Why They Did It

Oldfield Park Infants School is located in an urban setting close to the centre of Bath. The school has 168 children on roll aged between 4 and 7 years old. The catering service is run by the local authority, Bath and North East Somerset.

The school has been working to engage parental interest in the quality of the meals provided by the school meals service at the same time as drawing attention to the need for healthier packed lunches. Additionally, they have recognised that activities are required to encourage parents to discuss the menus and dishes with their children.

How They Did It

A number of initiatives have been introduced focusing around two key areas;

1.Increasing the number of pupils who take up a school meal
2.For those children who continue to bring in a packed lunch, improving the ‘healthy’ content of them.

There have been three streams to the campaign:

1.Understanding School Meal and Packed Lunch Perceptions
2.Promoting School Meals
3.Incorporating Curriculum Based Healthy Eating Messages

1) Understanding School Meal and Packed Lunch Perceptions
A number of activities have been undertaken to understand school meal and packed lunch perceptions, with a view to modify and enhance the school meal provision, thus increasing school meal uptake. These are detailed below:

Questionnaires to the Parents

In November 2007 the school sent out a questionnaire to parents inviting them to comment on various aspects of the school meals service, including reasons why they did not use the service. A sample of this is included in the document here (Adobe pdf doc15KB).

The results from the questionnaires were analysed and a number of the ideas suggested were used to improve the service and encourage further uptake

These ideas included:

• Inviting parents in for school meals, with further promotion through a ‘Buy one, get one free’. The parent buys a meal the child gets one free,
• Opportunities for parents to talk to the school cook about any real dislikes their child have which may be preventing them having a school lunch,
• The option for any child to choose a vegetarian dish if it is preferred to the meat meal, (normally this was only made available to known vegetarians),
• Making the canteen more appealing,
• Incentives and promotions linked to Theme Weeks e.g lucky draw each day for a small prize with a bigger prize draw for all those who had dinners every day,

These ideas were then used to influence changes. All of the above ideas have been adopted by the school and are highlighted in greater detail in this case study.

A further questionnaire was sent out to parents in January 08 to get feedback on the school meal experience which incorporated the ‘Buy One Get One Free’ promotion. The messages were positive, mainly endorsing the ideas that were introduced from the previous questionnaire. One key additional comment was in relation to using eggs that were free range in the cooking and to use a wider range of organic produce. This has been addressed through the work the school is doing with the ‘Food For Life’ partnership, as the School Meals Service is meeting the Silver standard in procurement.

Packed Lunch Survey

Two packed lunch surveys, focussing on the contents of packed lunch have been undertaken. Following the first survey suggestions were made on how packed lunches could reflect the similar standards to school lunches. For example parents were asked to restrict crisps and similar snacks to Fridays (the same day as fish and chips). In addition, details of menus were made available online.

The second follow up survey showed a marked improvement in the quality of packed lunches. The school then followed this up by drawing attention to areas where improvements could be made.

The Food For Life newsletter (Adobe pdf doc 147KB) highlights the work that the school and parents alike have been doing to make the lunch boxes healthier.

Adopt A Packed Lunch Policy

The school has successfully introduced the following policies:

• School Food Policy (Adobe pdf doc 22KB)
• Packed Lunch Policy (Adobe pdf doc 28KB)

Promoting School Meals
The school has implemented a number of initiatives to promote and encourage school meal uptake. These are detailed below:

Encourage Packed Lunch and School Lunch Pupils to Eat Together

Recently the school reorganised the seating arrangements to allow packed lunches and school dinners to eat together. This was particularly targeted at those packed lunch children who never or rarely ate a school lunch.

The packed lunch children are also offered tasters for the school dishes of the day, and reminded to ask their parents if they can have a school lunch.

Pre School Promotions

The dining area and school kitchen is included on all tours of the school, made by prospective parents. Whenever possible parents are introduced to the cook in charge and are able to ask questions about the service. The Headteacher makes a point of telling parents that the school prefers children to have school lunches.

At the annual open morning for prospective parents a display about the school meals service is staged and there is an opportunity for parents to taste various dishes e.g. pizza, quiches, traybakes etc. This is repeated at the Open Evening held before the children start school in September.

Prospectus and Starting School Information

Both the prospectus and starting school information promote the selection of school lunches and include the policies and guidelines. The practical information for parents states that the school prefers children to have school lunches and includes packed lunch guidelines, so that expectations are clear from the outset.

Get Ready For School Lunch
All the children who are starting school in September are invited to a special ‘Get Ready For School’ lunch as part of their preparation for school during the preceding summer term. They come into school on an In Service day and enjoy a fish and chip lunch with their parents. The catering staff are again available to answer questions and the lunchtime supervisors are able to meet the children and help them with their meals.

Parents Eating School Meals

Since September 2007 the school have offered parents the opportunity to come into school and enjoy a meal with their child. There has been good uptake by the parents and positive feedback given. This has focused around how helpful it has been to experience first hand what having a school meal involves for their child and the quality of the meals provided. Parents are reminded on a regular basis that this service is available and is an ‘open house’ enabling them to come for lunch with their child / children when they choose.

Buy One Get One Free Promotion

During November 07 the school ran a ‘Buy One Get One Free’ promotion to encourage as many parents as possible to try the school meals experience. When a parent purchased a meal their child ate free of charge. Parents of children having free school meals were offered their own meal at a reduced cost. 55 parents took part in the promotion.

This promotion was repeated with ‘Eat A Meal In May’ (2008) to promote the new summer menus, with 16 parents eating meals with their child during this month. These activities encouraged more parents to choose school dinners for there children and an increase in uptake of 42% was noted for September to December 2008.

