Food Policy

Introduction

Date of Policy- June 2007

Members of School Community involved with this policy-

Mrs S. Davies (Deputy Head)

Mrs L. Chesshire (PSHE Co-ordinator)

Mrs K. Hughes (Parent Governor)

Mrs A. Jowett (Parent/Dietician)

Mrs L. Shimmell (Parent/Dinner Supervisor)

Review date- June 2008

This policy has been formulated to enable Balsall Common Primary School (BCPS) to develop a shared philosophy on all aspects of food and drink.  Its key aim is to develop healthy eating and drinking activities within the school that benefit pupils, staff, parents, caterers and others associated with the school. It has been developed in conjunction with our Every Child Matters, PSHE, Drugs and SRE policies.

Our school supports the ‘five a day’ campaign to encourage children to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, which has been shown to reduce the onset of certain life threatening conditions as well as being helpful in tackling childhood obesity.

As part of the National Healthy Schools framework this policy has been developed through consultation with parents, staff and governors to gain a whole school policy. A parental questionnaire was completed by over two hundred families and the children have been consulted through class and school councils. We have talked to parents of differing religions and cultures and involved our school meals service providers. We feel it is vitally important to ensure that through effective leadership, the school ethos and the curriculum, we create an environment which supports a healthy lifestyle.

Definition

Our school defines healthy eating as providing the body with well-balanced, nutritional food which will ensure good health and well-being. We do not refer to any foods as being good or bad and aim to give children the skills they need to make healthy choices which will stay with them throughout their lives. We are always prepared to support parents in any way we can and will provide a list of useful websites which will also help to reinforce the healthy eating initiatives.  

Aims and Objectives

1. To ensure all aspects of food and drink in school promote the health and well-being of pupils, staff and visitors.

2. To give our pupils the information they need to make healthy choices.

3. To recognise the important connection between a healthy, balanced diet and a child’s ability to learn effectively.

4. To contribute to the healthy physical development of all members of our school community.

5. To promote a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle.

6. To ensure children have the basic knowledge to formulate life-long skills, e.g. cookery classes, workshops on healthy lunchboxes, gardening club.

7. To promote a welcoming eating environment to encourage the positive social interaction of staff and pupils. The school recognises that sharing food is an excellent opportunity to build relationships and promote good social skills.

8. To ensure that food provision reflects the ethical and medical requirements of staff and pupils, e.g. religious, ethnic, vegetarian, medical and allergenic needs.

Specific Aspects of Food in Schools

Break time snacks

All children in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 are invited to bring a healthy snack from home to eat at morning break time. This can be any selection of fruit, dried fruit and vegetables. (Please note, no nuts of any kind because of allergies). Children may bring in water, pure fruit juice and milk and we are promoting the ‘Milk in Schools’ project.  However, in conjunction with the PSHE provision which promotes informed choice, the children are free to bring in one piece of tuck of their choice, apart from fruit, every Friday and parents will be encouraged to discuss the choices with their children. At present all our Key Stage1 children receive free fruit under the government scheme, however, they are welcome to bring in additional fruit for their tuck if required.

Water

Cooled water is freely available throughout the day to all members of the school community.  Regular opportunities are given to drink water and children are regularly reminded and encouraged to drink water at break times.

Milk

Free milk is available to all children under five and is shared between all children in Foundation Stage. The School Milk Project is working in partnership with Solihull Local Authority (LA) to introduce a school milk scheme from September 2007 for Key Stage 1and 2.

School Lunches

School lunches are provided by Solihull LA and all meals must meet the new nutritional government guidelines for school catering.  These include the following: -

• Children should have no less than two portions of fruit and vegetables a day, one of which should be salad or vegetables and at least one should be fresh fruit, fruit tinned in juice or fruit salad. A fruit based dessert shall be available at least twice a week in primary schools.
• Oily fish such as salmon or mackerel should be served at least once every three weeks.
• Bread should be available at lunch every day.
• Free, fresh drinking water should be available at all times.
• The only drinks which should be served are water, pure fruit juices, milk, yoghurt and milk drinks with less than 5%added sugar, smoothies, low calorie hot chocolate, coffee and tea.

Focused Pupil Discussions ensure children have the opportunity to express their opinions on the food offered. A meeting will be arranged for the School Council to talk with the school cook on a termly basis.

Packed Lunches

The Food Standards Agency survey of packed lunchboxes showed that in general children’s lunchboxes contained too much salt, fat and sugar and too little fruit and vegetables. Our school actively encourages parents and children to pack healthy lunchboxes by providing information and guidance. We encourage parents to make a balanced meal with plenty of fruit and vegetables, bread and protein. Food not eaten in a packed lunch will be sent home to ensure parents are aware of how much has been eaten.

Birthdays

We are aware that many parents like to celebrate their child’s birthday in school as well as at home. Often this is done by sending in sweets or cakes to share with the rest of the class. However, parents may like to consider a healthier option and are invited to consider, for example, sending in a book for the book corner instead for the class to enjoy. A name plate will be added to the front of the book to show which child’s birthday has been celebrated. Please note that we do not allow lollipops of any kind to be shared with the children because of health and safety reasons. Similarly, if children would like to bring a class gift back from holidays, perhaps they could consider a postcard or small trinket from the country they visited as an alternative to sweets. These could play an important part in providing resources for our thematic curriculum.

