The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007
The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act builds on the work of health promoting schools and Hungry for Success.
In summary, the Act:
- Places health promotion at the heart of a schools' activities
- Ensures that food and drink served in schools meets nutritional requirements specified by the Scottish Ministers by regulations
- Ensures local authorities promote the uptake and benefits of school meals and, in particular, free school meals
- Reduces the stigma associated with free school meals by requiring local authorities to protect the identity of those eligible for free school meals
- Gives local authorities the power to provide pupils with healthy snacks and drinks, either at a cost or free of charge
- Requires local authorities to consider sustainable development guidance when they provide food or drink in schools
Health Promotion
We have published guidance, titled Health Promotion Guidance for local authorities and schools, which will support local authorities and schools, and managers of grant-aided schools, in working with partner agencies to meet the duty to ensure that all schools are health promoting. Under Curriculum for Excellence, draft learning outcomes and experiences in Health and Wellbeing have also been published. The Health Promotion Guidance and these outcomes and experiences, when taken together, describe the Government's expectations for promoting the health and wellbeing of children in school.
The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008
The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008 commenced in primary schools on 4 August 2008. The regulations will commence in secondary schools on August 3, 2009. The duty to provide free, chilled drinking water to pupils at all times commenced in both primary and secondary schools on August 4, 2008.
Guidance, titled Healthy Eating in Schools - A guide to implementing the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008, has also been published. This guidance is intended to help those involved in providing food and drinks in schools to implement the regulations. It explains the nutritional requirements in the regulations and provides guidance on how to comply with them. The guidance also provides advice on food and drink not covered by the regulations.
Nutritional Analysis
HMIE have developed a guidance manual which will inform catering providers and local authorities on how to conduct a nutrient analysis of a school meals menu to determine compliance with the nutrient standards. This guide will ensure that a consistent approach is adopted across Scotland to calculate the nutrient content of an average school lunch.
This document also includes a nutritional software specification guide which has been developed to assist local authorities in the purchase of suitable nutritional analysis software programmes.
The Food Standards Agency has produced a guide for local authorities across the UK on the nutrient specifications for a wide range of manufactured products ( Nutrient Specifications for Manufactured Products) . The purpose of this guide is to assist local authorities to achieve the nutrient standards through the procurement of lower sodium, fat, saturated fat and sugar products.
Sustainable Development
Guidance, titled Integrating Sustainable Development Into Public Procurement Of Food and Catering Services, has been issued to local authorities with advice on various sustainable development objectives like encouraging local sourcing, fair trade, and waste, and how to pursue these various objectives whilst staying within EU procurement law. It explains how aspects such as freshness, quality standards and asking for seasonal, locally available produce can lead to more engagement from local suppliers.
Curriculum for Excellence
Curriculum for Excellence is the Scottish Government's major programme of reform for the education sector. It starts in nurseries and continues through schools, colleges and beyond. Curriculum for Excellence is not only a review of the content of the curriculum but also an opportunity to review other aspects of Scotland's education system, including qualifications, assessment and learning and teaching approaches.
Under Curriculum for Excellence, experiences and outcomes for Health and Wellbeing are now available. The experiences and outcomes include a strand on Food and Health which aims to develop in learners the skills to make healthy food choices and help establish lifelong healthy eating habits. Taken together with the Health Promotion guidance, the health and wellbeing experiences and outcomes outline the Government's expectations upon individuals, schools and local authorities for promoting the health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Links to good practice
The links below are evaluations of 2 programmes funded by the Scottish Government which promote emotional wellbeing.
The impact of the FRIENDS Programme on children's anxiety, low mood and self esteem: a replication study in a Scottish setting.
Building Emotional Resilience in Denny Schools (BERDS): A Pilot Intervention.