Parents Invited to Christmas Lunch

All parents were invited to come into school to eat alongside their child at the school Christmas Dinner days. Due to the number of Parents and Children three dinner days were run, one per year group. 85 lunches were served to parents alone over the three days. This compares with 73 for 2007. In the years prior to this there had only been one Christmas Dinner Day. Again this has promoted the school meals service in a positive light and many children who would not normally choose a school lunch participated.

Encouraging Those who Still do Not Eat School Meals

At the end of Term 5 every child who does not regularly eat at least one school lunch per week is given a voucher for a free school meal. The voucher can be used on any day during Term 6 and is also given menus to take home, with a reminder. In 2008, 41 vouchers were redeemed.

Themed Weeks

Whenever the school has a themed week in school the dinner menu is also themed to match. The menus are also sent out to parents encouraging their child or children to take part.

For example with Book Week the school took the theme of pirates. To encourage take up there was a prize each day for the child who found the Jolly Roger under his/her cup and there was a bonus draw at the end of the week, for all the children who had a school dinner every day that week. On the Friday the uptake of school meals reached an all time high with 103 children choosing the Skull and Crossbones Take Away (Fish and Chips).

The school has found that many children who rarely eat school meals are tempted to try a meal during this week and it will often start with a low level of take up that may increase with time.

Flexibility

The school allow parents to have a mixture of school meals and packed lunches during the week. This encourages a greater uptake, especially where a child may not like all the meals on offer in any one week. Although the school prefer lunches to be ordered in advance on a Monday they never refuse to provide a school meal.

Approachability of School Cook

Parents know that they can talk to the school cook about any concerns they have, special dietary requirements, strong dislikes etc. The school cook is a highly valued member of the school, who knows the individual children well and parents feel confident that their children will be given an appropriate meal.

Communicate Regularly

Menus and Menu Board:
The seasonal menus are sent home regularly and attention is drawn to any special features that may encourage uptake of school meals. For example the new summer menus feature pizza more often and this is a very popular meal with children here.

The daily menu and that for the following day are displayed on a special menu board at the school entrance. This is there to encourage parents to be more aware of what is on offer, to read them to their children and engage in dialogue. The Year 2 children also go to each class at registration time and read the menus aloud. The staff then comment positively on what is on offer and remind the children to ask their parents if they can have school dinners.

Food For Life Notice Board

The school have purchased a large notice board which is prominently placed on the playground and dedicated to displaying information about healthy food in school. The full seasonal menu is displayed plus information about where the ingredients come from with an emphasis on those that are is fresh, organic and purchased locally.

Also displayed are photographs of children enjoying school meals and promotional activities.
Promotional activities are advertised prominently as a back up to articles in our regular school newsletter and in our dedicated Food for Life newsletters.

Food For Life Newsletters

The school send Food For Life newsletters home, termly, which chart the school’s progress towards achieving Food For Life Gold, promote the school meals service, and include other information about healthy eating, cooking and growing activities. The emphasis is on encouraging uptake of school meals and on healthy lunchbox contents.

Display of Photographs

The school takes photographs of children enjoying their school meals and display these prominently in the canteen windows to communicate a positive image of the school meals service in the context of their own school.

Incorporating Curriculum Based Healthy Eating Messages

Healthy eating is included as part of the on-going curriculum both through specific units of learning such as a topic called ‘Fit For Anything’ in Year 2, and through daily activities such as fruit time.

The children are beginning to grow their own fruit and vegetables and see these through to harvest and use in the school kitchen and / or for cooking activities.

What Was the Impact?

The uptake of school meals has increased steadily over the past 12 months despite an increase in the price of school meals in January 2008.

Uptake of school meals is averaging around 331 per week, with an average of 65 per day. Approximately 70% of children in the school now have at least 1 school dinner per week, with the roast dinner and Fish and Chip days being the most popular.

The current eligibility for free school meals is 13 children (8%) with take up of about 90% daily, although all children are entitled have school dinners on several days each week.

There has been an average increase in uptake of 42% from September to December 2008 compared with the same period for 2007. The uptake in January 08 was 12.7% higher than that in January 07 despite a price increase of 15p per day. This is against the trend in other local schools where uptake has decreased.

The take up of adult meals by staff is one of the highest in the Local Authority.

Parental awareness of what the school meals service offers in terms of a healthy menu, high quality preparation and presentation and the dining environment has increased especially through opportunities to take part in eating the meals themselves alongside their children.

Information about school meals is clear and regularly communicated to parents which maintains a high profile for the service. Attractive displays on notice boards and in public areas are drawing positive attention to the service and what it offers.

Activities that involve parents and their children in dialogue about school meals have also been useful. Parents have been encouraging their children to try school meals and the children themselves have been enticed to ask their parents if they can have a school meal, by hearing the menus read to them daily. A greater number of children are eating a meal at least once a week. 131 children have at least 1 dinner a week.

The school has an active school food group with membership including senior management, teaching and non teaching staff, cook in charge, governors and parents. They also invite ideas from the children themselves via the school council. The regular meetings of the school Food Group have been influential on our practice and the wide representation has been very effective.

The school has achieved National Healthy Schools’ status and is one of the first in the country to gain Food For Life Bronze and currently working towards achieving the Food For Life Silver standards. They have piloted Food For Life for the South West region as part of the development of Healthy Schools Plus. The school’s work in this area featured at the regional launch.

Contact details:

If you would like further information regarding this case study then please feel free to contact the School Food Trust on 0800 089 5001. Alternatively please feel free to email any enquiries to info@sft.gsi.gov.uk Thank you.