Summary

Lynda Watson (Bursar) and Lisa Watson (Clerical Officer) from Binbrook Primary School, have been involved in a light touch direct school engagement project with the School Food Trust. This project is aimed at schools that wish to improve their current school meal provision using advice, resources and support from the Trust. This support is telephone based only and is held over a period of up to eight weeks.

Background information

Binbrook Primary has 88 pupils on roll, with only a 9% paid school meal take up at the start of this project. This is low compared to the regional average of 27.5% take up. When the school began to work closely with the Trust, they felt that the low take up was largely due to the school’s dependence on having all the school food delivered by taxi, which has led to many pupils and parents opting for packed lunches. Despite this trend, the provider is fully compliant with the food and nutrient based standards and the school feels that their lunchtime offer is good, with quality healthy food being served at tables on plates instead of the young people queuing or using trays.

Actions taken

Lynda and Lisa have jointly led on trying to raise awareness and make improvements to the lunchtime experience within the school. All of the following promotional initiatives have taken place at the school over the duration of the direct engagement, using a number of School Food Trust resources and advice to support the implementation.

• Menu templates have been used to present the new menu in a creative and professional way, and shared with parents and pupils. The school have achieved this using the Trust’s Marketing and Design Generator (MADGe)

• Surveys have been sent home to parents to find out what they think about the school meal offer and to make recommendations for change. These can be fed back to the school food provider.

• Parents and grandparents have been invited into the school to attend the school lunchtime alongside their young people, to raise awareness about the school food available

Outcomes

• School meal take up has increased since the start of the project from an average of only 8 meals per day in October to an average of 11 or 12 meals per day in January.

• This represents an increase in take up of almost 5% and an overall average take up figure of 14% of young people eating a school meal.

Future Plans

• Despite having no kitchen facilities of their own, the school is going to start growing their own vegetables in the garden. This will encourage and educate the young people, and the fruits of their labour can be taken home!

• The school has plans to set up a fully operational SNAG group next term.

Evaluation

Lisa said that “the resources have been a huge help and before working with the Trust, I was unsure as to where to start but you have given me plenty of great ideas”.

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.