eating matters - the national...

Mattersin Schools in the West Midlands

EatingA report by the Regional Foodin Schools Action GroupApril 2008 – March 2009

Eating Matters in Schools in the West Midlands 1

Contents

Foreword _________________________________________________________________________________2

Introduction _______________________________________________________________________________3

Department of Health West Midlands____________________________________________________________5

Co-ordination and Communication

Capacity Building

Policy Development and Delivery

Research and Development

Partnership Working and Networking

Arts and Health

Eating Matters in Special Schools Conference

Breakfast Club Training

Whole School Food Policy Research

Department for Children, Families and Schools _____________________________________________________9

The Healthy Schools Programme

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs __________________________________________________9

The Year of Food and Farming

The School Food Trust ______________________________________________________________________10

The Million Meals Campaign

Let’s Get Cooking

School FEAST

School Food Ambassadors

Targeted Local Authorities

Kitchen Capacity Pilots

Food for Life Partnership _____________________________________________________________________13

Heart of England Fine Foods _________________________________________________________________14

Central England Trading Standards Authority______________________________________________________14

ContinYou _______________________________________________________________________________15

Mission Nutrition

Skilled for Health

The National School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme__________________________________________________15

Abbreviations _____________________________________________________________________________16

Useful Links_______________________________________________________________________________16

References_________________________________________________________________________back cover

2 Eating Matters in Schools in the West Midlands

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Foreword

The Regional Food in Schools Action Group wasestablished in 2007 to bring together the wide rangeof partner agencies working on school food within theregion. The group seeks to support a joined upapproach working with schools to improve the healthand education of school aged children. This reportsummarises the work of the partner agencies, celebratestheir successes during 2008/09 and outlines their plansto meet regional objectives for the coming year.

Increasing the take up of healthy schools lunches and improving the eatinghabits of school aged children is at the forefront of the work the Departmentof Health West Midlands and Directorate of Children and Learners, inpartnership with agencies across the region. There is now increasingevidence that a healthy lunch can have a positive impact on children’sbehaviour and on their performance at school.

There has been considerable progress over the past year, but it is not timeto be complacent and we need to be continuing to strive to improve thequality and take up of food provided to children throughout the school day.

We hope this report will give you a clear understanding of the work that hastaken place during 2008/9 and our priorities, direction and challenge forthe coming year.

Dr Rashmi Shukla CBE, Regional Director Public Health

Clive Wilkinson, Director for Children and Learners, DCFS/Government Office for the West Midlands


IntroductionTackling obesity among children is both a national and regional priority and schools play a key role in supporting childrenand families to establish healthy eating attitudes and habits through the curriculum, school environment and food providedacross the school day. The National Child Measurement Programme has highlighted that over a third of children in Englandare either overweight or obese. In the West Midlands 23% of children in reception and 34% of pupils in year 6 areoverweight or obese (National Child Measurement Programme 2007/2008).

During the last 18 months, progress has been made on school food. The final nutrient based standards are now in place forprimary schools and come into effect for secondary and special schools in September 2009.

Our regional focus over the past year has been on school meal take up and we have been actively supporting localauthorities to address issues around school food through the development of local networks and partnerships betweeneducation, health and catering. We now have an effective network of school food ambassadors across the region and apriority for their work has been school meal take up. The take up of school lunches is a public service agreement indicatorand part of the local government national indicator set, NI 52, routinely monitored by OFSTED and the Audit Commission.We have particularly focused on support for the Million Meals Campaign over the past year and a higher proportion ofschools signed up to this initiative than any other region in England.

Figure 1


”“Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives (2008), the cross Government strategy for England to tackle obesity has an ambition toenable everyone in society to maintain a healthy weight.

Our ambition is to be the first major nation to reverse the rising tide of obesity and overweightin the population by ensuring that everyone is able to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.Our initial focus will be on children: by 2010, we aim to reduce the proportion of overweight andobese children to 2000 levels.

