From kitchen to classroom

1st June 2010, 11:44am

A Hove headteacher believes she has found the key to improving pupils' concentration and behaviour during the difficult afternoon lesson period – by making a good lunchtime a highlight on the timetable.

Since 2001, Janet Felkin, headteacher at Blatchington Mill School, has led a programme of gradual improvements to the catering and dining facilities at the school. She believes they have made a real difference to how pupils study and behave after their lunch break.

She said: "Afternoon lessons are traditionally a challenge in many schools as pupils' energy and concentration levels drop which can lead to bad behaviour and unruly classrooms. The changes we have made to improve nutritional standards in our food, as well as the renovation to the dining room, have had a huge impact on performance levels throughout the school."

Blatchington Mill School originally relocated its 1970s-style kitchen and dining room in 2001 to improve efficiency and increase space. In the last two years, modernisation work has seen the dining room expanded even further and contemporary furniture installed, with a separate sixth form café built away from the kitchen.

Alongside structural works, Blatchington Mill School has taken care in improving the quality of the food on offer in its canteen. All school food is prepared fresh on-site and breakfast, lunchtime and break time services are available with menus rotated every three weeks. Every meal is prepared from recipe cards, planned by development chefs, who are supported by specialist nutritionists.

Blatchington Mill's approach to school food is set out in its healthy eating policy. The policy ensures that all food meets the Government's nutritional standards but also embeds healthy eating in the curriculum and gives students the chance to feed back and influence decisions about what they are eating at school.

A well-structured queuing system is one improvement that has made a big difference. With a grant from the Local Authority, the school installed a computerised, cashless 'Smart Card' payment system which means that students can pass quickly through the servery to collect and pay for their food. Integrated plasma screens display the day's menu alongside nutritional information about the food on offer. These improvements have resulted directly in an increase in take-up of school food.

And the improvements are continuing. Blatchington Mill's plans for the future include the introduction of a fashionable baguette bar and a facility for parents and guardians to top-up Smart Cards online.

Felkin's views reflect separate research conducted in schools by the School Food Trust which found that, when students eat a good lunch in a pleasant environment, they are more focused in their lessons after lunch. 

The Trust's Chair, Rob Rees, said: "We know from our research that a good lunchtime experience can, quite literally, make or break how students feel about their day, as well as having an impact on their performance."

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