Aims

Through the implementation of this policy we aim to:

• Make explicit the values and guidelines that underpin food culture at Prestbury St Mar’s Junior School;
• Ensure that children receive consistent and coherent messages about food and its role in their long-term health;
• Actively encourage children to develop healthy attitudes toward eating;
• Define our plans and goals with regards to food culture in our school;
• Meet the outcomes of Every Child Matters Legislation, which reinforces the child’s right to ‘Be Health’ and which addresses the pertinent issues of children being ‘physically health’, ‘mentally and emotionally health’ and pursuing ‘healthy lifestyles’ (Appendix 1);
• Comply with Healthy Schools’ standards, ensuring that pupils have the confidence, skills and understanding to make healthy food choices, and making healthy and nutritious food and drink available.

 Values

• We believe that every adult at Prestbury St Mar’s Church of England Junior School can play a part in making sure that the children develop positive attitudes to food, make informed choices and enjoy eating healthily.
• We wish to develop children’s understanding that good, nutritious food is essential to their ability to learn as well as to their immediate and long-term health.
• We wish to develop children’s knowledge about food and how to make healthy choices both in an out of school.
• We believe that food and eating plays an important role in developing young people’s social skills.
• We believe that encouraging a willingness to try new foods contributes to developing a broad and balanced diet.
• We believe that the confidence to prepare food from raw ingredients is an important building block in encouraging healthy eating choices.
• We believe that sharing our values allows us to contribute to the health of the wider community.

Healthy Eating

Our healthy eating guidelines:

• Enjoy your food
• Eat more unrefined carbohydrates and starchy foods (e.g. bread, cereals, pasta)
• Eat more fruit and vegetables
• Eat less fatty, sugary or salty foods
• Eat a balance of foods from the different food groups each day
• Drink plenty of water

The consequences of poor diet

• The prevalence of obesity in children aged under 11 increased from 9.9 percent in 1995 to 13.7 percent in 2003 (Health Survey for England, 1995-2003). Prevalence has trebled since the 1980s, and well over half of all adults are either overweight or obese - almost 24 million adults.
• Data from the Health Survey for England indicate that in 2001 approximately 8.5% of 6- year-olds and 15% of 15-year-olds were obese.
• Information collected by the European Association for the study of Obesity (EASO) Childhood Obesity Taskforce also showed that the UK has one of the highest prevalence rates of overweight children in Europe.

Benefits to children of healthy eating

• Provides children with the energy and nutrients vital for growth.
• Provides the energy needed for concentration and learning.
• Contributes to preventing childhood and adolescent health problems such as. obesity, eating disorders, and tooth decay.
• May help prevent health problems in later life such as diabetes and heart disease.
• Establishes positive eating patterns, avoiding poor eating patterns which, in adulthood, can be difficult to alter.
• Assists in developing good social skills through eating together.

 

Food throughout the school day:

Breakfast

• We recognise the importance of eating a balanced breakfast and realise that it is hard to maintain energy levels necessary to concentrate and learning without breakfast.
• As a result of consultation with parents, a Breakfast Club is not currently an option which the school community wishes to pursue.
• Requirements for breakfast provision will be regularly reviewed.
• At times when eating breakfast is deemed more important than ever, such as during SATs week, a temporary Breakfast Club is provided free charge on a voluntary basis by school staff.

Drinks

• Children have access to free and fresh water throughout the school day.
• Children are given their own water bottles at the beginning of Year 3.
• Water bottles are available in class and children are encouraged to drink water whenever they feel thirsty.
• At lunch time, children are provided with jugs of fresh water on their tables.
• Milk is another healthy drink and is available in school for those who wish to order it.
• Children who bring a packed lunch to school may also bring a healthy drink of their choice.

Break Time

• Children are encouraged to bring in fruit or vegetable portions as break time snacks.
• As an incentive we reward children choosing to bring a healthy snack to school, with apple tokens; the house receiving the most tokens is awarded an additional 5 house points at the end of each week.

Lunch Time – hot lunches

• Parents are provided with a menu detailing hot dinner choices each term.
• Children taking-up free school meals do so confidentially.
• Sodexho, our selected caterers, work to a clearly defined nutrition policy, which is based on the guidelines laid out by the Government in 2006. (Appendix 4)
• Hot lunch provision is monitored informally on an ongoing basis by staff involved in serving food.
• Formal monitoring of hot lunches by staff and governors occurs on a regular basis

Lunch Time – packed lunches

• Children are provided with storage trays in which to keep their lunchboxes.

