The food for life partnership is a network of schools and communities working to transform food culture to create good quality school meals.
Themes
Transforming food culture in schools and communities to support health, education and sustainability priorities.
Locality
Sixty-seven North Yorkshire schools are enrolled with the partnership.
Three schools in North Yorkshire are flagships for the partnership programme and have achieved the prestigious silver award:
- Boroughbridge High School
- Sowerby Community Primary School
- Clapham Primary School
Two further schools in North Yorkshire have achieved the bronze award:
- St George's RC Primary
- West Cliff Primary
This case study will focus on the food for life partnership activity at Boroughbridge High School.
Aims
The food for life partnership is a network of schools and communities working to transform food culture through growing food, cooking, visiting farms, engaging pupils in decisions around school food, improving the lunchtime experience, and working with school meal caterers to source good quality food for school meals. This holistic approach to embed good food culture aims to create positive health and wellbeing impacts. Through working with schools, we aim to give pupils and their families the confidence, skills and knowledge they need to cook, grow, and enjoy good food.
Details
Boroughbridge High School has successfully used the partnership award framework to provide a whole school approach to healthy eating and food education. By working closely with their school meals catering team (North Yorkshire County Caterers) and supported by training and resources from the partnership, the school has reached silver award status.
The school has a fabulous school garden, keep hens and works closely with local farms. They have also used the partnership framework to develop strong links with the local community and extend the benefits of the programme beyond the school gates.
An outstanding example is their work with Boroughbridge Community Care Lunch Club. Recognising difficulties older people face regarding the rising costs of food and heating, students decided that they would like to support older people in their community by delivering soup made from vegetables grown in the school garden.
Community links are further enhanced by the Boroughbridge High School annual Fabulous Food Festival which sees local producers taking stalls alongside pupils selling produce from the school garden.
The impact of the practical cooking and food growing activity has been clear. This has been particularly evident in two students who have engaged well in the school garden and the community soup project. Having previously been on the verge of exclusion, the school believe that these activities have made a strong contribution to their continued attendance.
The school has seen as increased number of applications to Askham Bryan College for courses in agriculture and horticulture. Many students have gone on to successful careers in hospitality and catering.
Head teacher Elaine Dixon, says:
"We are absolutely committed to food for life partnership work and feel that it is now firmly embedded in the culture of the school.
"The benefits of intergenerational links through food are seen on both sides and the impact of good food culture on the student's futures is incredibly important."
How will this case study improve health and reduce health inequalities?
Independent national evaluation of the food for life partnership shows that children participating in cooking, growing, and farm-based education are more likely to eat well, and increase fruit and vegetable consumption. The food for life partnership gives pupils and others access to practical food skills that give them greater control over their current and future diets. "Evidence points towards the food for life partnership's potential to contribute to helping 'close the gap' for disadvantaged children in terms of their health and academic attainment." (NFER, 2011).
The food for life partnership improves the quality of school meals and increases overall meal take and free school meal take-up, meaning that more children (and importantly the most disadvantaged) are eating healthy, well-sourced, fresh school meals.
What public health outcomes does this case study relate to?
See http://www.phoutcomes.info for more information.
Domain 3. Health protection
Indicator: Public sector organisations with board-approved sustainable development management plan
The food for life partnership award scheme requires schools to develop a school food policy for sign-off by governors, which addresses food sustainability as well as health.
The food for life partnership's sister accreditation scheme for catering services - the food for life catering mark - is being taken up by local authorities and other settings such as universities as an important element of their sustainable development commitments. Research by the new economics foundation found that there is more than £3 in social return on every £1 invested in food for life school menus, mostly in the form of new jobs in the local economy.
Domain 2. Health improvement
Indicator: Excess weight in 4-5 and 10-11 year olds
The food for life partnership represents an evidence-based intervention for changing children's eating habits at school and family eating habits at home.
Our university-led national evaluation showed a 28 per cent increase in reported five-a-day consumption by pupils and 45 per cent of parents reported eating more fruit and vegetables as a result of their engagement in the food for life partnership (Orme et al, 2011).
Take-up of healthy school meals by those who need them most - i.e. those eligible for free school meals - increased by 13 percentage points on average in food for life partnership schools, and 20 percentage points in secondary schools. For comparison, national background figures for the evaluation period (08/09-10/11) show that free school meal take-up was fairly static in primary schools (79.3-79.5 per cent) and increased slightly in secondary schools (65.7-68.4 per cent).
Fig 1. The food for life partnership increases participation in skills-based food education
"The findings show statistically significant associations between higher participation in cooking, growing, sustainable food education and farm-based activities -and positive healthy eating behaviours" (Orme et al, 2011)
Indicator: Diet: comparison with national dietary targets and guidelines
The food for life partnership university-led national evaluation (over a two year period) showed a 28 per cent increase in reported five-a-day consumption by pupils and 45 per cent of parents reported eating more fruit and vegetables as a result of their engagement in the food for life partnership (Orme et al, 2011).
Indicator: Excess weight in adults
Forty five per cent of parents reported eating more fruit and vegetables as a result of their engagement in the food for life partnership (Orme et al, 2011)
"Activities associated with the food for life partnership attracted high levels of parental engagement and acted as a basis for involving a wide range of parents in school life. This is important given the recognised challenges schools face particularly within deprived communities in successfully engaging and retaining parental involvement" (Orme et al, 2011)
Indicator: Self-reported wellbeing
The food for life partnership programme promotes emotional health and wellbeing by giving children a more positive lunchtime experience and more access to nature and active time outdoors via growing activities and farm visits.
Domain 1. Improving the wider determinants of health
Indicator: Pupil absence
The impact of the practical cooking and food growing activity at Boroughbridge High School has been clear. This has been particularly evident in two students who have engaged well in the school garden and the community soup project. Having previously been on the verge of exclusion, the school believe that these activities have made a strong contribution to their continued attendance.
Indicator: Utilisation of green space for exercise/health reasons
Schools involved in the food for life partnership significantly increase the participation of pupils in active time outdoors, both through farm-based activities and food growing on allotment areas at school and in the wider community (see fig 1).
Indicator: 16-18 year olds not in education, employment or training
Research by the new economics foundation found that there is more than £3 in social return on every £1 invested in food for life school menus, mostly in the form of new jobs in the local economy.
Boroughbridge High School has seen as increased number of applications to Askham Bryan College for courses in agriculture and horticulture. Many students have gone on to successful careers in hospitality and catering.
Contact details
Amanda Donnelly, senior commissioning manager
Food For Life Partnership
Tel: 07824 635810
Email: adonnelly@soilassociation.org
Web: www.foodforlife.org.uk
