Better School Food Improves Behaviour

I’m delighted to see that the School Food Trust has released the findings from the first ever School Lunch and Behaviour Study, which confirms the anecdotal impressions that teachers have been reporting for many years - when children eat better at lunchtime they are more attentive in afternoon classes.

In this study children who were in the intervention schools were 3.5 times more likely to be on task and engaged with the teacher with learning activities in the hour after lunch compared with children in the control schools. The findings are based on over 27,000 systematic observations of 136 pupils in a mix of primary schools in Sheffield.

This is the first piece of research, undertaken in western countries (where children are not malnourished), that shows a clear link between changes in the lunchtime food provision and dining environment and children’s behaviour in the classroom after lunch.

The message is clear – better school food means better behaviour. It would also reduce obesity which now afflicts so many. In the UK an estimated one in four 11 to 15 year olds are overweight or obese - and the problem is growing every year.

But it is not enough to remove additives and provide healthy options. We need to limit food choices. Where there is choice, which is virtually everywhere, research suggests pupils are still choosing unhealthy options. In the best schools choice is restricted, pupils sit down to meals rather than being rushed through canteens, swipe cards with reward for healthy eating are favoured over cash, vending machines and tuck shops no longer exist, and pupils are obliged to stay in school at lunch time.

All these ideas will come back in the Camden Sustainability Task Force Report on Food, Water, Biodiversity and Green Spaces which is due out in the spring. One last thought – is it so radical to contemplate universal, free, healthy school meals made from local, seasonal, organic produce? I believe such a move would improve health, increase social justice and mitigate climate change. Scotland is contemplating such a change so why not Camden?