27 April 2001

Schools Minister Jacqui Smith and Public Health Minister Yvette Cooper today announced a £2.2 million package to boost food education and awareness in schools, and the accreditation of a further 33 Education and Health Partnerships under the National Healthy School Standard. More than half the country's schools now have access to a nationally accredited Healthy Schools Programme.

Breakfast clubs, fruit tuck shops, extending the national school fruit scheme and more initiatives to encourage children to cook and grow food in schools will be provided as part of the package announced today.

The Food in Schools programme will bring together, under one umbrella, all food related initiatives in schools and after-school clubs to improve health and learning. This will include many existing schemes such as Breakfast Clubs and the National School Fruit Scheme, as well as supporting teachers to deliver food education within the curriculum. The approach will be developed and piloted by schools, working with experts in the field. In June an advisory forum will bring together expertise from a range of partners to kick-start the development process.

Visiting Ennersdale Primary School in Lewisham, Jacqui Smith said:

"We want our young people to have the knowledge and skills they need to make informed choices. This programme will help them understand the benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle. Through learning to cook, children become aware of so many different aspects of diet, nutrition and health - and they enjoy it! Out of this funding £200,000 will support teachers' professional development so they can help children to learn that cooking is fun and central to their future well-being. We particularly want to encourage primary schools to do more cooking so children get the healthy eating messages from a young age."

Yvette Cooper said:

"Research shows that too many children are not getting the healthy diet that could protect them against serious illnesses later in life - including cancer and heart disease. Like adults, children will make their own choices about what they eat. For too many families, access to a healthy diet is limited, especially in some low income areas where affordable fruit and vegetables can be hard to find. That is why we are investing in initiatives like free fruit for infant schoolchildren. By introducing this programme that will follow children through the school day, we will lay the foundations to help prevent obesity and disease later in life."

The initiative will promote clear and consistent messages about food and nutrition throughout the school. This might include encouraging children to buy fruit from the tuck shop, making school dining areas more attractive and imaginative, offering healthy breakfasts to young people, or getting children off to a good start with some fun exercise.

In addition 33 more Education and Health Partnerships have been accredited under the National Healthy School Standard today. Overall 76 LEAs have now achieved the NHSS - over half of all LEAs. This means that over 13,000 schools now have access to an accredited partnership. The Healthy Schools Programme is working to accredit partnerships in all LEA areas by April 2002. These joint partnerships between education and health authorities will provide the support that will enable all schools to have the opportunity to become healthy schools.

Examples of projects led by the partnerships are:

The Enfield and Haringey Healthy Schools Programme is working with the Enfield Business Partnership and Tottenham Football Club on a Maths Trail project in which physical activity in school is facilitated by a football coach, in exchange for a maths trial activity in the football ground. This has proved to be very popular with pupils.

The Walsall Healthy Schools Programme developed a number of projects in partnership with the Health Action Zone and with additional support from the Single Regeneration Budget. This included the commissioning of 6 "Big Books" on safety medicine and relationships in order to address PSHE within the literacy hour.

Welcoming the accreditation Jacqui Smith said:

"This is significant progress towards realising our aim to help all schools become healthy schools. There has been a magnificent response from all Local Education and Health Authorities across the country in committing to achieving the Standard."

Yvette Cooper added:

"I am delighted with the progress made. The commitment and hard work shown at local level has been crucial. We now have evidence that the Healthy Schools Programme is having a real impact on school life. We intend to strengthen this by sharing information and good practice, primarily through the "Wired for Health" website and NHSS Newsletter which now reaches more than 20,000 schools".

Editor's Notes

Jacqui Smith visited Ennersdale Primary School, Leafield Road, Lewisham, London SE13
at 10.30 am Friday 27 April, 2001

Food in Schools

1. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey, which surveyed over 2,000 4-18 year olds, was published in June 2000

2. The Food in Schools programme will take a whole school approach by:

· promoting clear and consistent messages about food and nutrition within the classroom and food provision (across the taught curriculum and extra-curricular activities);
· providing children with positive opportunities to learn about food and nutrition, within school time and after school;
· enabling children to chose a balanced, healthy diet - through meals and snacks - including providing opportunities for children to eat fruit and vegetables; and
· providing practical opportunities for children to develop food growing, handling, preparation and cooking skills, and to improve teachers' skills in teaching food education.

3. A Food in Schools Advisory Forum will be held next month to kick-start the development process. Pilots are expected to begin in the next academic year.

4. £200,000 will be used to fund a programme to support teachers' professional development, using technology colleges as the hub and with a strong focus on primary teachers. The programme will support teachers' skills in teaching children how to cook. This programme will be delivered through the Food Partnership - the Design and Technology Association (DATA), the British Nutrition Foundation and Focus on Food.

5. The National Curriculum provides a range of opportunities for children to learn about food. For example, primary children will learn to prepare simple meals, like fruit salad and sandwiches, and to make choices between healthy options in school meals. Secondary children will learn about food manufacturing, balanced diets, and cooking more substantial meals, for example for people with special dietary needs.

National Healthy School Standard

6. Launched in October 1999, the National Healthy School Standard (NHSS) set out guidance and criteria for schools to become healthier places to learn and work in. Local partnerships between health and education authorities have to meet national standards so that they can offer schools the support they need to gain recognition. More information on the NHSS is available on www.wiredforhealth.gov.uk

7. DH and DfEE joint fund the programme through the DfEE Standards Fund. £5.7 million is available in 2001-02 to support local programmes.

8. NHSS has eight key themes:

- Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)
- Citizenship
- Sex and relationship education
- Drug education (including alcohol and tobacco)
- Emotional health and well being
- Healthy eating
- Physical activity
- Safety

9. Further examples of local activity can be obtained from the National Healthy School Co-ordinator's team at the HDA Tel: 0207 413 1922.

The 33 newly accredited Education and Health Partnerships are listed below. Accreditation means these areas have met the criteria set out in the National Healthy School Standard (NHSS). When launched in October 1999 Ministers set the standard the target of achieving 50% coverage of Local Education Authorities (LEAs) by April 2001 and 100% coverage by April 2002. Today's announcement mean that 76 LEAs have now been accredited and over 13,000 schools have access to a nationally accredited programme.

ACCREDITED HEALTH EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS
Rounds 1 and 2
Norfolk
Liverpool
Manchester

Derbyshire & City of Derby
Dudley
Hertfordshire
Luton & Bedfordshire
Staffordshire & City of Stoke on Trent
Swindon & Wiltshire
Middlesbrough
Wandsworth
Kirklees
Warwickshire
Peterborough & Cambridgeshire
Round 3 (April 2001)
Barnet
Barnsley
Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire
Bracknell, Reading, Windsor and Maidenhead, Slough, Woking and West Berkshire
Bradford
Bromley
Calderdale
Camden and Islington
Darlington and Durham
Devon, Plymouth and Torbay
Essex and Southend
Greenwich
Hammersmith and Fulham
Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Southampton and Portsmouth
Haringey and Enfield
Hartlepool
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham
Leicestershire, Leicester City and Rutland
Lincolnshire
Merton
Newcastle and North Tyneside
North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire
Salford and Trafford
Sefton
Solihull
South Tyneside
Suffolk
Sunderland
Surrey
Walsall
Wigan
Wirral and Worcestershire

Contact Details

Public enquiries: 0870 000 2288, info@dfee.gov.uk

Press Notice 2001/0230