A healthy diet and focus on nutrition is important and food in school central to achieving thisambition. Schools have a responsibility to provide a healthy environment in which children andyoung people can learn, develop and maximise the opportunity for them to live healthy lives.

Since 2000 government has taken action on a number of fronts to promote healthier food choices.In particular, significant improvements have been made to food standards in schools and there area range of national indicators specifically related to child health and school meals:

• NI 52 Take up of school lunches

• NI 55 Obesity among primary school age children in reception

• NI 56 Obesity among primary school age children in year 6

In October 2005, the Government appointed School Meals Review Panel published its report ‘Turning the Tables’. The reportproposed radical changes to the quality and nutritional value of food served and consumed in school and has resulted innew standards for school food. The School Food Trust was set up to deliver this agenda. The Trust has a wide ranging workprogramme to support changes to school food in particular the introduction of the food and nutrient based standards forschool food.

School Food Standards

The Standards Timetable for meeting the standards

Interim food-based standards for school lunches All schools from September 2006

Food based standards for school food other than lunches All schools from September 2007

Nutrient-based and final food based standards Primary Schools by September 2008 at the latestfor school lunches Secondary schools by September 2009 at the latest

Special Schools and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs)by September 2009 at the latest

In the West Midlands a Regional Food in Schools Action Group (RFISAG) has been set up to bring together the widerange of partner agencies working on school food and to support a joined up approach to work with schools and widerpartners. This group has worked closely with the School Food Trust to set up the West Midlands School FoodAmbassador Network, which is a network of representatives from health, education, catering and the third sector fromeach of the fourteen local authorities in the West Midlands.

Our priority has been to ensure joined up work at a national, regional, local and school level between catering, education,health and the third sector. A specific focus has been on the promotion of a whole school approach to school food.

This report summaries the work of the West Midlands Regional Food in Schools Action group with partner agencies, the workthey have been involved with during 2008/09 and plans for the coming year.


Department of HealthWest Midlands (DHWM)The Department of Health West Midlands is committed to delivering on the food in schools agenda in the West Midlandsand ensuring effective communication and coordination structures are in place. A dedicated post is in place to support foodin schools activity within the region and the DHWM chairs the RFISAG.

There are five priority areas of work, these include:

• Co-ordination and communication;

• Capacity Building;

• Policy Development and Delivery;

• Research and Development;

• Partnership working and networking.

Co-ordination and CommunicationThe RFISAG and School Food Ambassador network support effective co-ordination, communication and partnership workingat a regional, local and school level. The structure is outlined in Figure 2. More information is available on our website atwww.foodwm.org.uk

Figure 2


Capacity BuildingIn response to national and regional priorities a range ofcapacity building initiatives and events have been deliveredover the past year. A particular focus has been on thedevelopment of a whole school approach to food inschools, school meal take up and meeting the ‘Be Healthy’theme of Every Child Matters.

Events include:

• Eating Matters in Special Schools – Conference;

• Governor Training in Herefordshire;

• Breakfast Club Training;

• Healthy Packed Lunch Workshops;

• Food and Health Training;

• Early Year Nutrition Training;

• Nutrition Training for those working

with Children in Care.

Policy Development and DeliveryWe are supporting programmes to increase school mealtake up with a specific focus on free school meals. We areactively promoting sign up to the School Food Trust MillionMeals Campaign and have over 26% of schools in theregion signed up to the campaign. A regional arts project,‘Charlie and the Kitchen Cook’ has been developed byPawprint Theatricals, a local theatre company, to promoteschool meals in a primary setting. We are also offeringregional support to the School Food Trust with their targetedinterventions.

The work with schools is closely aligned with nationalprogrammes and priorities such as Change 4 Life andobesity strategies. We are also ensuring that we have closelinks with the infant feeding agenda with a focus on HealthyStart take up and vitamin supplementation, and joint workingwith the infant feeding co-ordinators.