• Children who eat packed lunches use the hall once hot lunches have been served
• Waste and uneaten food is returned in the lunchbox so that parents know what has been eaten.
• Children in Y3 are able to use the hall from 12 pm, giving them more time to eat their lunch.
• During fine weather, we encourage children to eat their packed lunch outside in groups
• Money raised by the PTA has been used to purchase picnic benches which encourage the social aspect of children eating together.
• Advice regarding what constitutes a healthy packed lunch, including sample lunchbox menus, are made available to parents during ‘Healthy Lifestyles’ focus weeks and as part of our induction programme for new year 3 pupils. (Appendix 5)
• Children are given specific teaching in assembling a healthy packed lunch as part of the education program during the Year 4 visit to The Wilderness Centre.

Lunch Time – the eating environment

• We aim to ensure children have adequate time to eat their lunch.
• We encourage children to regard lunchtime as a social time as well as a time to eat.
• We consult children regularly regarding their perception of the eating environment via the School Council.
• We ensure that supervision of eating is sympathetic to individual needs. Parents will be consulted immediately about any pupils whose eating habits are causing concern.

Foods which are limited

• Sweets and chocolate are shared together in school infrequently and are regarded as a treat, reflecting their role as a limited component of a balanced diet.
• We discourage children from routinely bringing in sweets as gifts to celebrate their birthdays, or upon return from holidays.
• We occasionally encourage children to prepare and share food, such as cakes, at charity sales, recognising their place within a food group where consumption should be limited.
• Crisps and salty snacks are not acceptable for break time snacks.

Healthy Eating in the Curriculum

• We exploit opportunities within the existing curriculum to discuss and work with food across the curriculum and as part of the creative curriculum.
• Explicit teaching regarding what ‘Healthy Eating’ entails, its benefits, and the risks of choosing not to eat healthily is carried out as part of the science curriculum.
• Teaching regarding food safety is provided through the science curriculum.
• The importance of healthy eating as part of the broader lifestyle choices which people must make is addressed as part of the PSHCE curriculum.
• The importance of food in defining and strengthening cultures is recognised in teaching as part of the Geography curriculum.
• Skills relating to preparing and handling food safely are taught as part of the D&T curriculum.
• Opportunities to develop an understanding of healthy eating and the need to vary diet according to activity levels are exploited during residential activities.
• Displays are used in school to promote healthy eating choices.
• Teaching in RE covers the spiritual significance of foods and eating within Christianity and other religions.

Please refer to the relevant curricular policies and schemes of work for more detail regarding explicit curriculum links with healthy eating.

Encouraging Food Skills and Confidence

At Prestbury St Mar’s Junior School we provide children with opportunities to cook in class.  The school provides a range of cooking equipment and materials, which are mobile and audited.

In addition a Cooking Club is provided, which:

• Is open to pupils from all year groups;
• Encourages a wider awareness of food and its ingredients;
• Encourages preparation of food from basic ingredients;
• Develops basic food preparation skills;
• Encourages understanding of the importance of food hygiene;
• Encourages children to take pleasure from preparing and eating new and familiar foods.

Food Health and Safety

• Food hygiene is actively promoted throughout the school.
• All children are encouraged to wash their hands before eating.
• Where children are involved with food preparation, they are guided to ensure that all food is handled hygienically and cooked in a way that will ensure it is safe for consumption.
• Identified members staff are provided with food hygiene training to a nationally recognised standard
• The need to consider food intake of pupils with medical conditions, such as diabetes, is shared with all members of staff and, where appropriate, pupils.
• All staff and, where appropriate, pupils are made aware of pupils with food allergies in order to minimise the risks associated with their exposure to identified foods.

Policy Monitoring and Evaluation

• The implementation of this policy will be monitored by a named governor

• The polic’s implementation will be overseen by a senior member of staff in accordance with the Healthy Schools’ healthy eating standards.

• This policy is a result of consultation with the whole school community, including children, parents, school staff (including catering staff), governors, school nurse, and the Healthy Schools representative.
• This policy is available for viewing and comment via the school website.
• We will review this policy annually and update it fully as part of a 5 year review cycle.
• We will form a Nutrition Committee to continue to consult with all stakeholders on the provision of healthy food and promotion of healthy eating in school.