BRONZE criteria & guidance
Food Leadership
Food quality and provenance
(for delivery by the Caterer in partnership with the School)
Food education
Food culture and community involvement
Food Leadership
The School Nutrition Action Group has led a review of food culture in school, and actions have been agreed.
We would expect the focus of the SNAG (or equivalent group) to go beyond school lunches to include practical food education for pupils and how to involve the wider community. Sustainability should be considered alongside healthy eating.
We recommend that a School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) or equivalent includes the school cook, pupils from a broad age range and at least one:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Member of the teaching staff (including a food technology teacher at secondary level)
- Parent or Governor
- Community representative
A SNAG is a school-based alliance in which teaching staff, pupils and caterers, supported, where appropriate, by health and education professionals and the local community, work together to review and improve the school food service and adopt a truly whole school approach to food education and culture. One of the first jobs of the SNAG will be to review what is happening in your school on food issues, and put an action plan together to make improvements. Actions should reflect the priorities of the school community, but might include developing plans to grow food organically in the school grounds, use this produce in cooking activity, and link to local farms and food producers so that pupils find out more about where food comes from.
One of the first jobs of the SNAG will be to review what is happening in your school on food issues, and put an action plan together to make improvements.
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Developing a whole school food policy
(pdf, 171KB)
Action is being taken to maximise the uptake of free school meals.
We would expect the school to be making efforts to raise awareness of the free school meal entitlement and to explore ways of allowing pupils that claim free school meals to do so without standing out from other pupils so that issues of stigma do not arise.
It is important for all children to have good food at school lunchtimes to enable them to concentrate on learning in afternoon lessons. Some children do not always get a proper breakfast or dinner, and school lunches are critical in their growth and development. However, many children who are entitled to free school meals do not apply for them. One of the reasons for this is the perceived social stigma attached to claiming free school meals. In some cases, parents are simply not aware that they are entitled to claim.
Pupils and parents are consulted on school meal improvements.
We would expect schools to invite ideas and feedback from parents and pupils via surveys, questionnaires, notices in the school newsletter or tasting events.
Changes to make school menus healthier and more sustainable are important, but it is equally important that parents and pupils do not feel these changes have been imposed without explanation or consultation. Support for new menus will often come if pupils and parents feel like they have been involved in planning the changes, and understand the reasons for them.
One idea is to ask parents and pupils to recommend non-junk food dishes that are popular at home and supply recipes to the school. At Millfields Community School in Hackney the school council asked parents at a parents’ evening for healthy recipes that their children might enjoy. Together with ideas put forward by the pupils themselves, many of these dishes were incorporated into new menus that comply with the statutory food-based standards. As a result the menu is as culturally diverse as the school population, and take-up has risen.
Parents are kept informed of lunch menus and food education activity.
We would expect menus to be available for parents to see online or in the school newsletter and opportunities should be taken to post food sourcing information and messages from catering staff online, in newsletters or on bulletin boards.
Parents and guardians appreciate being able to monitor lunch menus and may well want to see what food-related learning activities their child, or they themselves, could get involved with. Where parents and pupils have been involved in suggesting dishes for menus, it is really important to give them feedback on what ideas are being put into practice, to demonstrate that their input has been valued. Displaying menus, food sourcing information and messages from catering staff in newsletters or on bulletin boards, and providing pictures of the school lunches on the website, are all good ways to keep parents in the loop. Sharing information about growing and cooking activities and farm links will help to keep parents engaged with what is happening in the school and local community around food.
Parents are given the opportunity to attend school lunches if they wish.
We would expect the school to have an open door policy to allow parents to join their child for a school lunch on request.
Parents may wish to come and sample the food that their children are eating, so that they can be confident that school meals are a healthy and tasty option, and represent good value for money. Providing this opportunity creates a culture of trust. Many schools find that having parents present on occasions helps promote a positive, sociable dining experience for all. Children today eat far fewer meals with the family than a generation ago, so it is worth creating this opportunity to show pupils that sitting down to eat as a family can be enjoyable. Perhaps the school could have a day of the week on which parents know they are welcome to join the children at lunch? Another popular idea is to have tasting sessions at parents’ evenings.
Food quality and provenance
(for delivery by the Caterer in partnership with the School)
No undesirable additives and hydrogenated fats.