Research and DevelopmentA range of research projects have taken place over the past year to enable us to understand what is happening within theregion:

• Whole School Food Policy Research;

• Food in Schools Surveys;

• Leisure Centre Vending Survey;

• Special School Case Study Report.

More details of these are available at www.foodwm.org.uk

In 2009/10 we will be working with the School Food Trust and Central England Trading Standards Authority (CEnTSA) topilot a school food audit and inspections toolkit.

Partnership Working and NetworkingWe have worked closely with a range of partners, through the regional networks. These include Defra, DCFS, Food for LifePartnership, School Food Trust, Let’s Get Cooking, Heart of England Fine Foods, Local Catering Association, Central EnglandTrading Standards Association, Schools, Extended Schools, ContinYou, Local Authorities, Primary Care Trusts.

A new website www.foodwm.org.uk has been set up to provide support to the region. Thisis funded by the DHWM as a joint site for obesity, physical activity and food. The food inschools section provides information on a broad range of issues and hosts a wide range ofresources and information as well as signposting to national programmes such as theNational Child Measurement Programme, School Fruit and Vegetable Schemeand Change 4 Life.

School Food Newsletters are distributed to all schools, within the region, on a termly basisand have been a successful way of advertising training and events.


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Arts and Health

Charlie and the Kitchen Cook is a theatre production commissioned from PawprintTheatricals by the Department of Health West Midlands. The performance promotes thetake up of school meals among primary school aged children and reinforce messages onhealthy packed lunches, 5 A Day and the ‘Eatwell Plate’. The show follows Charlie as hestrives to become a cook under the guidance of Cook Crumble who runs a school kitchen,but her rival, Betty Bacteria, has other plans. With the help of the children, who becomeKitchen Assistants within the production, Charlie and Cook Crumble help Betty change herways. The show is packed with audience participation, original songs, comedy and importantinformation about healthy eating, school meal take up, 5 A day and healthy packed lunches.

A healthy eating extravaganza – where “Baddie Betty Junk Food" gets won over good andproper! Fun, fun, fun and lots of energy, from a professional cast who knew exactly what theywere doing – mission accomplished! The kids loved it; they were rivetted, engaged, inspired. Theproduction confirms the healthy eating programme currently being pushed with the easilyrecognisable “food plate" chart and the pantomime characters reinforcing healthy eating. Highlyinteractive and up to date. A fabulous, lively and friendly cast.

Tipton Green Junior School, Sandwell

The show has been seen by over 18,000 pupils in 90 schools in the West Midlands. The show was supported by in servicetraining for teaching staff and parents were invited to attend the performances and receive school meal tasters.

This performance was excellent – the message of eating healthily was promoted throughout in a funand informative way. I think it will contribute enormously to the promotion of eating a school dinner.

St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School, Sandwell

Schools have participated in a range of activities to take forward messages from the show. For example MaidensbridgePrimary School in Dudley won first prize in a competition to design food characters for each section of the ‘Eatwell Plate’ withtheir Race for Life. An evaluation report is available at www.foodwm.org.uk

Eating Matters in Special Schools ConferenceA Special Schools Conference was held on the 30th March 2009, to discuss the issues facing special schools in meetingthe School Food Standards, promote a whole school approach to school food and share good practice within the region aswell as launching the new resources for Special Schools developed by the School Food Trust.

150 delegates attended the day and key note speakers included Joe Harvey from the HealthEducation Trust, Patricia Mucavele from the School Food Trust and Clive Wilkinson, Director ofChildren and Learners. Delegates received a case study report, produced by DHWM, ‘EatingMatters in Special Schools in the West Midlands’. The report outlines good practice from14 schools across the region. They also received copies of the Caroline Walker Trust resource‘Eating Well for Adults and Children with learning disabilities’ and copies of the new resourcesfor Special Schools from the School Food Trust.

