SEAHAM SCHOOL OF
TECHNOLOGY
Healthy Eating Policy
Adopted By: Policy Committee on behalf of
Governing Body
On:
10th February 2010
Reviewed On: 13th February 2013
Seaham School of Technology
School Food Policy
1. Responsibilities
The school recognises the important connection between healthy eating and a pupil’s
ability to learn effectively and achieve high standards in school. It also recognises the
role the school can play, as part of the larger community, to promote family health,
and sustainable food, including production and farming practices.
The school recognises that sharing food is a fundamental experience for all people; a
primary way to nurture and celebrate our cultural diversity; and an excellent bridge
for building friendships, and inter-generational bonds.
2. Mission
The educational mission is to improve the health of the entire community by teaching
pupils and families, ways to establish and maintain life-long healthy eating habits.
The mission shall be accomplished through a whole school approach centred on food
education and skills (such as cooking and growing food), the food served in schools,
and core academic content in the classroom.
3. Aims
3.1 To improve the health of pupils, staff and their families by helping
to influence their eating habits through increasing their knowledge and
awareness of food issues, including what constitutes healthy eating.
3.2 To provide an opportunity for pupils to plan recipes, budget,
prepare and cook food.
3.3 To increase pupils' knowledge of food production, manufacturing,
distribution and marketing practices, and their impact on both health
and the environment.
3.4 To ensure pupils are well nourished at school, and that every
pupil has access to safe, tasty, and nutritious food, and a safe, easily
available water supply during the school day.
3.5 To ensure that food provision in the school reflects the ethical and
medical requirements of staff and pupils e.g. religious, ethnic,
vegetarian, medical, and allergenic needs.
3.6 To make the provision and consumption of food an enjoyable and
safe experience in a pleasurable and dedicated environment.
3.7 To introduce and promote practices within the school to reinforce
these aims, and to remove or discourage practices that do not support
them.
3.8 To monitor menus and food choices to inform policy development
and provision.
4. Objectives
4.1 To work towards ensuring that this policy is both accepted and
embraced by
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School management
Governors
Teachers and support staff
Pupils
Parents
Food providers
The school's wider community
4.2 To integrate these aims into all aspects of school life, in particular
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All food provision within the school
The curriculum
Pastoral and social activities
5. Methods
5.1 Establish an effective structure to oversee the development,
implementation, and monitoring of this policy, and to encourage a
participatory approach to meeting the objectives. Consultation should
be ensured throughout the process with priority given to the views of
pupils.
This will be achieved by:
i) SLG to lead on healthy schools and Bursar to oversee catering
contrcators
ii) Develop curriculum to KS4 to offer additional courses – PE,
Catering, GCSE/BTEC, food production.
iii) Whole school responsibility for Head of Department to promote
healthy lifestyles across KS3 + 4 and review in school SEF.
iv) Termly meetings with school council and catering providers to
discuss menu selection and any food issues.
v) Obtain parental views at all open evenings and parent evenings.
vi) Report to governors meal uptake, school meal promotion plan,
progress in meeting food policy goals and quality and type of food
being served.
vii) Obtain and maintain Healthy Schools status
5.2 Develop an understanding and ethos within the school of safe,
tasty, nutritious, environmentally sustainable food, through both
education and example.
Initial activities will include:
i) Whole school curriculum content reviewed and revisited through
departmental SEF and topics covered within curriculum areas (see
Appendix B )
5.3 Create an environment, both physical and social, conductive to the
enjoyment of safe, tasty, nutritious and affordable food.
This will be achieved by:
i) Constantly reviewing provision.
ii) Environment changes (see Appendix C)
Signed ……………………….………………………………....... Head Teacher
Signed……………………………………………………………..Chair of Governors
Signed…………………………………………………..…………Pupil Representative
Date ……………………..….
Policy to be reviewed……………………………………….
