The
…early intervention in practice
FFLP Development
• 2007
Lottery-funded for 5 years
• 2012
Part Lottery-funded
Transition year
Commissioning model
• 2013
Part Lottery-funded
10 commissioned programmes
Innovation and partnerships – new national
partner, expansion into new settings
Continued development of SA ‘Good Food
For All’ strategy - Sustainable Food Cities
FFLP - Awards Criteria
• Criteria cover four areas:
– Food Leadership and School
Food Culture
– Food Quality
– Food Education
– Community and Partnerships
FFLP Schools
• Schools in non-commissioned and
commissioned areas can enrol for
free on an individual basis
• 4,641 schools enrolled in England
709
149
19
schools
schools
schools
Support for Schools
• Schools enrolled in non-commissioned areas
receive welcome pack, can access free online
resources, and receive telephone/ email support
• Schools within commissioned programmes receive
additional support in the form of:
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Training for school staff and caterers
Local Programme Manager
Face-to-face support for schools
Launch and awards events
Monitoring and evaluation
Greater than the sum of its parts
Food
growing
skills
Healthy,
sustainable
school food
Positive
impact on
health,
education
and economy
Connection
with food
Food
growing
skills
Cooking
skills
Positive impact
on health,
Healthy,
sustainable
education
school food
and economy
Connection
with food
Cooking
skills
Increasing opportunities
Pupil voice & food policy
Farm links & sustainability education
Increased participation
in skills-based food
education…
…and subsequent
positive healthy eating
behaviours.
(Orme et al., 2011)
Growing skills
Cooking skills
Year before enrolment
18-24 months after enrolment
Impact
The number of children eating
five or more portions of fruit
and veg increased by
28%
in
Food for Life Partnership
Primary Schools
Free school meal take-up
increased by an average of
13%
points in
Food for Life Partnership schools
For every £1 invested in Food for Life
menus, the social, economic and
environmental return on investment for
the local authority is
£3
45%
of
parents report eating more
vegetables as a result of the
Food for Life Partnership
programme.
twice
as many
primary schools received
an Outstanding Ofsted
rating after working with the
Food for Life Partnership.
Thanks to Big Lottery Wellbeing
Fund
Good food for all: FFLP innovation
• Already a wide and growing take-up of the Soil
Association’s Catering Mark accreditation
scheme for food in workplaces, hospitals, care
homes and universities
• Responding to demand from public health
colleagues wanting a life course approach
• Building on evidence base from successful
schools programme – incorporating ‘whole
settings’ approach to food culture in new settings
Food for Life Partnership
Early Years Award
• Criteria cover same four areas as the
schools’ awards:
– Food Quality
• Catering Mark standards will be
integral to an award
– Food Leadership and Food Culture
– Food Education: supporting DfE’s EYFS
– Community and Partnerships
Poor nutrition in the first 1000 days
• The 9 months in the womb and the first 2 years of
life are critical periods for determining later health
and well-being
• Impacts of poor nutrition during the first 1000 days
will also impact on the next generation
Unfit for pregnancy?
• Many young women in the
UK entering pregnancy
are malnourished
• They typically have low
status of a wide range of
nutrients, some are too
thin and many too fat, they
eat too few fruits and
vegetables and often skip
meals, eat too little and
some smoke and drink
alcohol to excess.
• This will have long term
implications for the
population
Eating well for young women in
pregnancy
www.firststepsnutrition.org
Early Years Nutrition
First Year of Life
•Department of Health
Early Years Settings
• Department of
Education/School
Food Trust
Infant feeding
• All infant feeding
guidance is consistent:
exclusively breast feed
for about 6 months then
continue breastfeeding
alongside
complementary foods for
as long as mother
wishes
• Early Years settings
must support this proactively
Food before 6 months?
• We have significantly moved age of introduction of
complementary foods and most parents now wait
until after 4 months of age to offer food
complementary to milk.
• Many parents do offer food between 4-6 months
and if they do, we have specific guidance on foods
to avoid before 6 months
• Policy and practice do not always merge
Simply:
• Between 6 months and 1 year babies need to
get used to lots of different flavours and
textures and learn to feed themselves
• Ordinary ‘family’ foods low in salt and sugar
are fine – meat, fish, pulses, fruits, vegetables,
starchy roots, cereals should be main
components of meals
• Milk or water to drink
• New tastes take time
• Children learn to like new food
if they are exposed to it
Good nutrition in the early years
• Babies who start complementary foods later are
more likely to be fussy eaters as toddlers
• Poor nutrition in toddlerhood linked to
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limited food variety
over-reliance on milk
high intake of sweet foods
small portions at mealtimes
high intakes sweet drinks
slow development of chewing (and then speaking)
lack of independence in eating
Why does it matter?
• Data from the large longitudinal study in Bristol
running for many years showed that what children
eat from their earliest years matters more than their
diet later on in childhood in terms of later
performance.
• Even when their diet subsequently improved, those
who had eaten the most poor quality and processed
food at the age of 3 still tended to do less well at
school than more healthily fed children.
Feinstein L, Sabates R, Sorhaindo A, Rogers I, Herrick D, Northstone K,
Emmett P, 'Dietary patterns related to attainment in school: the importance
of early eating patterns.', J Epidemiol Community Health 2008; 62 (8): 734-9
What are the consequences?
• Data from the Southampton Initiative on Health
found that poor early diets in children were
linked to:
 Higher fat mass and lower lean mass at 4 years
 Poorer learning and reasoning at 4 years even
taking into consideration mother’s intelligence
and home circumstances
 They also showed that dietary patterns track
from mother to child
Nutritional status of under 5s
• Almost a quarter of pre-school children in the UK
are overweight or obese
• Underweight is suggested for about 10% children
– but focus is much greater on overweight
• Both are related to inequalities of health and
deprivation
• 30% of children in the UK live in poor households,
many of whom are food insecure
Overweight
• Activity alone is unlikely to lead to normal weight –
young children are naturally active – overweight
children become less active
• Children need energy for BMR, growth and activity
– and under 5s need regular meals and nutritious
snacks (‘mini-meals’)
• Children are unlikely to eat too much energy if
they follow guidance on healthy meals and snacks
and avoid regular intakes soft drinks,
confectionery, biscuits, savoury snacks, take-away
foods
The importance of eating well
• Iron needs are
greatest between 1-3
years
• Cows milk is not a
good source of iron!
• Intakes of zinc often
low
• and vitamin A intakes
are also often low
Early Years Food and Nutrition
Advisory Committee
• Set up in February 2010
• Aim was to consider the • Voluntary food and
drink guidelines for
case for improved
early years settings in
standards or guidance on
England
food and nutrition for
early years and make
recommendations to the
DfE to inform the Early
Years Foundation Stage
(EYFS)
FFLP Early Years Award
• We provide freshly prepared, nutritious and safe food
that respects animal welfare and the environment.
• We encourage children to eat well through teaching
where food comes from and how to grow and cook
food
Activity & Discussion
Delegates to discuss and feedback
what they can do within their roles
to improve early intervention
in the early years.
Any Questions?
Clare Messenger
Diana Hawdon
Early Intervention Foundation Food for Life Partnership
www.eif.org.uk
www.foodforlife.org.uk
clare.messenger@eif.org.uk
07818 542630
dhawdon@soilassociation.org
07969 487782