Other partners involved in the day included:The School Food Trust The Food for Life PartnershipWest Midlands Healthy Schools Programme Horton Lodge School, StaffordshireSutton Special School, Dudley Speech and Language Therapists, WolverhamptonPaediatric Dietians, Coventry Carefree EatingHeart of England Fine Food Shropshire County CateringWorcestershire County CateringThe event was jointly funded by the DHWM and the SFT


Breakfast Club TrainingThe need for breakfast club training focused both on setting up and sustainingclubs was identified by the RFISAG. Four training days have been delivered inthe region this year with support from Dairy Co and the Home Grown CerealAuthority.

Over 100 delegates have attended the training which covered the setting upand sustainability of breakfast clubs.

Due to the popularity of this training further courses will be rolled out during2009/2010. Training will include 4 primary training days, one secondarytraining day and a ‘Masterclass’ event. A breakfast club training pack will beproduced based around the ‘breakfast4life’ campaign and a regional networkestablished to promote ‘breakfast4life’.

Whole School Food Policy Research

Are Whole School Food Policies (WSFP) implemented effectively in practice in primaryschools in the West Midlands?

Between September 2007 and July 2008, a regional research project looked at whetherWhole School Food Policies were effectively implemented in practice in Primary Schools inthe West Midlands. Thirty seven primary schools were involved in the project.

Key findings were that:

• Observed practice was overwhelmingly positive;

• There was a large variation between WSFP;

• Schools who did not agree to participate in a visit generally had lower scoring

WSFP than those schools who did;

• Overall practice was better than policy except in three areas – policy on packed lunches, clarity of the curriculum

surrounding food and the presence of a cooking club;

• Issues were identified around schools’ engagement with parents over packed lunch policy;

• The majority of schools scored highly on school environment, although there were concerns in a few schools around

lack of promotional materials, tuck shops achieving standards and the lunch menu being displayed;

• Some issues were identified around procedures for the dining room environment.

Recommendations include:

• Standardisation of the content of WSFP to reduce the large variation between schools and to ensure essential areas

of practice are included in all policies;

• Need to ensure schools’ good practice is reflected in their intentions and way forward for the school, in consultation

with the whole school community;

• National, regional and local Healthy Schools Teams need to work with schools to improve the moderation process,

particularly to overcome the issues identified with self validation;

• Schools need to work more closely with parents to engage them in the implementation of packed lunch policy;

• Need to share good practice.

For more information and a copy of the report visit www.foodwm.org.uk


Department for Children,Schools and FamiliesThe Healthy Schools ProgrammeHealthy Schools have seen a 30% increase in the number ofschools achieving status, with almost a third of all schoolsachieving it this year. A national milestone is for 75% of allschools to have reached Healthy Schools Status byDecember 2009 and for all schools to be participating. Weare well on the way to achieving this. Targeted support is

being provided to areas that need toaccelerate their progress towards themilestone.

Locally Healthy Schools Teams are working closely withschools to ensure they are developing policy and practicearound food. An inclusive whole school food policy is central

to schools meeting the Healthy Eating criteria as well asensuring good pupil, parent/carer and communityengagement.

Most recently the national Child Health Strategy, jointbetween the Department of Health and the Department forChildren, Schools and Families presents a vision for childrenand young peoples health and well being and providesfurther impetus to our work on obesity prevention.

For more information contact:Regional Healthy Schools Co-ordinator (WM)Emma [email protected]

Department for Environment,Food and Rural AffairsYear of Food and FarmingThe Year of Food and Farming was an industry led initiative, initially proposed by the charity Farming andCountryside Education (FACE) and endorsed by Defra, the Department of Education and Skills, theDepartment of Health, the Royal Agricultural Society of England and many other organisations.

