The School Food Trust developed a standardised method of collecting school meal take up, this method is the recognised method of calculating school meal take up and is called the School Food Trust school meal take up calculation.
Questions
General
- When and where are school lunch take up figures published?
- How will the Trust and central government use school lunch take up data?
- Why do we need to know what take up is?
Logistics
- What is the process for school lunch take up data collection?
- What information do schools need to collect on a daily or weekly basis to be able to measure their take up?
Methodology
Reporting the take up of school lunches at LA level
- What types of schools should be included in take up calculations?
- If a school does not have school meal take up data for the whole year, can they be included for take up calculations?
- School lunch take up is calculated using the number of school trading days. How do we deal with school closures?
- How do I report take up for a school that has transferred from privately contracted school lunch provision to local authority catered school lunch provision (or vice versa) part way through the year?(How do I report take up for a school that has transferred from privately contracted school lunch provision to local authority catered school lunch provision (or vice versa) part way through the year?)
- A school has not returned any school lunch take up data. Should take up for this school be reported as zero?
Factoring mid-morning break income into take up calculations
- In secondary schools, some pupils buy their lunch at break time. When calculating the total lunch time paid meal income, should the income from break time sales be included in the total lunch time income?
- How can I estimate the proportion of mid-morning break items that are consumed by pupils as lunch?
FSM only provision
- We have some schools that started the year offering only free school meals, and subsequently have introduced meals for all pupils. How do we reflect this when calculating take up?
- Several schools in my local authority offer meals only to pupils who are registered for free school meals. If we express take up relative to the whole school roll, this will make our take up seem low.
- We have a school that has withdrawn provision to all pupils and now offers free school meals only. This will make our take up seem lower than it was, although pupils do not have the opportunity to purchase meals.
- What if schools have no meal provision?
- Do we have to report on schools with free school meal only provision, but which don’t serve any meals?
- We have some schools that provide meals to all pupils on two days each week. On all other days meals are provided only for pupils registered for free school meals. How can we calculate take up?
Census data
Answers
General
When and where are school lunch take up figures published?
National, regional and local school lunch take up figures are published on the School Food Trust website in early July, to coincide with the LACA conference. Annual survey reports and statistical releases can be found here.
How will the Trust and central government use school lunch take up data?
The data inform current and future work on a wide range of activities, highlighting areas which need support and maximising our impact in helping schools to increase their take up. Government use the data to help them evaluate progress in school meal improvements, to evaluate the outcome of previous investment, and make evidence-based judgements about future investment.
Why do we need to know what take up is?
Following the introduction of food and nutrient-based standards for school lunches in 2006, the take up of school lunches is seen as a key measure of healthy eating for school age children. Moreover, it is associated with broader issues relating to well-being and overweight and obesity. Measuring take up facilitates evaluation of the impact of changes in school food provision.
Logistics
What is the process for school lunch take up data collection?
School lunch take up data is collected from schools by local authorities and reported to the Trust at the end of each financial year, via the SFT/LACA annual survey.
What information do schools need to collect on a daily or weekly basis to be able to measure their take up?
Primary schools should collect the number of paid school lunches served and the number of free school lunches served. Secondary schools should collect the total lunchtime paid meal income (total till receipts), including any income from meals served at mid-morning break which are considered to form part of school lunch provision (i.e. that portion of the income from food which has been included in the assessment of school lunches against the nutrient-based standards), and the number of free school meals served.
Methodology
How is school lunch take up calculated?
In primary schools (includes special schools), percentage take up is calculated using the formula:
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where the ‘Reported number of meals served (paid plus free)’ is based on the numbers reported by catering staff in the school.
In secondary schools, the percentage take up is calculated using the formula:
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where the ‘Total income for lunchtime sales’ is based on the till receipts for all sales of food during the period to which school lunch standards (including nutrient-based standards from 2009) have been applied, and ‘FSM equivalent price’ is the monetary value in the dining room of a free school meal.
To calculate take up at LA level, take the percentage take up in each of the schools in the authority, and calculate the weighted average. Take up calculation templates are available to facilitate these calculations (click here).
Reporting the take up of school lunches at LA level
What types of schools should be included in take up calculations?
Data from local authority maintained primary, secondary and special schools, and academies and City Technology Colleges should be included in school lunch take up calculations. Data from sixth form colleges and nursery schools, and PRUs are not included.
If a school does not have school meal take up data for the whole year, can they be included for take up calculations?
No, the school cannot be included in the local authority survey return. School lunch take up must be based on data from the whole financial year (1st April to 31st March).
School lunch take up is calculated using the number of school trading days. How do we deal with school closures?
LAs will need to report the number of days over which a catering service was provided in the financial year (1st April to 31st March). Therefore, if a school was closed for a day, for example due to adverse weather conditions, that day should not be included in the number of trading days for that school. If the number of trading days differs between schools, the average number of trading days should be calculated for the group of schools for which data are reported. The data summary file facilitates this calculation.
