Background Information
Bowling Park School in Bradford has around 646 pupils on roll (3-11years) and is a split site school. The school supplies a range of school meals for just £1.45, including vegetarian and Halal options. Bowling Park Primary School also runs a breakfast club every day of the week. Within the school prospectus is information on packed lunches. Pupils are not allowed to bring chocolate, sweets or fizzy drinks into the school grounds.
The Small Step Improvement Programme
The Million Meals School Engagement Team from the School Food Trust has completed a Small Step Improvements (SSI) Program within 3 Local Authorities. They approached Bradford Local Authority to see if they would like to engage in the SSI Program to encourage schools to improve their catering provision and increase take-up. Bradford Local Authority sent out invitations to all local schools encouraging them to sign up to the Program. Bowling Park Primary School expressed an interest in getting involved.
The Small Step Improvements Program is about making small low cost, or no cost improvements to the catering and dining provision, that could benefit the whole school. The Program engages key players within the school team; including a member of the kitchen staff and the School Leadership Team. Using a continual improvement process known as ‘Plan, Do, Study, Act’ (PDSA) the school’s team collect data to show how the process currently works, identify where improvements can be made and then trial different interventions. The data collected will eventually show whether an improvement has worked or not. Often the improvements bring some astonishing results including an increase in take-up. If you would like more information about the SSI Program and how to get involved please contact
Why did the School want to get involved in the Program?
Bowling Park Primary School wanted to increase take up of school meals. The school wanted to achieve this aim by involving pupils and their parents, initially in Year 5.
Who was involved in driving forward the improvements?
- School Council
- Stuart Herrington, Principal
- Fran Andrews, Healthy Schools Coordinator
- Carol, Head Cook
What improvements did the School make?
After workshop 1 pupil’s were educated on the importance of healthy eating through PSHE lessons. Pupils were asked to think about why a healthy diet is important using the nutritional standards and healthy plate resource. Furthermore, pupils’ were then encouraged to collect data on the school catering and dining provision. The children designed invitations to encourage their parents to attend a food tasting session. Parent taster sessions were carried out on both of the school sites. During the taster session the parents completed surveys rating the school food. The parents were very complimentary about the school food.
“The food was good – the quiche was very tasty as was the lasagne”
“The food was nice, tasty and healthy.”
“The Keema lasagne was really nice.”
After workshop 2, Fran Andrews consulted with the School Council to see how the dining space could be improved. School Council representatives gathered feedback from their classmates. The following recommendations were made:
- New tablecloths
- Extra bins near the tables
- Display rules in the dining space
- Set up a reward system for good behaviour
- Run competitions to design wall murals and select lunchtime monitors
- New plates and bowls
- Display posters to make the environment better
Following recommendations from the School Council the ‘Tutti Fruity Tuesday’ and ‘Fruity Friday’ tuck shop has been set up. This allows pupils to have a piece of fruit on both of these days each week for 50p, for a half term. This is subsidised by school to increase the amount of fruit their pupils are eating.
Bowling Park Primary School ordered new plates and bowls and are currently working with the School Council to implement the recommendations.
What were the benefits to the school?
The taster session was trialled with parents from three year 5 classes however two classes in particular showed an increase in take up.
Class 1: Prior to the project, 14 children in the class had a school meal and 14 children brought a packed lunch. After the project, an additional 5 pupils started to have a school meal.
Class 2: Prior to the project 21 pupils had a school meal and 9 pupils brought in a packed lunch. After the project an additional 3 children choose a school dinner.
Do you have any tips to offer other schools wanting to improve their lunchtime provision?
It is important to use the Small Step Improvement Program in schools because small improvements feel much more manageable. ‘It is easier to make small improvements and changes which will benefit pupils without it being a huge amount of work’ commented Fran Andrews.
Future priorities:
The school would like pupils in year 5 to get involved in encouraging younger children to try a school meal.
Furthermore, one fifth of the school’s population consists of pupils from Eastern Europe. Quite often these pupils are not entitled to a free school meal during their first year of residency in the UK. Most of these pupils bring in a packed lunch and often the quality of the packed lunch is poor. To tackle this issue the school will invite parents to attend healthy packed lunch workshops to promote healthy choices. Furthermore, the school is planning to work with a local Polish supermarket to identify some healthier packed lunch options.
Contact details:
If you would like further information then please contact the School Food Trust on 0800 089 5001 or alternatively please email info@childrensfoodtrust.org.uk