Achievements of the YearThe Year has achieved a measurable step change in the level of connectivity of children and young people, with food, farmingand the countryside. In addition it has raised the awareness of many schools of the importance and value of including foodand farming in the curriculum. A total of 1.5 million children were directly involved in first hand experiences of growing,cooking and farm visits. The Rural Hubs located within the Region’s shire counties, played a vital role in delivering activity andengaged with farmers, schools and local food producers. The Hubs linked together themselves and with many otherorganisations, such as Local Authorities, PCTs and the YFC to promote the Year of Food and Farming.

Report outlining activity is available at www.foodwm.org.uk

Funding and support received:The majority of the funding received regionally was from Advantage West Midlandsfrom a successful funding application for £50,000. A further £10,000 via the WestMidlands Public Health Group to support promotion of the Year of Food and Farmingin the Region and support of a stand at the Royal Show. A report outlining activity isavailable. Assistance in the form of resources were made available from NFU, whohelped with the purchase of display boards and relevant resources including excellentteaching packs produced in conjunction with FACE.

For more information contact:David [email protected]

The School Food TrustThe School Food Trust are working closely with the Regional Food in Schools Action Group to support activity in the region.

The Million Meals CampaignThe Campaign was launched in October 2007 with a simple aim – to ensure a million more childrenare eating school lunch by the end of 2010. By signing up to the campaign school can access a hostof free resources to help promote the take up of school lunches.

The campaign has 10 plates for success:1. Involve Pupils2. Engage with parents and carers3. Make lunchtime a good experience4. Promote and market food effectively5. Make the food tasty and attractive6. Make food and drink integral to the whole school day7. Maximise the take up of free school meals8. Take positive steps to reduce packed lunches9. Involve adults as role models10. Manage resources

A regional target has been set for Local Authority Healthy Schools Teams to have 20%of schools signed up by the 30th April 2009. Figures for April 2009 showed that we hadexceeded this target with 636 (26.3%) of schools signed up to the campaign. Thisincluded 448 (24.1%) primary schools, 162 (34.6%) secondary schools and 26 (27.6%)special schools.

The Million Meals team has worked closely with Worcestershire during 2008/9 whomade the campaign integral to their ongoing objective of improving school food includingmaking sign up one of the objectives of the Children and Young People’s Plan. MillionMeals will also be a key feature of the Governor Training planned for April 2009 inHereford and which has been funded by the School Food Trust.

The DHWM has promoted Million Meals in the region throughtraining and events and publicity for the 400th and 500thschools to sign up to the campaign. Our 400th School wasPendock Primary School in Worcestershire and our 500thSchool Clent Paraochial Primary School also in Worcestershire.

For more information and to sign up to the campaign visit:www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/millionmeals



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Let's Get CookingLet's Get Cooking is a national network of healthy cooking clubs for children, families andcommunities, backed by a £20 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund's Well Beingprogramme. Led by the School Food Trust, Let's Get Cooking is setting up 5,000 clubs by2012, teaching over one million children and families new cooking skills. As well as providingskills and confidence to cook nutritious and tasty meals from scratch, Let's Get Cooking is about having fun. Clubs, which arerun by volunteers, receive funding for cooking equipment and running costs, as well as training for adult helpers and a rangeof resources. The programme is immensely popular. All adults who have been trained so far have rated the courses as ‘verygood’ or ‘excellent’ and quotes from children attending Start Up Day have included “the best day of my life”.

Set up in February 2008 in the West Midlands, over250 adults have been trained in nutrition, health andsafety, cooking skills and how to pass these on tochildren and their local communities. By June 2009there will be 178 Let's Get Cooking clubs up andrunning in the region.

Let’s Get Cooking recruitment continues during June 2009, with all schools in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire due to be invitedto join. Successful applicants will start their training in September. Let's Get Cooking prioritises schools in areas of highdeprivation. Schools with existing cookery clubs can apply any time to join as associate clubs, irrespective of the recruitmenttimetable.

