Award Criteria
Food for Life awards are centred around four areas of development, which link to the criteria and create an action framework for your school:
- Food Quality
- Food Leadership and Food Culture
- Food Education
- Community and Partnerships
Here’s just a summary of what your school will achieve to get an award at each of the levels – you can read the full bronze criteria here.
NEW for 2023Foundation award schools:
- Have completed over half of the Bronze Food Quality criteria for schools
- Have implemented a whole school approach to food and have considered elements of the food environment across the four pillars: Food quality; Food leadership & food culture; Food Education; Community, partnerships & parent engagement
- Meet Bronze Food for Life Served Here Award standards which shows that school food is healthy and uses seasonal ingredients that are at least 75% freshly prepared
- Involve pupils and parents in planning improvements to school menus and the lunchtime experience, boosting school meal take-up
- Give every pupil the opportunity to visit a local farm, and take part in cooking and food growing activity
- Have committed to improve their school food culture by developing a school food policy
- Serve school meals on proper crockery, not plastic ‘flight trays’
- Meet Silver Food for Life Served Here Standards which shows that school food is healthy, ethical, and uses some local and organic ingredients
- Have a cooking club, where pupils get to cook with and eat the produce grown in the school growing area
- Involve parents and the wider community to get involved in food education via food-themed events
- Our food is healthy, ethical, and uses local ingredients. We use a minimum of 5% organic ingredients in our menus
- Act as hubs for their local community, actively involving parents and community groups in cooking and growing activities
- Meet Gold Food for Life Served Here standards which shows the food served is healthy, ethical, uses lots of local ingredients and is animal and climate friendly, including a minimum of 15% organic and 5% free range
- Pupils choosing to eat a school meal is the norm
- Are actively involved in the life of a local farm and active in planning and growing organic food for the school
Applying for your Food for Life Awards