Whole school approach
Hungry for Success recognises that a whole child, whole school approach to food and encouraging better eating habits is as important to improving the diet of Scotland's children as teaching the principles of healthy eating in the classroom.
Content
- Development as a Health Promoting School
- Partnership Working
- Growing through Adolescence
- Resources
- Useful Links
Whats New
Development as a Health Promoting School
Development as a health promoting school will help this process as it emphasises the need to ensure all aspects of food provision help to promote health, including:
- the curriculum
- breakfast clubs
- school meals
- packed lunches
- the environment and management of the dining room
- drinking water
- snacks and tuck shops
- vending machines
- School Nutrition Action Groups (SNAGs)
- alternative food suppliers near the school.
There are various strands of the curriculum that contribute to healthy eating, including:
- the health education 5–14 guidelines
- home economics – also covers food preparation and handling skills
- biology and general science – increase understanding of nutrition and food hygiene
- physical education – covers rehydration and energy balance in the context of physical activity
- personal and social education and religious and moral education – discuss the important role food plays in different cultures.
Partnership working
Many children already have good levels of knowledge about healthy eating, which shows that effective learning and teaching is taking place. There are also examples of how this learning in the classroom is linking to the provision of food in the school, for example School Nutrition Action Groups (SNAGs).
An effective whole school approach can only be achieved if all the partners support the improvement of food provision, from the headteacher, teachers, catering and support staff, pupils, school board, parent teacher association and parent groups to external agencies such as health promotion workers, dieticians and school nurses.
The establishment of a SNAG to examine food provision and ways of improving it is a useful way of bringing the partners together and ensuring widespread input and support for change. This partnership working enables healthy eating at school to be placed in the wider context.
Pupil consultation plays an important role in a whole school approach as pupil support for healthier options is key to the success of healthy food provision, particularly in secondary schools, where pupils have more opportunities to go out of school for meals.
Consultation can be carried out in many different ways, from involvement in the SNAG and pupil council to suggestion boxes for menu ideas and opportunities to compliment or complain about school meals. Pupils can also have very good ideas for improving the atmosphere of the dining room and questionnaires can be used to gather pupils' views.
Growing through Adolescence
'Growing through Adolescence' is an evidence-based Continuing Professional Development (CPD) tool for teachers, which looks at the complex areas around healthy eating for young people by taking a whole school approach. It links to and supports health promoting schools, Hungry for Success and A Curriculum for Excellence.
The resource been produced for teachers of pupils in upper primary schools and lower secondary schools. The sessions aim to equip teachers to help young people cope with emotional and physical health issues as they grow and develop. It is also a useful reference source for teachers to gain an evidence-based overview of healthy eating and young people.
Health Scotland is hosting regional Training for Trainers courses for 'Growing through Adolescence'. The courses are aimed at those who are closely involved with schools, in training and supporting teachers in health promotion and/or approaches to healthy eating. Email the GTA team for more information at gta@health.scot.nhs.uk
Resources
‘What’s Cooking?’ Guide for Schools and Communities
The Food Standards Agency Scotland has launched the ‘What’s Cooking?’ guide to help people set up and run community and school food clubs.
Useful links
Food in Schools
Food in Schools is produced by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills to help support English schools in their approach to healthy eating and food education. It contains sections on the curriculum, school meals and food throughout the school day as well as an online Food in Schools toolkit with eight projects to implement a whole school approach to healthier food.
healthyliving
Recipes, tips on eating and exercise, 'ask the experts' and a friendly quiz to test how healthy your diet is: all these can be found on the healthyliving site.
The Cooking Bus
The Food Standards Agency Cooking Bus has been developed in partnership with the Focus on Food campaign to get across healthy eating and food safety messages to schoolchildren in an engaging way. It provides interactive cooking sessions for pupils. Schools should visit the web pages to catch the bus at their school.
Eat Smart, Play Smart
Eat Smart, Play Smart is a Food Standards Agency teaching resource developed for primary school teachers throughout the UK to use with children aged 5 to 7 years. The materials have been designed to engage children's interest in healthy food choices and in keeping active - giving them important guidance to promote healthier lifestyles.