Let's Get Cooking works in partnership with The Prince's Trust, Business in the Community and Magic Outcomes. Togetherthey spearhead projects aimed at key target audiences including teenagers, schools and deprived communities, andencourage sustainable support from businesses. The British Nutrition Foundation and the Royal Society for Health are alsoinvolved in an advisory capacity.

Programme Director David Edwards said,

The picture in the West Midlands is a good reflection of what is happening nationally for us. Ourstaff have been getting a really enthusiastic response with club places filling immediately theyare released. We have enjoyed working closely with the many public and voluntary agencies andlook forward to building on this work over the coming years.

Two additional training days will be funded by DHWM during 2009/10.

For more information contact:Laura [email protected]

Deborah [email protected]

www.letsgetcooking.org.uk


School FEASTIn 2007 the Trust established a national network of School FEAST (Food Excellence and SkillsTraining) centres and Partnerships for school cooks. The School FEAST network will ensure thattoday's caterers and cooks will gain the skills they need and that the quality and motivation of futuregenerations of providers will be maintained. There are currently two School FEASTcentres/partnerships in West Midlands. These are: Bourneville College, Birmingham and WorcesterCollege of Technology. School FEAST centres/partnerships provide high quality training and ensurethat the school workforce is motivated and encouraged to take up the training offered.

Each School Feast centre or partnership provides a comprehensive package of training and qualifications. This ranges fromhands-on cooking lessons to formal qualifications at NVQ level 2 and beyond. Each centre or partnership will provide a ‘CoreOffer’.

www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/schoolfeast

School Food AmbassadorsThe School Food Trust has, in conjunction with the DHWM, recruited School Food Ambassadors across each of the 14 LocalAuthorities in the West Midlands. School Food Ambassadors work across health, education and catering. Their role is to sharegood practice via the National Good Practice Network, disseminate information to partners, consult on School Food Trustactivity as appropriate and be a force to drive changes to school food locally.

There are currently 56 School Food Ambassadors within the region and regular regional network events are held. Tworegional events were hosted in Birmingham in May and October 2008 with good attendance from all local authority areas.

Targeted InterventionsThe School Food Trust is providing tailored support to two Local Authorities in theregion to increase the take up of school food. These Local Authorities will hoststakeholder workshops and together with the Trust will devise and implement actionplans to increase school food take up. As part of this targeted work the Get Realroadshow has visited several schools this year and the Trust has funded some trainingof Midday Meal Supervisors. Future work will depend upon the needs identified bythe targeted LAs.

Kitchen Capacity PilotsThe School Food Trust has been working with two primary schools, one middle schooland one secondary school and their catering teams in the West Midlands to test waysof improving capacity in school kitchens and dining rooms. This pilot work will feed into a Trust publication in the summer.

Blake Valley Technology College, Cannock

Broadmeadow Junior School, Kings Norton

Churnet View Middle School, Leek

Paget Primary School, Birmingham


Food For Life Partnership

St Peters Primary School in Wem have achieved a Silver Award for their work andhave a garden to be proud of. They were awarded School of the Year Award byHRH Prince Charles at a national awards ceremony.

St Andrews Primary, Shifnal has completely transformed their dining roomenvironment and, jointly with St Peters, the first school in the country to reach silver.

Longmeadow Primary’s gardenin Shrewsbury is fully in bloomwith produce from the gardenbeing used in the schoolmeal.

Orleton primary in Hereford has establisheda local farm link with pupils benefiting from regular farm visits.

Franche Primary in Kidderminster is sourcing most of their school mealsfrom local suppliers, and have established an after school cooking

club, with many ingredients being supplied by members of the schoolgarden club, and Stourport High school have successfully held family foodevenings.

Shropshire shire services local authority caterers has achieved a silverFood for Life catering award for all of their primary school menus andmany other West Midlands caterers are also working towards theaward.

To enrol or find out more about the activities mentioned, and whatother schools have been doing visit the “in my region” section of theFood for Life Partnership website www.foodforlife.org.uk

The Food for Life Partnership is a network of schools andcommunities across England committed to transforming foodculture. Schools can enrol easily online and become aPartnership school or a Flagship school.

