Read Rebecca Smithers excellent article "Dinners for the Chop" which appears in todays Education Guardian.
This long awaited report was finally published yesterday. Its key findings are as follows :
"The children's commercial market is already large, is continuing to grow and is becoming increasingly sophisticated in its activities, in particular through new media. This trend seems set to continue;
The children's market does not exist in isolation. Notwithstanding considerable social change in recent decades, parents continue to play the pivotal role in how children are affected by the market, although peers also have a considerable influence, especially as children grow into adolescence;
So far as the impact of the commercial world on children is concerned the evidence shows a complex picture from which it is not possible to draw simple conclusions about cause or effect. The evidence does not validate either the notion that commercialisation is creating a 'toxic childhood', nor the notion that children are highly sophisticated consumers able to navigate with ease through a benign market;
Children are also increasingly aware of commercial forces in public places and in schools, and there is significant commercial activity going on within schools."
I can't be alone in feeling deeply disappointed. We owe it to our children to offer them protection from the increasingly sophisticated techniques advertisers use on them to increase their profits. Children are not fair game and they should be left alone with their childhood.
I will be reading the full report and will post later on it
The children's commercial market is already large, is continuing to grow and is becoming increasingly sophisticated in its activities, in particular through new media. This trend seems set to continue;
The children's market does not exist in isolation. Notwithstanding considerable social change in recent decades, parents continue to play the pivotal role in how children are affected by the market, although peers also have a considerable influence, especially as children grow into adolescence;
So far as the impact of the commercial world on children is concerned the evidence shows a complex picture from which it is not possible to draw simple conclusions about cause or effect. The evidence does not validate either the notion that commercialisation is creating a 'toxic childhood', nor the notion that children are highly sophisticated consumers able to navigate with ease through a benign market;
Children are also increasingly aware of commercial forces in public places and in schools, and there is significant commercial activity going on within schools.
The very lovely Colin Jackson came to a special round table to discuss the importance of school food.
Delighted to hear that the government are extending the criteria for the eligibility of free school meals. read all about it on on newsround or if you prefer catersearch
There will also be 7 additional pilots for free school meals for all children at primary schools.
Below is the submission I have made on behalf of Merton Parents for Better Food in Schools to get improving secondary school meals as a priority area for Merton.
Submission for Merton's Children and Young Peoples Plan.
I am writing on behalf of Merton Parents for Better Food in Schools to contribute to CYPP 2010.
We note that childhood obesity in Merton is 2% above the national average and welcome the fact it has been chosen as a priority for the authority to overcome. We believe a key way to tackle this would be to set ourselves the challenge of ensuring that every single secondary school student in Merton has the opportunity to eat a decent, freshly prepared school lunch in a comfortable area without being asked to chosse between school activities or lunch.
Merton Parents congratulates the borough for the fantastic investment it has made in school kitchens in the primary schools and the improved relationships with the caterers which has led to an increase of fruit and vegetables being consumed by primary schools children. We now want to see the same passion and enthusiasm and investment in the community secondary schools.
We are encouraged by the start that contracts manager Tom Proctor has made.However unless head teachers are able to either consider timetabling the lunch period or investing in much larger dining rooms many children and young people will be denied a good lunch.
We believe that putting improving secondary school dinners as a priority will help in the following three areas
1. Raising standards. Recent research has shown secondary school students showed a 15% rise in both concentration and learning in the afternoon in schools that improved the lunchtime. You can find details of the study here
2. Addressing poverty issues. At the moment many free school meal students do not take them up because they percieve the food to be worthess. Those that are registered are often not fed because they are put off by the length of the queues and do not wish to sacrifice their break to queuing. Some schools also expect students to see staff or take part in extra curricula activities at lunch times which then makes it impossible for students to take a school lunch. Given the harsh economic climate we would like to see schools do all they can to maximise take up of free school meals. Also increasing take up will ensure meal prices will remain relatively low for all students.
3.Obesity agenda. There is research that shows children who eat a school dinner eat more fruit and vegetables than children who eat packed lunches. It will be easier to teach PSHE if the school can demonstrate in practise that healthy eating can be tasty.
4. Would help us meet local authority targets NI52 and help with Ofsted inspections.
We do recognise the many pressure that the local authority is under and appreciate that difficult decisions sometimes have to be made for the good of the whole. However we strongly believe that choosing to put the development of secondary school dinners as a priority for the CYPP would benefit children, young people, their parents, teachers and the PCT.
Finally, we would ask you to have a look at the aims and objectives for secondary school meals that Merton Parents has agreed with the authority.
Thank you for inviting us to the stakeholder event and encouraging us to participate. We look forward to working with you in 2010. Please do not hesitate to ask if you need any further information or references.
Not sure if free school meals for all is the way forward? Read the letter below and see if it changes your mind. It is a letter sent to the Islington Tribune where it looks like the free school meal trial is being threatened.
Dear Tribune,
Party politics is getting in the way of children's health.
Certainly, Labour were sharp to take advantage of a temporary disarray in the Lib Dems to force through their plan for universal free school meals. But the Lib Dems are being petty and vengeful in threatening to scrap the scheme if they are re-elected.
Free school meals deserve the support of every political party. They are the principal weapon we have to stop the rapid rise in childhood obesity. The obesity epidemic in Britain is our Number One public health problem. It affects the vast majority of families, the affluent as well as the poor.
We have to cut obesity now before we suffer an epidemic in diabetes too --- for that is coming along a few years behind. Diabetes is a very expensive disease to treat. It means amputations, blindness, kidney failure. Having millions of diabetics, needing lifelong care from childhood, would break the bank of the NHS.
Primary school meals are a cost-effective investment in future health. Spending money on children's diet now will save us a fortune in a decade's time. Islington Primary Care Trust should remind the Council of these hard economic facts.
So we need to help all Islington's children. Universal free meals in primary schools are the most effective instrument we have to do this.
They have been a great success in Scotland, not only in increasing take up, but also in weaning kids off breakfasts of Mars bars and afternoon snacks of chips. The programme affects what children eat outside school, as well as inside. This is critical because research shows that children begin spending their pocket money on junk food from age nine!
The Libs Dems are hinting they will put the scrapping of free meals into their election manifesto. I urge them to reconsider. Indeed, I hope all parties will commit themselves to continuing the plan.
But the message to Islington parents is clear. Vote for whichever party you like, so long as it promises to continue providing free school meals to all primary school children. That would not just be good of your pocketbook now, it also would be good for your children in the long term.
Jack Winkler
--
Prof J T Winkler
Director, Nutrition Policy Unit
London Metropolitan University
Left it a bit later to get to dining room so this was all there was left to see!The children told me that they were in fact eating 'seconds' which I suppose is a good old fashioned school dinner tradition. Must get to the hall earlier next week to capture more pictures of the actual food.
The City Academy in Hackney have decided to introduce family style groupings for their school meal service. Students will be put into groups and each member will be expected to complete a 'chore'. The old adage, " you can't choose your family" is especially appropriate as it is staff that will be doing the grouping.
Looking forward to hearing how it works out! Well done to the staff for trying to find ways of overcoming the problems that lunch breaks pose in our schools. There is an interview with a pupil here and a report here.
