Lunchtime staff play a vital role when it comes to encouraging pupils to make good choices in the dining hall.
In fact school staff have the opportunity to model good eating habits, encourage and educate children to make healthy choices around food and also show them how to use cutlery correctly.
It’s also one of the BEST environments for us to educate pupils about the affect food has on our mental health and wellbeing.
In a recent Food for Life project report by the Soil Association, they identified that, in schools taking part in the project, the catering teams did not feel confident talking to pupils about the links between what they eat and how they feel.
Interestingly, pupils shared with them that they wanted to learn more about the links between food and mood during lunch times.
This is often something that children share with me on the Positive Playtime Masterclass training days. They want to know about the food they eat, where it comes from and how it affects their mental and physical health and wellbeing.
As part of the Food and Mood report they teamed up with a number of ‘experts’ including TV chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Tommi Miers, Nutritionists and Doctors to understand the links between food and mood.
If you’d like to evaluate the quality of your own school’s lunchtime provision, I’ve developed a Dining Room Checklist. It will provide you with evidence that will help your school celebrate its successes and identify areas where there is room for improvement. This will help your school move towards the best possible dining experience for all your pupils and staff.
You can find out more information about it here.
You can watch the Food and Mood video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vaNuPgb2d8&feature=youtu.be
