Nutrition and Healing

Jamie's School Dinners builds pressure on government

The government has denied "jumping on the Jamie Oliver bandwagon" in pledging to make school meals healthier and crack down on junk food advertising. Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said she took action on "day one" of the job, as she pledged cash for kitchens and to enforce minimum nutritional standards. Labour's "mini-manifesto" for children comes after TV show Jamie's School Dinners showed how poor meals were.  

The Lib Dems and the Tories accused the Labour of a gimmicky election stunt. Speaking at the launch of Labour's plans for children, Ms Kelly said she had told her departmental civil servants that she wanted to "do something to raise the standards of school meals" on her first day in office. She also said she thought it would be very difficult to produce a decent school meal for 37 pence - the amount which the TV chef discovered a school in Greenwich was spending on producing a single school meal.  

"Quite frankly I don't see how Greenwich thought they could ever do it on 37 pence," she said. "Our commitment today is that a third Labour term will make additional resources available to rebuild and build new kitchens and dining areas."

Parents, teachers and governors are calling for more fresh meat, fruit and vegetables, locally sourced and even organic produce.

From September (2005) minimum standards for fat, sugar and salt content in school meals would be enforced, and meals services would be inspected by the Office for Standards in Education. Ministers are also seeking a voluntary agreement to stop junk food advertising at times when children watch the television. If that did not work, a third Labour term would legislate to enforce it issuing fixed penalty notices to firms which broke the rules. 

Shadow education secretary Tim Collins said "genuine solutions" not "pre-election gimmicks" were needed, adding that that a Tory announcement on the issue was coming soon. "Conservatives would ensure we have more money given to the front-line and allow schools the freedom and resources they need to offer more nutritious meals."

Lib Dem education spokesman Phil Willis said the plans were a "cheap election stunt" to "hide the fact that for eight years under (Tony Blair's) stewardship, our children have been eating the most appalling food".

The Soil Association, which represents organic growers, also said the government had "dragged its feet" and pointed to the stricter regulations already introduced in Scotland.

It also outlined plans for a new £20m Parenting Fund for parents of children going from primary to secondary school to try to reduce bad behaviour in schools and truancy. (Unfortunately the link between nutrition and behaviour remains unrealised! - NE).

(source: bbc)

How can we get children drinking in school?

Great 1st step: encourage your school to have water bottles in the class

Problem at present – children don’t have the thirst mechanism working, so lots of water bottles remain untouched in the corner. Children need to be encouraged to drink.

Join the “Water is cool in school” campaign www.wateriscoolinschool.org.uk– lots of facts, resources, how to implement.

– they found the scheme is most successful when freedom to drink is combined with education and increased awareness about the health benefits of drinking water regularly throughout the day

1.Teachers lead by example – to get through a 1 litre bottle you will need to be drinking from it yourself throughout the day.

2.Active promotion to pupils –

Key messages:

- Recognise the signs of dehydration:

thirst, tiredness, headaches, lack of energy during sport, bad breath, dry skin and eyes, dark, strong smelling urine (ERIC 2000)

- Know that water is best for between meals (D0H 1994)

- Know that they should drink 6-8 glasses a day (FSA 2002)

3.Active promotion to parents – facts relating to the importance of drinking water

4.Need to prompt children am and pm – away from food “personal water bottles within arm’s reach on desks are the most practical and effective option or give pupils a minimum of 3-5 fluid breaks per day at least one in the afternoon. Pupils should be encouraged to drink a full glass of water at each drink” (water is cool in school campaign)

5.children’s bottles need to start the day full & end the day empty (they need fresh water every day)

6.Incentive / reward scheme e.g. stickers

7.Some schools have a water jug in the class and cups in addition to individual water bottles?