The following additives should not be present in any food served on the school menu:
Colourings
- E110 (sunset yellow)
- E104 (quinoline yellow)
- E122 (carmoisine)
- E124 (ponceau 4R)
- E132 (indigo carmine)
- E133 (brilliant blue FCF)
- E102 (tartrazine)
- E107 (yellow 2G)
- E120 (cochineal)
- E123 (amaranth)
- E131 (patent blue V)
- E151 (black PN)
Flavourings/enhancers
- E621 (monosodium glutamate)
- E635 (sodium 5 – ribonucleotide)
Sweeteners
- E951 Aspartame
- E950 Acesulfame K
- E954 Sodium saccharine
Preservatives
- E211 (sodium benzoate)
This list includes all the additives shown to cause behavioural problems in the recent Southampton University research, which prompted the FSA to advise that they be avoided by parents of hyperactive children. It also includes other additives prevalent in children’s food that have been identified as problematic by the Hyperactive Children’s Support Group.
At least 75% of dishes on the menu are freshly prepared.
You will be complying with this criterion if 75% of the dishes on the menu are freshly prepared in the school kitchen from basic unprocessed ingredients. Food freshly prepared at a nearby school or catering facility for serving in a school without a kitchen is also eligible.
To calculate your %, simply count all the ‘freshly prepared’ dishes on the menu rotation and calculate this as a percentage of the total number of dishes.
The Soil Association uses a common sense definition of ‘unprocessed’ to include raw, basic ingredients such as fresh/frozen fruit and vegetables, fresh/frozen meat or fish, pasta, rice, flours, pulses and beans. Unprocessed foods are fresh, homemade and natural, as defined by the FSA. Some other foods that have been subject to primary processing are included in our definition of unprocessed such as pasta, milk, good quality cheese and sausages and wholegrain bread. The lists below are for clarification in response to common queries.
The following basic ingredients MAY be used in dishes counted as ‘freshly prepared’:
- Fresh or frozen vegetables, and canned sweetcorn, pulses or beans.
- Fresh, dried or canned (no syrup) fruit, including tinned tomatoes
- Fresh or frozen meat which can be pre-diced or minced
- Fresh or frozen dairy products, including ice cream and yoghurt
- Sausages (minimum meat content 60%)
- Cheese (unless highly processed)
- Pasta and rice
- Bread, rolls and wraps with some wholegrain flour content
- Stock cubes or bouillon(free from additives on our ‘undesirable’ list)
- Bread mix, custard powder and gravy mix (free from additives on our ‘undesirable’ list)
The following MAY NOT be included in a dish that is counted as freshly prepared:
- Pre-prepared potatoes (where chlorine-based whitening agents used)
- Reconstituted or pre-cooked meat
- Packet mixes, with the exception of bread mix, custard powder and gravy mix
- Pre-prepared sauces
- Baked beans
- Dried egg or milk products
- Jelly cubes and crystals
- Ready-made pastry
Meat is farm assured as a welfare minimum. Eggs are from cage-free hens.
This is a minimum specification. If you are specifying free range, Freedom Food or organic for meat or egg products you will be meeting and exceeding this criterion. Farm assurance is not a guarantee that eggs are from cage-free hens, an issue of widespread public concern. Cage-free eggs therefore need to be specified separately by caterers.
‘Farm assured’ food is produced on farms that have been independently verified as operating to the production standards of a voluntary assurance scheme. Assurance scheme standards cover issues such as food safety, traceability, production methods, environmental protection and animal welfare.
The most popular schemes include Assured British Meat, Assured British Pigs, Assured Chicken Production, Assured Dairy Farms, Farm Assured Welsh Livestock (FAWL) and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS). If a product carries the Red Tractor logo, you can be sure that it is farm assured. Various other whole supply chain assurance logos also indicate farm assurance – British Quality Assured Pork, Charter Quality British Bacon, Charter Quality British Ham, British Quality Assured Pork Sausage and the EBLEX Quality Standard Mark (for beef and lamb). Due to their system of annual inspections, consumers can have greater confidence that minimum standards on animal welfare are being met in line with UK legislation.
For further detailed guidance on how to source farm assured produce and eggs from cage-free hens, refer to our briefing Frequently asked questions on animal welfare assurance.
