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Hungry for Success
UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES, KEY RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDING RECOMMENDATIONS
1. We recommended the establishment of monitored, nutrient-based standards known as the Scottish Nutrient Standards for School Lunches supported by guidance to caterers with access to food and health training provided at a national level. We also felt that in order to bring about necessary changes, the school meals service would require a degree of freedom from competitive commercial pressures.
Key Recommendations: - The Scottish Nutrient Standards for School Lunches should be adopted and education authorities and schools should have them in place in all special schools and primary schools by December 2004 and in all secondary schools by December 2006. (recommendation 3, paras 3.1- 3.23)
- Monitoring of the implementation of the Scottish Nutrient Standards for School Lunches, and related aspects, should be undertaken using the four levels of monitoring proposed in this report and should involve HM Inspectorate of Education working, as appropriate, with other relevant agencies. (recommendation 23, paras 5.6-5.26)
- Local authorities, guided by CoSLA as appropriate, should incorporate strategies for implementing the recommendations of this report into mainstream planning processes that will empower and enable schools and school communities to adopt the recommendations. (recommendation 21, paras 5.1-5.4)
Guiding Recommendations: - Each education authority should develop a policy for delivering, in partnership with parents and carers, medically prescribed diets and appropriate provision for children with special educational needs. (recommendation 2, paras 3.12-3.17)
- All school catering and dining room supervisory staff should undertake appropriate training, for example the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland Food and Health training course (currently under development) as part of their programme of development. Interested parents, carers and teachers should also be encouraged to undertake training in food and health. (recommendation 22, para 5.5)
- In any Best Value review the role of the school meal service as part of the education and health strategies should be taken into account. It should not be considered simply as a commercial trading activity. (recommendation 1, paras 2.10-2.11)
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2. In addition, the following underlying principles governing the implementation of these standards in practice and supporting our wider remit were established:
- Principle 1: Positive School/Whole Child Ethos
- Principle 2: Partnership Working
- Principle 3: Pupil Consultation
- Principle 4: Eliminating Stigma
- Principle 5: Managing the Process
- Principle 6: Influencing Choice
- Principle 7: Incentives to Improve Uptake of School Lunches
Key recommendations and guiding recommendations were set out in the context of these underlying principles.
Principle 1: Positive School/Whole Child Ethos
Principle 2: Partnership Working
Principle 3: Pupil Consultation
3. We considered that a whole-school, whole-child approach was the central and singularly most important aspect of any policy on school meals and should be considered as the core of health promotion in the school. The newly established Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit should be aware of this report and take it into consideration in developing standards for health promoting schools.
4. The success of a whole-school, whole-child approach is dependent upon effective partnership working and the development of a participative and consultative ethos. Partners or stakeholders may vary depending upon the size, location and remit of individual schools. However, links should be made between the local authority, catering managers, school management, teachers, pupils and parents and with wider stakeholders as relevant to individual schools. The importance of pupil consultation was recognised as a major element.
Key Recommendations: - All schools should review their current practice in establishing links between learning and teaching on healthy eating in the curriculum and food provision in the school. (recommendation 5, paras 4.9-4.18)
- Education authorities should promote partnership approaches and schools should develop mechanisms to deliver partnership working. (recommendation 7, paras 4.19-4.23)
Guiding Recommendations: - Schools should consult with pupils on a regular basis on provision of school meals. (recommendation 8, paras 4.24-4.30)
- School meal facilities should not advertise nor promote food or drink with a high fat or sugar content. (recommendation 4, para 3.11)
- The Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit should take the recommendations of the Panel into consideration when developing standards for health promoting schools. (recommendation 6, paras 4.9-4.18)
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Principle 4: Eliminating Stigma
5. We were of the firm belief that children and young people should not feel stigmatised at school meal times for any reason including:
- awareness by other children of additional financial support required by families/carers for the school midday meal or breakfast or out-of-school clubs
- as a result of dietary or accommodation requirements relating to religion, ethnicity or health
- in connection with additional help required in accessing or eating school meals by children with disabilities.
