the children growing vegetables for their school meals

– Soil Association School Food Awards celebrate the importance of providing healthy and sustainable school meals and better classroom education on food and where it comes from. The Awards aim to recognize and champion caterers and primary schools that provide healthy, freshly prepared school meals and are working toward sourcing local and organic ingredients

Summary Summary What else is being done?What else is being done?

• School Food Trust (funded by Department for education and skills and Lottery Fund) set up to work with schools and parents to improve meals

• School food has become part of OFSTED inspections

• Campaigners calling for cooking lessons to be brought back to school

– Currently food education is scattered around curriculum, but pupils are more likely to learn how to design packaging than learn how to make fresh, wholesome food

• New tuck shop/ vending machine rules from 2007

SummarySummaryWhat else is being done?What else is being done?

• Increased funding for school dinners may make positive impact - but no one knows whether the increased funding in England will be maintained in future budgets

• One thing is for certain, parents matter enormously in this debate, whether they’re encouraging healthy eating at home or taking an interest in what’s dished up at school

ReferencesReferences

• www.education.guardian.co.uk/schoolmeals

• www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk

• www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/schoolmeals