Check out the following websites and briefings for more information.
Menus are seasonal and in-season produce is highlighted.
If your menus make use of and highlight a number of in-season fruit and vegetables you will be meeting this criterion. Alternatively, menus can use a broad specification like ‘seasonal vegetables’ or state clearly that fruit and vegetables are subject to seasonal variation. Refer to the School Food Trust’s In Season wallchart to see what is in-season when.
Eating UK produce in-season is one of the best ways to reduce our carbon footprint, by cutting ‘food miles’ and avoiding energy-guzzling heated greenhouses. Currently, 91% of the fruit and 50% of the vegetables in the UK are imported. Eating in-season also means you eat food at its best, and it is often more affordable too. If menus are seasonal it becomes far easier to source fresh produce locally. Some produce, like rhubarb, has shorter seasons when they taste at their best, and these could be used as a hook for young people to learn about seasonality. Why not highlight ‘in-season’ fruit and vegetables on menus, or with themed events like pumpkin soup making at Halloween?
Guidance on how to make seasonal vegetable and fruit substitutions without needing to repeat your menu’s nutrient analysis are available from our Resources section.
Also, visit the following website for more information:
Menus cater well for all dietary needs in the school population.
Caterers will comply with this if:
a) menus reflect the ethnic make up of the school,
b) all catering staff can identify clearly the ingredients of all dishes served for allergy sufferers, and
c) vegetarian menus are nutritionally balanced and diverse, avoiding over-reliance on cheese.
If children are to be encouraged to eat a balanced, healthy meal at school, it can help if at least some of the food served is familiar to them from home. This may mean adapting some popular so called ‘junk’ foods so they contain well-sourced, wholesome ingredients. Similarly it means that the menu should reflect the ethnic make up of the school so the whole school population feels comfortable. This may then encourage children to try other, less familiar, foods. Needs of other minorities, such as vegetarians, must also be carefully considered so that they feel that they are offered a nutritious and tasty alternative to the meat dish, rather than simply a larger portion of the vegetable side dishes. Vegetarian menus should also be nutritionally balanced and diverse, avoiding over-reliance on cheese. Finally it is important that all catering staff can identify clearly the ingredients of all dishes served, as this is vitally important information for those who suffer from allergies. These children may need more flexibility than is normally allowed with planning the school menu.
Also, visit the following website for more information:
Continuous professional development is available to catering staff, including training in fresh food preparation.
We would expect practical training in fresh food preparation and seasonal menu planning to be available to the heads of kitchen, and to other catering staff according to need, as part of a programme of continuous professional development. This can be on-the-job training rather than course-based. Training for catering staff should be recorded on a training note or schedule.
Many catering staff would benefit from an opportunity to refresh old skills of fresh food preparation and learn new skills relating to nutrition, seasonal menu planning and food education. Catering staff should be encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to acquire relevant qualifications becoming available via new government-supported regional training centres. Consider giving catering staff the opportunity to participate in school visits to local organic farms to see where the food comes from.
A member of catering staff is encouraged to get involved in food education activities, with the support of the school.
You will be meeting this criterion if caterers and schools work together to:
a) ensure that catering staff are briefed to be able to communicate to pupils and parents about what on the menu is in-season, local and organic, and
b) encourage willing catering staff to get involved in food education beyond the dining hall.
The quality of school meal provision can reinforce or undermine food education in school and vice versa. Providing opportunities for cooks to contribute to food education can help pupils make the connections and keep cooks motivated and inspired. Cook-pupil interaction could happen in the kitchen or classrooms. Food-themed assemblies and lessons and after-school cooking or growing clubs can provide opportunities. Some catering staff will be more keen and confident to take this opportunity than others, and encouragement and support from the school may be an important factor.
Food education
Healthy and sustainable food is used as a theme for assemblies.
We would expect assemblies that reinforce learning on healthy and sustainable food to take place at least once a term.
Assemblies provide an excellent opportunity to explore ideas around food culture. Schools can invite external speakers, encourage pupils and teachers to report on work going on in class and communicate messages to the wider school community. Ideally, these themes should be addressed regularly, so that they become part of ongoing discussions around the school, rather than being restricted to a one-off event such as a food week. The ideas in the links below should help to get you started.
