School food helps children thrive

Family food security in Lincoln

The biggest rise in foodbank referrals in Lincoln is to households with children, according to the recent Reality of Food Poverty in Lincoln report. Children now represent 35% of food parcel recipients in Lincoln.

I don’t know how that statistic makes you feel – I feel that in my stomach. It stops me in my tracks. I have three children.

Food and the capacity to learn

We are aware of at least one school in Lincoln that is providing free food to school families. You’d hardly think this is the remit of a school.

But teachers see first hand the impact of inadequate diets on the behaviour, concentration and educational outcomes of children. They witness the impact on whole families of the struggle to put food on the table.

For those on the lowest incomes, the cost of living crisis goes beyond economic. It takes its toll on bodies, minds and life opportunities.

School food for all

Last month, we were in Parliament with members of the Sustainable Food Places network from across the UK, talking to MPs about the work of food partnerships to address such issues.

We have been asking our Lincolnshire MPs (including Karl McCartney, MP for Lincoln, pictured below) to support the School Food for All Bill.

To our mind, it’s a moral issue that all children have at least one good meal a day, but even looking at it from a hard-nosed economic perspective, it’s a no-brainer.

Universal free school meals is one of the easiest wins when it comes to children’s health. Universal school food is good for everyone, because (as long as school food is of a decent standard) it normalises good food for all children.

If you’re a parent you will probably agree that putting together a nutritious packed lunch that is still appetising by lunchtime is a tall order, and time-consuming. When a child’s classmates are eating highly processed food (marketed to kids) a child with a healthy packed lunch can feel like the odd one out. Peer pressure is powerful!

But good food is tasty, as children at Washingborough Academy will tell you.

What can schools do?

At Washingborough Academy, all children eat a school meal cooked by Chef Michael, the only Soil Association Gold Award-winning in-house school chef in the world! No-one brings a packed lunch. That was officially the governors’s decision – but why would they even want to?

Washingborough receives international recognition for its food work. Their latest special guest to be wowed by their whole school approach to food, was Princess Anne. HRH paid the school a visit to see how they were embedding good food across the curriculum, site and culture of the school. Schools across the UK are taking a leaf from Washinborough’s book by using TastEd – sensory food lessons – in the curriculum.

Getting good food on the school meal tables for ALL children – and making healthy food the norm in the school dining hall every day – may be a hard task but it is vital.

Washingborough is showing that it is not only possible, but has a massive positive impact on children’s experience and enjoyment of good food. The impact will likely last them a lifetime.

What you can do

Support School Food for All – sustainweb.org/school-food-for-all