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Healthy schools

Feeding mind and body

The Children’s Food Campaign is lobbying Parliament about food in schools. Campaign coordinator Malcolm Clarke asks for your support.

Appetising, nutritious school food is important for children’s health and education. The School Food Trust’s analysis of school meals proves just how much has changed for the better since the introduction of nutritional standards in 2006. The mandatory standards have also given parents peace of mind, knowing that whatever temptations lurk, at least in school their children will eat a nutritious meal and have access to healthy snacks.

But since academies aren’t subject to the standards, there is a danger of poor quality meals or junk food vending machines edging back into schools. The trust’s survey of academies found nine out of ten selling at least one snack food high in sugar, salt or fat – banned from vending machines in other state-funded schools.

All the Government needs do to protect the million-plus children in academy schools is ensure the standards apply to all schools, including academies. Help us push for this: tell us what’s going on in your school, or log on to www.sosfood.org.uk and ask your MP to support Early Day Motion 54 on food in schools.

One in five children is obese before leaving primary school, yet practical food education is under threat as the Government ‘streamlines’ the curriculum. An evaluation of Let’s Get Cooking, a lottery-funded programme of cookery clubs across England, showed how much children and families benefit from learning these skills. We believe all pupils should have at least 24 hours of cookery lessons a year through key stages 1-3.

Every school should also grow food, as promoted by the Food Growing in Schools Taskforce, whose recent report provided compelling evidence that this is essential to improving children’s wellbeing. The challenge is to ensure the national curriculum recognises this. Help us by joining the campaign at www.childrensfood.org.uk

We also need to influence eating habits beyond school. That’s why we’re campaigning for more effective regulation to protect children from junk food marketing and for the adoption of ‘traffic light’ labelling to help parents and children choose wisely.

Find out more at www.childrensfood.org.uk and sign up for campaign updates, join the conversations on our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter (@childrensfood).

NUT supports campaign

Nigel Baker, from Birmingham, represents the NUT at Children’s Food Campaign meetings. “About ten years ago I wrote a motion for NUT conference about the commercialisation of childhood and children’s health. After that, the NUT asked me to represent the Union at CFC meetings,” he told The Teacher.

“It’s important for the NUT to be involved as the CFC is still pursuing fundamental issues in terms of children’s health and welfare. Poor diet and the commercialisation of childhood directly impact on a child’s performance at school.”