How do I report take up for a school that has transferred from privately contracted school lunch provision to local authority catered school lunch provision (or vice versa) part way through the year?
Sum the number of meals served during each separate period of provision to get a total figure for the whole year. When completing the questionnaire, the school’s current situation should be reflected when reporting on that school. For example, if a school changed from an LA contracted service to school contracted service in January, the school should be reported under ‘schools with other catering’.
A school has not returned any school lunch take up data. Should take up for this school be reported as zero?
No, if we do not have any take up data for a school, then that school cannot be included in the calculation. The number of schools for which data are reported is reflected in the ‘coverage’ which is reported for each local authority alongside take up figures.
Factoring mid-morning break income into take up calculations
In secondary schools, some pupils buy their lunch at break time. When calculating the total lunch time paid meal income, should the income from break time sales be included in the total lunch time income?
In secondary schools, any income from sandwiches and other items provided at mid-morning break which are considered to form part of the school lunch provision should be included in the total income from lunchtime sales. Where sandwiches and other items are provided at mid-morning break, but are eaten by pupils as a snack, rather than as their lunch, the takings from these items should not be included when calculating school lunch take up. It is important to remember that where income from food and drink items provided at mid-morning break is included in the total lunchtime income when calculating school lunch take up the corresponding financial figures (money taken) should be included when calculating the number of pupils eating a school lunch for the calculation of the nutrient content of an average school lunch. More information on the nutrient-based standards can be found at: www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/nutrientstandards.
How can I estimate the proportion of mid-morning break items that are consumed by pupils as lunch?
Where items such as sandwiches or ‘grab and go’ bags are provided at mid-morning break, caterers should make a reasonable estimate of the proportion of these items that are being selected by pupils to eat as their school lunch, and include the takings from this provision in the take up calculation (as long as the same financial takings are also included when calculating the number of pupils eating a school lunch for the calculation of the nutrient content of an average school lunch). One way to do this would be to observe or survey, over the course of one week, the students who bought a sandwich at break time to determine the proportion of those students that they felt were consuming that sandwich as their lunch rather than as a mid-morning snack. That same proportion of the break time sales can then be added to the total lunchtime income thereafter. Alternatively, caterers could base the estimate on the type of provision at break time, e.g. if meal deals are provided it would be logical to include sales of break time meal deal provision in the total lunchtime income.
FSM only provision
We have some schools that started the year offering only free school meals, and subsequently have introduced meals for all pupils. How do we reflect this when calculating take up?
Because annual take up is based on daily figures, it is possible to add all the meals served, and express this a percentage of the sum of pupils on roll on each day (in practice, the roll is roughly the same each day, and for the purposes of calculation should be the roll number submitted for the January School Census).
Several schools in my local authority offer meals only to pupils who are registered for free school meals. If we express take up relative to the whole school roll, this will make our take up seem low.
Clearly, the school that offers free school meals only will have a lower take up when this is expressed as a percentage of the whole roll than a school offering lunches to all pupils. Take up is intended to reflect the percentage of pupils in the school population having a school lunch each day, not the percentage of those to whom meals are available. For example, we know that some LAs are working to re-introduce full school lunch services into schools, and as this happens take up will increase, reflecting this improved provision. Schools offering meals only to pupils registered for free school meals can maximise their take up by encouraging all eligible families to register, and then encouraging all registered pupils to take their free school meal.
We have a school that has withdrawn provision to all pupils and now offers free school meals only. This will make our take up seem lower than it was, although pupils do not have the opportunity to purchase meals.
This will indeed have an impact on the take up within your LA, but it is the most consistent method of calculating take up and is a ‘fair’ method, since the same will be true in any other LA where provision changes for similar reasons. Of course, all LAs are being encouraged to increase take up for both paid-for and free meals.
What if schools have no meal provision?
Since all local authority maintained schools, academies and city technology colleges are required to offer a school meal to any pupils entitled to a FSM, all schools can be categorised as either offering provision to all pupils, or as offering only free school meals. Even if no pupil is registered for a free school meal, the school is still classified as having free school meal only provision. If a school offers free school meals only and either has no pupils that are registered, or no pupils that take up their registered entitlement, the school’s take up is zero percent.
Do we have to report on schools with free school meal only provision, but which don’t serve any meals?
Yes, these schools must be reported on, and will have a take up of zero percent. When reporting take up for these schools in the annual survey questionnaire, they should be reported in the column ‘schools with other catering’
We have some schools that provide meals to all pupils on two days each week. On all other days meals are provided only for pupils registered for free school meals. How can we calculate take up?
Since the take up calculation is based on the number of meals served, it is always possible to calculate the take up over the whole year.
Census data
Why do we use January census data when reporting the school roll?
By specifying the roll numbers correct in January, we can be sure that all LAs are using comparable data.