Key Recommendation: - Processes maximising anonymity for free meal recipients should be explored as a priority in all schools. Primary schools should review their ticket allocation practices to ensure anonymity for free school meals is maximised and education authorities should adopt early introduction of a school meal application for multiple-use cards in particular in secondary schools. (recommendation 9, paras 4.31-4.42)
Guiding Recommendation: - As part of the introduction of card systems, education authorities should ensure there are sufficient card validators in easily accessed areas within the school, not only in the dining room, and that they are easy to use. (recommendation 10, paras 4.37-4.42)
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Principle 5: Managing the Process
Principle 6: Influencing Choice
Principle 7: Incentives to Improve Uptake of School Lunches
6. We considered barriers to the take-up of school meals alongside existing good practice where there is a high take-up and proposed a wide range of actions to ensure the acceptability and attractiveness of school meals. Effective management of the dining environment and of the overall dining experience are an essential part of a successful whole-school, whole-child ethos. For different schools with differing levels of existing facilities and practices, this may require a wide range of actions from reviewing queuing and seating arrangements to re-investment and upgrading of facilities. Opportunities to incentivise success were considered important at the customer and caterer level in order to promote healthy eating and to increase take-up in general and provision of appropriate training to build awareness of food and health and to enhance the presentation of healthier menu options in the dining room.
Key Recommendations: - Improvements to the dining room to enhance its atmosphere and ambience, and encourage its use as a social area should be considered as a priority by local authorities and should be taken into account in their wider school estate planning. It is desirable, wherever possible, that a separate dining area should be provided. (recommendation 17, paras 4.61-4.67)
- Senior management within schools should strongly support and endorse their school meal provision as part of the whole-child approach. (recommendation 15 paras 4.50-4.51)
Guiding Recommendations: - All schools should examine their seating and queuing arrangements to ensure that the social experience of school meals is maximised. (recommendation 11, paras 4.43-4.46)
- To address queuing difficulties and in any review of the length of the lunch break, the following factors should be considered: (recommendation 12, paras 4.43-4.46)
- multiple service points
- more cash points in cash cafeterias
- staggered arrivals of diners/separate sittings
- pre-ordering facility
- separate counter for collecting pre-ordered meals
- delivery of pre-ordered meals to lunchtime clubs
- examining the potential for additional outlets elsewhere in the school
- the needs of disabled pupils.
- In line with the agreement set out in A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century, education authorities should consider deploying classroom assistants and dining room assistants to undertake a supervisory role in dining rooms. (recommendation 14, paras 4.50-4.51)
- When education authorities and schools are examining the structure of the school day, the lunchtime experience should be part of that consideration. (recommendation 13, paras 4.43-4.46)
- Caterers should consider appropriate means of labelling food and methods of conveying information on content to pupils and parents. Through existing school communication channels, menus should be forwarded to parents at least once a term. Schools and caterers should consider presentation, marketing and pricing structures to incentivise healthier choices. (recommendation 16, paras 4.52-4.60)
- Furniture design, layout and usage, along with other factors such as décor and background music, should be considered by all schools, with significant pupil input and programmes for change drawn up. (recommendation 18, paras 4.61-4.67)
- Education authorities should consider the introduction of incentive schemes to promote healthier choices and increase the take-up of school meals. (recommendation 19, paras 4.68 - 4.71)
- Education authorities should consider the introduction of staff incentive schemes to recognise innovation and celebrate success. (recommendation 20, paras 4.72 - 4.73)
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Other Relevant Factors
7. We recognised that food in schools is not solely about what happens at lunchtime. A whole- school approach promotes consistency with what is taught in the classroom and with the food that is provided in the dining room, in breakfast clubs, out-of-school clubs, in vending machines and tuckshops. While not part of our remit, these matters are important. We discussed a number of additional relevant areas including eligibility for free school meals and our thinking on these has been included in the report with the following recommendation:
- The Scottish Executive should consider what further work needs to be done to take forward the additional important and related issues identified by the Expert Panel. (recommendation 24, paras
6.1-6.21)
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