Fatfield Primary School is in the Washington area of Sunderland and caters for pupils aged 4-11 years. There are around 234 pupils on roll.
The school was rebuilt in 1999 so is a modern building but a kitchen was not provided at the time, instead the school meals are transported from another site where they are prepared.
‘Fatfield is an average sized primary school with a 30 place nursery. It serves an area with a broad socio-economic mix taking children from the village of Fatfield and the surrounding area. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is below average. The vast majority of children are of White British heritage and there are very few who do not have English as a first language. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is below average. The school has Investors in People status and Artsmark and Healthy School awards.’
(Ofsted, 2007)
Project Team
- Headteacher
- Bursar
- Sunderland City Council Representative
- Sunderland City Council Kitchen Expert
- Avail consultant
- SFT Contact
Case Study
Read the case study on Fatfield Primary School here:
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/casestudies/fatfield
Final Report
The installation of the new kitchen coupled with the free meal trial and parents launch event has significantly increased the take up of paid school meals.
In the period from September 2008 until the free meal trial in March 2009, the average take up of paid meals was 38%. During the free meal trial this increase to 95% and for the weeks after the trial the level has been 64%.
In addition, the number of pupils throwing away more than 25% of their meal has reduced.
Before the kitchen was installed the number of pupils throwing away food ranged from between 25% – 67%. The main reasons cited were that the food was too cold or that it did not taste good.
Since the kitchen has been installed this level has reduced from between 2% – 13% (although the number of measurements taken was lower than requested).
These results indicate that producing fresh food on site can have a positive impact on the number of meals consumed and the quality of the food produced. However, this was only achieved by marketing (launch event) and through a free meal promotion.
