Background information:
Bolton Council’s Primary school meals service was already high performing with a take up of 50.8%.
What were the triggers for change?
Bolton Council wanted to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people, locally, by increasing access to healthy food and reducing food poverty. The council acknowledged that families would benefit from a greater access to a healthy school lunch if the impact of the recession, was alleviated by a discounted selling price for meals.
Furthermore, obesity levels in Bolton’s primary school children were reported as being higher than the national average in 2007, with a risk of these levels increasing.
Bolton Council supported the idea that a school-based healthy eating initiative would help to tackle poor diet, reduce obesity figures and food poverty whilst enhancing other positive interventions which were already in place e.g. cookery clubs.
Who was involved in driving forward the change?
- Elective Members who were supportive of a drive towards healthy eating and change
- The School Meals Service who were confident that they could deliver at a higher service level
- Local schools
A scrutiny group was also formed which, along with the Bolton NHS partners, identified a need to explore positive interventions, incorporating exercise and nutrition awareness.
How was the project funded?
The Council Asset Management Team co-ordinated a bid for central funds.
What improvements were made to the school meal service?
Meal Deals:
The council invested in the promotion of and the access to healthy school food, throughout 2008 and 2009, with a series of innovative school meal pilots, conducted in primary schools.
Three pilots were trialled including:
1. Offering all reception school children a free school meal
2. Offering a £1.00 meal deal to all reception school children during the summer term
3. Offering a £1.00 meal deal to reception and year one pupils in Autumn 2009
From January 2010, Bolton Council decided to invest in a borough-wide initiative to introduce a £1.00 meal deal promotion for all primary school pupils, up until December 2010.
Councillor Akhtar Zaman, Bolton Council’s Executive Member for Environmental Services, said: “We are trying to narrow the gap from a social and economical view. Meal deals offer value for money to families during the current climate”.
A series of additional activities and pilots were also trialled in conjunction with the meal deal pilots to improve overall health and wellbeing. For example, in July 2008, the council launched free swimming sessions for children aged 16 and under. Also, last August the Council ran a series of taster sessions from an indoor cookery demonstration kitchen in Bolton Market. Both the pupils and their parents were able to try some of the food available on school lunch menus.
Communication:
A structured communication plan was implemented which included: schools, parents and the media. There were articles in local newspapers, coverage on BBC North West Tonight and radio coverage on the new project. Parents also received a flyer promoting the meal deal offer. Please click on the links below to view examples of the publicity material distributed:
Bolton Council 3 week menus
Click here to download (Adobe pdf doc 309KB)
Bolton Council meals for £1 posters
Click here to download (Adobe pdf doc 569KB)
What has been the impact of the project?
Take-up data:
The following take-up data has been recorded from across the borough but not on an individual school basis:
- As a result of the free meal for reception children pilot (2008/2009) take-up peaked at 86%.
- As a result of the £1.00 meal deal pilot take-up increased to an average of 68%, during the summer term (2008) when figures have normally been historically low.
- As a result of the £1.00 meal deal pilot for two year groups take-up was an average of 69% (Autumn 2009).
- As a result of the £1.00 meal deal pilot (Jan 2010) a sustained increase of 71% take-up has been recorded across the whole age range, with 75% of reception children choosing a school meal.
Healthy School Status:
The NHS Healthy Schools Team has awarded 90% of Bolton’s primary schools with Healthy Schools status.
What are Bolton Council’s tips for success?
A sustained borough-wide focus has helped to set a standard for school food quality and embed improved dietary habits, with longer term health benefits. Furthermore, it has been vital to maximise the time available for planning, prior to implementing the meal deal pilots. Bolton Council has met with regional neighbours, LACA and the School Food Trust, to share information and discuss the application of extensive pilots.
Early decision making and engagement in schools, has focused the project on practical issues and problem solving, relating to large increases in take-up. The gathering and collation of data needed careful planning and trialling, to minimise the additional administration in schools. A structured communications and marketing campaign aimed at the media, schools and parents has added to the success of the pilot projects.
Future priorities
A successful bid was made to the Targeted Capital Fund to enable improvements to be made to school kitchens and dining rooms. The planned work has been scheduled to start early in 2010.
In the meantime schools are focusing on encouraging more parents to purchase a school meal to drive an increase in take-up. Furthermore, a recent pilot project is underway to equip low take-up schools with state-of-the-art display trolleys. The trolleys will be used in conjunction with targeted marketing campaigns to promote the value and health benefits of a school meal to parents. Bolton Council is undertaking research to assess the success of the pilot project.
Bolton is also hoping to gather anecdotal information from parents about school meals, through the “Playground Gossip” pilot.
Exit Strategy
Bolton Council will implement a well-planned approach (Autumn 2010) to minimise the cost burden to parents, when the meal deal pilot comes to an end, in January 2011.
The School Food Trust will fund Bolton Council to engage Bolton University in the pilot evaluation. It is expected that the evaluation will highlight a reduction in health issues for primary school pupils due to the increased access to healthy school food. Again, it is hoped that the results from the evaluation will encourage other partners to buy into the project on a long-term basis.
What resources did Bolton Council utilise during the project?
The council widely promoted the School Food Trust website. Staff members in the School Meals Service were also signed up to the Million Meals Campaign.
Further information:
If you would like more information please feel free to contact the School Food Trust on 0800 089 5001 or alternatively please email info@sft.gsi.gov.uk