Appendix B: Integrating into the curriculum
Integrating an ethos of safe, tasty, nutritious and environmentally
sustainable food into the curriculum
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Art, e.g. observation drawings of food, healthy eating poster design (yr 7/8)
Personal Social and Health Education, e.g. menu planning, nutrition (KS3)
Design and Technology, e.g. cooking, designing tools (KS3/4)
Geography, e.g. what food grows where, food miles, transporting food,
waste(KS3)
Information Technology, e.g. recording results of a food survey, website
review (KS3)
Maths, e.g. weights and measures (KS3/4)
Physical Education, e.g. links between healthy eating and exercise and
through BTEC modules (KS4)
Science, e.g. effects of heat on food, plant growth, nutrition (KS3/4)
Topic cross reference
 Nutrition – PE/PSHE/Child Development/Health & Social Care/D&T
 Dining
 Cooking – Come Dine With Me Competition
 Menu planning skills
 Food hygiene (e.g. common food poisons, bacterial growth, contamination,
washing hands, temperatures, storage, cleaning and disinfectant, pests)
 Cultural diversity
 Food production, marketing and labelling (D & T courses)
 Recycling
 How plants grow
Examples of activities that could support curriculum work
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Cooking demonstrations
Healthy eating assemblies
School website with pages on food issues and links to other related sites ongoing
Debates – MAT Room
School gardens - The Foundation learning Tier grow, sell and cook their own
produce.
Appendix C: The school environment
Creating an environment conducive to the enjoyment of safe, tasty,
nutritious and affordable food
Environment
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Dining area – 3 areas to access food. Newly refurbished main dining hall.
Covered canopy social area outside of dining hall and BBQ’s in the summer
months.
Menus are clearly displayed with options and pricing
Fully trained staff/supervisors who try to encourage food choice.
Whole school lunch break with each year groups taking a weekly rota on
admission to dining hall.
Senior prefects and other students support staff to raise manners and
standards of behaviour in the dining areas
Newly arranged recycling bins and adequate rubbish bins throughout the
school encourage students to behave appropriately with regard to
litter/environmental issues. These are emptied at the end of every lunchtime.
Food ideas
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Breakfast food
 Cereal (non sugar-coated, high fibre varieties are the most healthy)
 Porridge
 Fruit (fresh, tinned and dried)
 Yoghurt with fruit and/or cereal
 Bread, toast (white or wholemeal) and other appropriate bread
products.
 Eggs, beans, lean grilled bacon
 Fruit juice, water and milk
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School snack shop food
 Fresh/dried fruit
 Vegetables, e.g. carrot sticks, cucumber, celery, pepper strips
 Bread sticks, crumpets, pitta bread, toast or bread (avoid sweet
fillings, such as jams)
 Sandwiches
 Yoghurts
 Lower fat/sugar cereal bars
 Milk, fruit smoothies, fruit juice, water
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Snack/packed lunch items we will consider prohibiting
 Fizzy drinks
 Chocolate
 Crisps
 Sweets
Note: No chocolate, crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks are sold.
School lunch choices
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All meet government nutritional guidelines
Food is monitored and availability checked by SLG throughout lunch
service.
School Council meetings with catering contractors provide regular
feedback – 1 per term.
School Bursar also has termly meetings with the catering contractor to
feedback any staff/management concerns. She also has regular
contact throughout the year and will act immediately if any particular
concern is highlighted.
Aim to ensure maximum uptake of meals and that all pupils entitled to
a free meal receive one. This is done through regular letters to parents
and at Open Evenings for Year 6 parents. Every September the
Admin team undertake a review of all free school meals pupils.
Only KS4 pupils are allowed off-site over lunchtimes and then only
with signed parental permission – photo ID badges are given to these
pupils and they are monitored as they leave the premises.
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Other food provision
 School breakfast club provides healthy choices.
 After school revision sessions/clubs give out water and bananas.What
is our school milk policy?
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Water issues e.g.
 Free water is available in the dining hall to all at break and lunch
times.
 The water machine is plumbed into the cold water supply and is tested
according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
 2 water vending machines are available at all times for pupils – we
arranged through our catering contractor that this would cost only 30p
per bottle.
 Water is allowed in classes apart from in Science and ICT lessons.