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Ideas for assemblies on healthy and sustainable food
(pdf, 142KB)
- Sustain:Grab 5
- One Planet Agriculture - Soil Association campaign
- Cool Planet - Oxfam campaign
- Fairtrade Education Packs
Opportunities are given for cooking activities and this is linked to curriculum learning.
We would expect the school to have a ‘curriculum map’ that identifies how practical food preparation and cooking activities could be used to reinforce curriculum learning.
The focus should be on hands-on preparation and cooking, so that young people can put healthy eating messages into practice at home and in future life. A mapping exercise will help highlight how cooking can be linked across the curriculum. For example, weighing and measuring links in well with numeracy. Opportunities to teach cooking and related activities within the formal curriculum exist in Design and Technology, Science, Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship. Cooking can also be related to other areas such as Mathematics, History and Geography and developed in the context of school or class celebrations or festivals.
To get you started, you can register your school with the Focus on Food Campaign and receive a free copy of COOK SCHOOL magazine twice yearly. It contains articles about food and food issues, food culture, recipes and cooking skills.
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Key learning points for school cooking activity
(pdf, 142KB)
- Register with the Focus on Food Campaign
- Academy of Culinary Arts adopt-a-school scheme
- Food Standards Agency (FSA) food competences framework
Opportunities are given for some pupils to grow and harvest food and make compost, and this is linked to curriculum learning.
We would expect the school to have a ‘curriculum map’ that identifies how growing activities could be used to reinforce curriculum learning, outside the classroom. As a starting point, a garden group or class should be given the opportunity to plant simple food crops like tomatoes or potatoes in beds or containers, in compost they have made, and harvest them when ready.
On joining the Food for Life Partnership, schools also become members of Garden Organic for Schools and will receive tips and guidance to support growing activity in schools. There is no better way to get young people interested in eating fruit and vegetables than by giving them the opportunity to grow some themselves. Growing organically and learning to compost also gives young people experiences that link together the complex issues of health and sustainability. In making compost, pupils will be helping to reduce kitchen waste, build up a healthy soil, provide essential nutrients to the plants and those who eat them, and help the plants resist attack from pests and disease.
The links below will help get you started and make the valuable connection between simple growing activities and the curriculum.
- Duchy Originals Garden Organic for Schools ‘How to leaflets’
- National Curriculum for Key Stages 2 & 3
- Duchy Originals Garden Organic for Schools vegetable quiz (available to schools enrolled on the Food for Life Partnership Mark)
- Duchy Originals Garden Organic for Schools Membership Pack (schools enrolled on the Food for Life Partnership Mark will receive DOGOfS membership)
- Home Composting
The school organises an annual farm visit for one or more year groups, and this is linked to curriculum learning.
We would expect the school to have a ‘curriculum map’ that identifies how farm visits could be used to reinforce curriculum learning, outside the classroom.
If young people are to become intelligent and responsible food consumers, they must have an opportunity to learn where our food comes from and how it is produced. The opportunity to visit a farm, and learn about the realities and challenges of modern-day food production at first-hand from a farmer, can be an important formative experience. Farm links are a great way to improve knowledge of food among young people, and build more interest in the consumption of healthy and fresh produce. Organic farms can provide wide-ranging learning opportunities, because they tend to be mixed farms with both crops and livestock. As well as an opportunity to learn about farming itself, the farm provides an excellent ‘outdoor classroom’ that teachers can use to deliver a wide range of curriculum areas.
Prior to the farm visit, it can be of great benefit to pupils to have the opportunity to do some preparatory research on farming and the farm itself. For example, pupils might prepare a set of interview questions for the farmer to find out more about daily life on a farm, and how the farmer safeguards the environment. After the visit, there will be many opportunities for follow-up work linked to the national curriculum.
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Ideas for activities on a farm visit
(pdf, 149KB) -
Tips for organising a farm visit
(pdf, 149KB) -
Suggested questions to ask a farmer
(pdf, 141KB) -
National Curriculum links in 'Get on My Land' report- on pages 22 and 23
(pdf, 2MB)
- In your region - Farm Links on this site
- Organic farm demonstration network
- Year of Food and Farming
- Farms for schools
- Farming and Countryside Education
- Teachernet advice on health and safety for visits
- Health and Safety Executive guidance
Food culture and community involvement
Pupils have been asked to suggest improvements to the dining experience and a plan is in place to implement best ideas.