Partnership schools can gain access to free workshops andfurther support and resources. If schools are chosen tobecome a Flagship school, further resources including a visitfrom the Food for Life Partnership Cooking Bus are part of thepackage of support available.

We have 20 Flagship schools in the West Midlands andover a hundred Partnership schools enrolled. All schools are

following the Food for Life Partnership award scheme, with

many schools now achieving bronze, and some achieving

silver. Flagship and Partnership schools are located

throughout the West Midlands. Our Flagship schools want to

share best practice and welcome visits from other schools

and local stakeholders.

During the year schools have repeatedly visited a local farm,

grown their own food and had a visit from the Food for Life

Cooking Bus. Furthermore with support from their caterers

schools have increased the amount of local fresh and

organic produce on the menu.


Heart of England Fine FoodsHeart of England Fine Foods (HEFF) is the Regional FoodGroup representing quality food and drink produced in thesix counties of the West Midlands.

HEFF has developed an active schoolsprogramme encouraging schools tosource more regional food and drink. Aspart of this HEFF places vendingmachines in schools and ensures they are stocked withhealthy and regional food and drink, supplied through theHEFF Delivery Service, as well as offering a marketingpackage and an opportunity to learn about seasonality.

HEFF also supplies schools with smoothiebars and helps schools to source local fruitand vegetables to make smoothies andjuices, thereby encouraging sales for localproducers and giving schools healthydrinks options.

HEFF is currently working with 26 schools that have avending machine or smoothie bar.

As part of the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative(PSFPI), HEFF works with the public sector to encouragesustainable procurement of regional food and drink. HEFFhas recently delivered a project on behalf of GOWM,funded by Defra, that encouraged Local Authorities toimplement sustainable food policies.

A further part of this project was to produce a cookbookcalled 'Meaty Meals' containing recipes to encourage theuse of less popular cuts of meatin the school meals service. Atraining day was provided forShropshire school cooks onhow to cook less popular cutsof meat. The cook book hasbeen distributed to Shropshireschool cooks through ShireServices and to all LocalAuthority catering managersin the West Midlands.

Further training is planned in the regional FEASTcentres during 2009/10.For more information visit www.heff.co.uk

Central England Trading Standards Authority (CEnTSA) is arepresentative Regional Group, comprising the fourteenTrading Standards Authorities which make up the WestMidlands. CEnTSA is committed to ensuring effectivepartnership working between local authorities across CentralEngland.

CEnTSA is comprised of a number of operational groups,including the Food Standards Focus Group. Members of thegroup include, in addition to Trading Standards,Environmental Health Officers and Public Analysts. Theseofficers are responsible for ensuring that ‘Food Standards’are maintained.

What are ‘Food Standards’? 'Food Standards' is a broadterm, which encompasses all legal requirements covering the

quality, composition, labelling, presentation and advertising

of food. This covers a diverse range of food stuffs such as

additives, colours, preservatives and antioxidants, and food

products, from meat and fish, to soft drinks and jam.

It is important that food supplied to schools complies with the

law and that schools and local education authorities can

have confidence in the standards specified in their contracts.

This is essential if schools are to comply with nutritional

standards. Trading Standards across the region work in

partnership with schools and LEAs to deliver nutritious and

healthy food.

CENTSA will be working with the DHWM and SFT in the

coming year piloting an audit and inspections toolkit.

Central England TradingStandards Authority


ContinYouContinYou is one of the UK's leading organisations and aim to offer opportunities to people who have gained the least fromformal education and training. They work with a range of professional people, organisations and agencies to enhance whatthey do to change lives through learning. ContinYou's work demonstrates the links between all the areas in which learningcan make a healthy difference to people's lives.

