Nationwide school food plans should be put in place to ensure that both eating and learning about food at school reflect healthy and sustainable dietary guidelines, within culturally appropriate contexts. Specifically, this would mean updating school food standards and delivering a comprehensive food education throughout the school curriculum. Governments should take steps to mainstream and integrate progress achieved in individual schools through successful initiatives to improve school food, such as Food for Life or Meat Free Mondays. Governments should also commit to an ambitious long-term plan for the provision of school meals to all children.
Better standards for school food are needed to ensure that school food procurement processes deliver for health and sustainability outcomes. School food standards should be updated to reflect the most recent dietary guidance and environmental considerations, and nationwide monitoring systems should be implemented to support compliance. Standards should also reflect and reinforce what is learned in the classroom. Schools should be supported to translate school food standards into procurement contract language where necessary, including specifications and other considerations for key food groups and nutrients as well as specifications regarding sustainable sourcing, food preparation and the catering service in general.
Food system education should be integrated across the school curriculum, in ways that meaningfully link the classroom with how food is grown and consumed, particularly in the school canteen. The UK Government should reintroduce Food A-Level and provide sufficient funding for food education lessons. Learning outcomes should focus on the broader impacts of different foods and production systems, including on greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater, land use change and biodiversity loss, and include exploring the steps that can be taken to mitigate those impacts and improve the food system. Food education should also aim to support the development of healthy, sustainable eating habits through practical experiences and skills, including growing and cooking food, eating seasonably and choosing a healthy and nutritious diet.
Every child should have access to a fully-funded hot, healthy school meal no matter where they live in the UK. Universal Free School Meals should be available to all children, with immediate extension of entitlement to those who are most in need of benefits that healthy school meals offer. Schools should have sufficient funding for breakfast clubs, and the School Food Fruit and Vegetable Scheme in England should be made permanent for all pupils. Appropriate, fair, and transparent funding should also be available for schools and caterers so they can plan and budget effectively, and funding for school meals should also keep pace with inflation.