We would expect schools to be actively consulting pupils about possible improvements to the dining experience on an annual basis, and agreeing one or more new actions based on their suggestions.
The dining experience at school should be a time for enjoying good food and acquiring good food habits and social skills. However, it can be difficult for caterers and schools to manage the lunch break, feeding hundreds of children in a confined area that also doubles as a gym or assembly hall, in a short period of time. Lots of children complain of long queuing times, noisy halls, shrill whistles and confusion over the food on offer. Asking them for their ideas for improvements and acting on the best of these can be a great way to win their support and make simple but effective changes.
Free drinking water is available in the dining hall and throughout the school day.
We would expect schools to ensure that quality drinking water is available to pupils throughout the day, and not from taps and drinking fountains located in the toilet areas.
Good hydration helps young people to maintain a healthy weight and improves attention and concentration. It can also help increase exercise capacity and fitness levels and reduce the risk of chronic disease. The Government’s food in schools programme advises that quality drinking water should be available to pupils throughout the day, and not from taps and drinking fountains located in the toilet areas. Caterers should ensure free drinking water is available in the dining hall at lunchtime, together with sufficient glasses or cups. Schools should consider installing tamperproof water fountains in the dining hall and supplying reusable water bottles to every pupil so they can drink during class times and throughout the school day. It may be worth contacting your regional water company – many have initiatives linked to drinking water provision in school.
Lunchtime supervisors promote a calm and positive dining experience and help pupils with food choices.
We would expect the school to be working with lunchtime supervisors to promote healthy choices and manage lunchtime behaviour through positive reinforcement, avoiding the use of whistles.
Lunchtime supervisors have a key role to play in managing the lunch break in such a way as to minimise noise and stress, and in prompting young people to try different foods and clear their plates to ensure a balanced diet. Children can sometimes feel intimidated by lunchtime supervisors, who themselves are under pressure to get pupils through quickly. Tips or training for supervisors on how to carry out their role effectively, for instance by managing behaviour through positive reinforcement, could have a positive impact on the dining experience. Greater recognition of this role in the school, and involvement of supervisors in food events and other aspects of school life, could also pay dividends.
An annual event is held on a food theme for pupils and the wider community.
A remarkable range of imaginative food events takes place in schools around the country, ranging from taster sessions at parents’ evenings to cooking demonstrations by local chefs.
It is important always to create opportunities to celebrate food culture through events that are open and enjoyable to pupils, parents and the wider community. There is no better hook for creating a positive sense of community, and securing the active participation of pupils and parents. Many schools report that a food theme at a school event invariably pays dividends in terms of attendance by parents!
A menu of ideas for community events can be found below:
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Menu of ideas for community food events
(pdf, 168KB)
The school has made a commitment to phase out flight trays.
Exemptions to this rule may apply in the case of children with special needs or very young children.
Plastic flight trays may be practical and efficient for caterers, but they do not help to get young people used to eating like adults. Food often spills from one tray compartment to another, and pupils may be tempted to eat their pudding first. Separate china, melamine or polycarbonate plates for each course are more pleasant and a better vehicle for quality food.
The school makes efforts to engage parents and/or the wider community in the school growing and cooking activities.
We would expect schools to be using the newsletter, school website, visits or dedicated letters to alert parents and/or community groups to school plans and existing activities in these areas, and opportunities to get involved. Parents and community groups may well be an untapped resource of volunteering time or in-kind contributions such as gardening tools or ingredients for cooking.
The more parents and others involved from the outset, the greater the likelihood of cooking and growing projects achieving lasting success. Involving parents in these activities will also increase the likelihood of them being replicated at home. Forging links between generations and with other ethnic and faith groups is of great importance to the development of pupils as citizens. Making an effort to provide cooking and food growing opportunities to members of the school community also allows schools to be seen as education centres in their widest sense. Cooking and food growing can provide people of any age, ability and outlook with a tremendous sense of wellbeing and achievement. Garden Organic Membership is a useful option for parents and the wider community interested in obtaining more knowledge about organic gardening
Get in touch
If you would like to learn more about the Food for Life Partnership or have any questions, please contact us.