"The fall in uptake of school meals reported last week by Ofsted in their 'Food in Schools' report, is not an excuse to put junk food back on the menu. Instead, it should prompt a new focus in schools on practical food education and a commitment to work with young people and their parents to develop new healthier menus which children will enjoy.

 

There was good news to be found also in the report. Ofsted pinpointed some excellent examples of where schools and caterers have worked in partnership with children and their families to improve school meals and encourage children to stay for a healthy school lunch.

 

Getting schools, caterers, children and their families working together is at the heart of the new £17-million Lottery funded Food for Life Partnership led by the Soil Association, which aims to transform school meals by 2011 in over 3600 schools. The Food for Life Partnership is confident it can reverse the decline in uptake of school meals. In all schools to date that have adopted the Food for Life targets of 75% fresh, 50% local and 30% organic ingredients, school meal take-up has gone up, not down. The Focus on Food Campaign, Garden Organic and the Health Education Trust are joining forces with the Soil Association in the new Partnership to reinforce school meal improvements with practical food education for pupils and their parents.

 

A major focus of our work is to select 180 diverse schools – six per region per year – and support them in becoming 'flagship schools and communities' committed to achieving our Gold Mark for food culture and to sharing their learning with other schools and communities. These schools are being selected to ensure they represent a truly diverse range of school situations and catering models. Of 20 flagship schools per region, eight will be secondary schools and at least one special school will be represented.

 

All schools can showcase their achievements by becoming members of the Food for Life Partnership, and going for Bronze, Silver and Gold Marks. Parents can search our website to see which schools are involved, and follow the progress of their child's school. Where schools are achieving Bronze, Silver and Gold Marks, parents can have confidence that pupils will be given fresh, wholesome, well-sourced school food, as well as some of the most enjoyable and memorable experiences of their school lives, cooking and growing food and visiting farms.

 

From April 2008, caterers will be able to apply to the Soil Association for a Food for Life Catering Mark, at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels, if their menus meet the food quality & provenance criteria of the Food for Life Partnership Mark for schools.

 

In response to demand, the Soil Association is also planning to extend the Food for Life Catering Mark to other catering sectors beyond school meals. For more information go to www.foodforlife.org.uk or email catering@foodforlife.org.uk