As part of the government’s School Food Plan, from the beginning of September every infant school in England will be required to provide free meals for all pupils.
For many schools this will be a huge challenge and the new advice service will provide them with the support they need to develop and improve their catering facilities.
From today (March 6th), all infant and primary schools in England as well as local authorities and school caterers can access support online at www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/schoolfoodplan or contact the advice line on either info@childrensfoodtrust.org.uk or by calling 0800 680 0080, where they will be provided with support to get ready to deliver free school meals for all infant pupils.
For schools that need extra help, there are a number of options including collaborating with other schools, further telephone advice or face to face visits by specialist professional advisers.
The Children’s Food Trust (CFT) and LACA (Lead Association for Catering in Education) have teamed up with a range of delivery partners to provide tailored expert advice to infant schools.
Anne Bull, LACA National Chair said: “The roll out of free school meals for infants is a hugely important change for schools, and will go a long way to improving nutrition and academic achievement.
"The timeline to have everything in place by September may seem daunting to some schools, but help is now on hand through LACA, the Children’s Food Trust and our delivery partners.
"Schools are working hard with parents and staff to improve school meals whilst caterers and government are collaborating to improve standards and take up.
"Our new advice and support service will bring together the best experts and practical advice to help caterers, teachers and schools prepare for this major change.”
Support is also available to help junior, secondary, academy, free schools, PRUs and schools for pupils with special educational needs that have very low take up, to increase the number of children having school meals.
Run by the CFT with its partner organisations, this support is available to schools in the south east, south west and east of England and will help just under half of the 2000 eligible state funded schools in England.
The support includes a series of ‘Train The Trainer’ courses which will give local authority or academy trust staff the training, skill and expertise to deliver the CFT’s 'Small Step Improvement programme' to eligible schools in their area.
In addition junior schools will receive the ‘Food Dudes Dining Experience’ and secondary schools will receive training in developing a bespoke marketing programme from Elygra Marketing Services. This will help schools to ensure their menus and dining facilities appeal to the young people using them.
Local authorities that would like to take advantage of this package of support and training can find out more information or get in touch by visiting www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/increasetakeup.
Linda Cregan, CFT chief executive, said: “We know how important a healthy school meal is to help children grow and learn.
"This valuable investment from Government will allow us and our delivery partners to provide essential support to schools.
"We know head teachers and catering staff face a range of issues with their school meals service, and that lots of schools need support in getting ready for the challenges of introducing universal school meals to infants and getting more junior and secondary children eating them.
“By teaming up with LACA and our other partners this is the first time all the leading names in school catering and nutrition have joined forces to provide the best possible support to schools.
"I’m confident we have the right team to help schools, whatever issues they are facing with their school meal service.”