Some key resources available to support school food and health work include:

Mission Nutritionwww.continyou.org.uk/what_we_do/children_and_young_people/breakfast_club_plus/mission_nutrition

ContinYou has been chosen to be one of the charity partners to work with Blue Peter on this year's Blue Peter appeal, MissionNutrition. Mission Nutrition is raising money to provide children and young people across the world with better nutrition.

Skilled for Healthwww.continyou.org.uk/what_we_do/healthy_active_learning_communities/skilled_health

Skilled for Health (SfH) is the national programme that embeds Skills for Life into health improvement topics. It aims to addressboth the low skills and health inequalities prevalent within traditionally disadvantaged communities.

Regionally we provide face to face support, training, information, knowledge, case studies/good practice, collaboration andnetworking. At a local level we help with planning, implementation and delivery of extended services and study support forGoverning Bodies, Senior Leadership Teams, Local Authorities, Cluster Managers, Extended Schools' Coordinators and allwho are associated with the remodelling agenda.

For more information contact:Simon Bradley, Regional Development Manager, West Midlands ContinYouTel: 07887 748 [email protected]

The National School Fruitand Vegetable SchemeThe National School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme – provides fruit and vegetables to a quarter of a million children in the WestMidlands every school day. For more information visit www.5aday.nhs.uk

Minor, Weir and Willis is the regional distributor for the region and is the first point of contactfor general issues around delivery, quality of fruit and vegetables, Key Stage 2 fruit and INSET.

Minor, Weir and Willis (MWW): [email protected]: 0871 2882096 Fax: 0871 288 2097

If there is a problem which cannot be resolved locally or there is an urgent or serious incidenti.e. a choking incident, allergic reaction or food safety issue you should contact the NHSsupply chain who administer the scheme.

NHS Supply Chain, Ocean House, The Ring, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 1ANTel: 01924 328518 [email protected]


AbbreviationsCEnTSA Central England Trading Standards Authority

DCSF Department for Children, Schools and Families

DCL Director of Children and Learners

DHWM Department of Health West Midlands

Defra Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

FACE Farming and Countryside Education

FFLP Food for Life Partnership

HEFF Heart of England Fine Foods

LACA Local Authority Catering Association

LGC Lets Get Cooking

NFU National Farmers Union

PCT Primary Care Trust

RFISAG Regional Food in Schools Action Group

SFT School Food Trust

SFVS School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme

YFC Young Farmers Clubs

Useful LinksDepartment of Health West Midlands www.foodwm.org.uk

School Food Trust www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk

Million Meals millionmeals.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk

School FEAST www.schoolfeast.co.uk

School Food Ambassadors www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk

Food for life Partnership www.foodforlife.org.uk

Centsa www.centsa.org.uk

Heart of England Fine Food www.heff.co.uk

ContinYou www.continyou.org.uk

Lets Get Cooking www.letsgetcooking.org.uk

Design and Technology Association www.data.org.uk

School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme www.5aday.nhs.uk

Think Food and Farming www.thinkfoodandfarming.co.uk

Healthy Schools www.healthyschools.gov.uk

Food a Fact of Life www.foodafactoflife.org.uk

British Heart Foundation Big Food Challenge www.bhf.org.uk

Nutriskill www.nutriskill.co.uk

Comic Company www.comiccompany.org.uk

Food Standards Agency www.food.gov.uk

Healthy Start www.healthystart.nhs.uk

Change 4 Life www.nhs.uk/Change4Life/Pages/default.aspx

Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/sustain/procurement/index.htm

Report produced by the Regional Food in Schools Action GroupMarch 2009

Many thanks to all members of the Regional Food in Schools Action Group who have contributed to this report.

Available at www.foodwm.org.uk

References:Department of Health 2008 Healthy Weight, Healthy LivesSchool Meals Review Panel 2005 Turning the TablesSchool Food Trust www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk

Harlow Healthcare (0191) 455 4286 78176dtp

eating matters - the national...

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