Hungry for Success
The Scottish Executive has invested £63.5m over 3 years in a revitalised school meals service in Scotland . Nutritional standards have been developed for school meals and these will be enforced and monitored by performance management systems for schools.
Crucially, this initiative will be integrated into a health promoting school approach and will create a supportive environment for healthier living (of which healthy eating is a part) in schools.
Children will be provided with healthier food choices, supportive environments and information and support for healthy food choices.
Measures include:
- Free fruit for all pupils in primary one and two
| - New nutrient standards for school meals
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- Standard portion sizes and product specifications
| - Provision of drinking water
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- Actions to incentivise uptake of free school meal entitlement
| - Improved facilities in dining rooms
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The recommendations are based upon 7 underlying principles:
- Creating a Positive whole school / whole child ethos
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- Incentives to improve general uptake
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The approach includes a detailed strategy for monitoring progress and performance and support for schools and education authorities to achieve the standards
As part of this strategy, monitoring is being built into Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) school inspections from August 2004, target nutrient specifications for manufactured products have been set by the Food Standards Agency Scotland to assist caterers achieve the nutrient standards and to drive up food quality within this sector, and menu planning and analysis software (H4S) has also been developed.
External Links
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) in Scotland became an Executive Agency in April 2001. This was in response to it's changing role and function brought about by devolution and by an increasing emphasis placed on an independent, rigorous evaluation of the Scottish education system.
The
Food Standards Agency Scotland was launched on 3 April 2000. It's commitment is to improve food safety and standards in Scotland and protect the health of Scotland's population in relation to food
The Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit works principally in a strategic way, influencing policy and guidance towards ensuring that health promoting school development is integral to local and national policy and plans. In order to do this, the Unit works closely with key partners including The Scottish Executive Health and Education Departments, Learning and Teaching Scotland, NHS Health Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and HM Inspectorate of Education.