Dining Environment

The school is committed to providing a welcoming eating environment to encourage the positive social interaction of pupils and teachers. It is recognised that the physical constraints of the main hall mean we operate a number of sittings, limiting the time available for serving and eating school dinners and packed lunches. Despite this constraint, the school will aim to provide a calm, ordered environment- conducive to enjoyable eating and good manners. 

The school is also committed to: -

• Active help for children where necessary, e.g. opening of packets, carrying trays.
• Encouraging children to eat as much of their dinner as is appropriate. Stickers are now available every day for Key Stage 1 children who finish all their lunch.
• Equal treatment of children having school dinners and packed lunches in terms of supervision.
• Provision of water jugs and clean cups on every table.
• Encouraging children to wash their hands before eating.
• Providing tablecloths and posters in the hall to improve the overall environment.

Celebrations and Festivals

The school recognises that food plays an important role in the celebration of different cultures and religious festivals. As part of our curriculum children will have the opportunity to experience foods significant to different countries and belief.

Food in the Curriculum

The significance of food in our lives means it can and should be used to enrich the curriculum. In turn, the curriculum can enrich pupil’s experience of food and healthy eating. Children are introduced to healthy choices from Foundation Stage 1, when they first enter Nursery and the emphasis on this continues through every year group. Our new thematic curriculum offers opportunities for children to experience food from different countries, historical periods and cultures as well as reinforcing the need for a healthy,  balanced diet.

After School

The school discourages parents/carers from providing sweets, fizzy drinks and crisps for consumption on the school premises. As previously stated, we strongly advise parents not to provide lollipops at any time during the school day for health and safety reasons.

Out of School Activities

On special occasions, e.g. Gala Day, termly discos, Christmas Fayre, Annual Games etc, we accept that a wider range of confectionery, drinks and crisps may be available, with parental supervision. However, we will encourage the PTA to consider this Food Policy, especially with regard to quality and choice.  For example, it may be possible to purchase good quality sausages and burgers with an accompaniment of lettuce or cucumber. Where healthy options have been used we need to highlight this and advertise the fact that we are making healthy choices! The School Council representatives are hoping to accompany some of the PTA on a trip to the wholesalers to compare and contrast sweets and their nutritional content and use of additives.  

Gardening Club

The school is investigating the possibility of a gardening club to promote pupils involvement with growing and sampling food. An area of the school field has been assigned for the use of a gardening club and we are hoping to receive advice from Ryton Organic Gardens.

Cookery Club

A healthy cookery club provides an ideal opportunity for children, staff and parents to work together, preparing and enjoying healthy food! Hopefully, the children will learn skills which will last throughout their lives and will build on the lessons learnt through the curriculum. We hope to begin a cookery club in the new school year, initially with Year 6 and then work through a rolling programme to ensure all Key Stage 2 children have the chance to take part at some point. Key stage 1 children will have the opportunity to cook within their taught curriculum time.

Values

At BCPS we strive to work together as a whole community, sharing our ideas and beliefs and all working for the ultimate good of the children in our care. We aim to show respect for ourselves and each other and this is demonstrated by the empowerment we give to our children from an early age. We aim to give children information so that they are able to make sensible choices over food. We do not believe in actually banning all sweets, crisps, cakes etc from our school as then the children do not have the opportunity to make these informed choices.

Our school council has been instrumental in ensuring the children’s voices are heard and through them recently for example, we have now started serving water at our discos, considered a gardening club and initiated a cookery club.

Talking to parents about food issues is always a very sensitive issue and we endeavour to listen carefully and respect the views of others. That is why in some parts of the policy, certain issues are suggested rather than fully imposed, as we feel it is important to work together for the good of the children.

Our broad curriculum gives us an ideal platform from which to give clear messages about healthy eating e.g. comparing the diets of groups of children from different parts of the world gives our own children the awareness of their own good fortune. However incidences of childhood obesity are far lower in countries such as Japan and China and the children can compare and contrast the diets to see why this is the case.

Roles and Responsibilities

It is extremely important that the whole school is united in providing the children with the correct information about healthy eating. We need to give consistent messages about the importance of a healthy, well balanced diet and regular exercise.

Consultation with parents ensures that similar messages are reinforced at home. Our Food in School Committee includes a school governor and this person, together with the teacher responsible for Healthy Schools will report regularly to the Governing Body.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Evaluation of the progress made by the school in implementing the aims and objectives of this policy will be made by the Healthy Schools Co-ordinator and Healthy Schools Governor. A report will then be sent to the Headteacher on a termly basis. Before we started to compile this policy we completed a Healthy Schools audit and a similar audit will be completed annually so that we can monitor the progress made.

Communication of this Policy

This policy will be on the school website, available from the school office and displayed in the staffroom.

BCPSFoodPolicy2007.pdf