Food, glorious food: why nutrition should be a top priority in schools

Food glorious food! Well, that’s probably not many people’s memory of their school food. However, some forward-thinking schools are now making the quality and nutritional content of school food a top priority for several very important reasons.

These progressive schools have made the connection between good nutrition and academic achievement, greater sports performance, as well as stronger immunity and better mental and emotional wellbeing. Children usually need feeding around five times a day while they are growing, and this is the best opportunity to provide the nutrients to nourish the brain and the immune system. The right food also feeds the gut microbiome, the bacteria in our gut which are the building blocks for making our brain neurotransmitters (such as serotonin, adrenaline, dopamine, acetylcholine and GABA) which help with mood, learning, memory and focus – as well as balancing emotions, and building good self-regulation and executive function skills.

There is also now also a great overall concern about children’s weight, and the implication for more young people developing poor metabolic health. More children than ever before are now overweight, and a new 2022 study has found that four in 10 British pupils are classed as obese or overweight by the time they finish Year 6, at only age 10 or 11. However, it’s important to realise that slim children also need the right nutrition to thrive at a busy school.

Too much sugar and too many carbs

Most schools still take the approach of feeding the children up with as many carbohydrate-rich calories as possible, as they are expected to ‘burn’ these up during the academic day and with drama, music and sports activities. Research has found this to be quite an outdated approach, as routinely consuming excess refined sugar and highly processed foods is now known to pose a higher risk of immune and metabolic issues and can also affect both behaviour and mental health.

Children love eating carbs, so it is an easy win for school chefs when trying to feed hundreds of pupils all at once. And much of the time, school food is mainly made from refined white flour or fried potato – toast, pastries, biscuits, pasta, baguettes, paninis, pizza and chips galore which are not ideal for maintaining stable energy levels and focus, especially as they are often not served with enough protein or healthy fats to help to feed the brain. These beige carby foods may be filling at the time, but rarely contain important nutrients such as iron, zinc and calcium that children need to grow and flourish both in the short and long term.

The NHS recommends that children aged seven to 10 should limit their consumption of added sugar to six cubes of sugar (24 grams) on a daily basis and for ages 11 and over, it’s a maximum of seven cubes of sugar (30 grams). However recent figures have found that the average seven-year-old child in Britain is eating the equivalent of 18 cubes of sugar a day, and it is thought that much more is consumed by older children and teenagers.

Where does this extra sugar creep in at schools? Some of the many examples include sweet cereals, pastries, sweetened drinks, biscuit break, puddings, teachers’ rewards, match teas, sports tournaments, birthday parties, cake sales, school celebrations, boarding house provisions and overstocked tuck boxes.

This certainly isn’t the case for all schools, and some are now taking a stand and looking for a better way to feed their pupils. Gordonstoun for instance has taken matters into its own hands. It has taken chips off the menu and is now serving foods rich in protein and fibre as well as omega-3 oils and antioxidants such as salmon, quinoa and lots of greens. Of course, the children do get to eat some sugar, but it is much reduced, and the teachers and staff are seeing some very positive differences in the pupils’ performance and happiness. And even though it can take time for some of the students to get used to and accept the new healthy menu at school, most have embraced it and much prefer the new food over the old beige crunchy offerings.

Not enough food

Another concern is pupils not eating enough, and this can happen especially when children are very young or are very selective with what they will eat. When they don’t eat enough or the right things in the middle of the day, then they can have meltdowns when they are picked up from school. This is usually because they are so starving that their blood sugars are on the low end having not eaten much since breakfast. Schools that ensure pupils attend lunch and every child eats a decent plate of food, tend not to have such marked issues.

Children with allergies or food intolerances often struggle to eat well at school, as ‘free from’ food tends to be highly processed and quite refined in nature. Often chefs find it hard to provide variety (baked potato and baked beans again) and it is amazing how frequently the pupils with allergies get totally forgotten when they are at an away match or on a school trip, and they end up with nothing to eat. I always suggest that the parents provide extra food, so there is something to fall back on.

Away sports fixtures can pose a challenge too when it comes to feeding the players, especially if they get back to school late in the evening and have only had a packed lunch (and the endless Jelly Babies, Jaffa Cakes and energy drinks that seems to be the ‘new normal’ and encouraged by coaches now). Many schools do not provide any food for the players when they return to school or there are sometimes rather lame leftovers. They might get a fast-food takeaway on the way home if they are ‘lucky’!

One school I have consulted with, now plans for the boys to cook the players a house supper in the boarding house, so it is ready for them when they get back from the match. This is hugely popular with everyone involved and has brought the house much closer together. The players have a much greater feeling of being appreciated for having represented the school all day, and their tummies are full of good nourishing food to help repair their muscles from all the exercise. Win win!

There are also a number of pupils, especially in the upper years of prep and in senior schools, who choose to become more plant-based or opt for the salad bar as they think this is a healthier option for them (and, yes, of course eating more veg and salad is generally healthier). However, there is often very little nutrient-dense food on offer at the salad bar and some children are not very good judges about what should be on the plate to fill them up – sometimes only a few soggy tomatoes, cucumber slices and some limp-looking lettuce are available. If the plates are not monitored, then this can mean that they are not getting enough food at mealtimes.

The consequence of not enough filling and nutrient-dense food at the salad bar can be that some children lose too much weight, or they do not grow fast enough. Other pupils can be starving by the evening, so they either dive into their tuck boxes, order a pizza delivery or fill up on slices of toast in the boarding houses – and this sugar rush late in the day can, in turn, affect their sleep patterns. Boosting up the salad bar with rice, lentil or chickpea salads, eggs, cheese and oily fish can really turn this issue around.

So, as you can see there are some small and very positive changes that can be made to help school food become much more nourishing. If you are worried about your child’s school food or feel that things could be improved, please pass this article onto your headteacher, head of pastoral care or school chef and see if you can encourage some changes for the better.

Lucinda Miller is the clinical lead of NatureDoc and runs a team of UK-wide nutritional therapists specialising in women’s and child nutrition. She has been practising as a naturopath for more than 20 years, qualified in functional medicine and is author of two bestselling cookbooks The Good Stuff and I Can’t Believe It’s Baby Food. She also consults directly with schools about improving their school food, as well as holding parent educational talks. She is the mum of three and lives in Wiltshire.

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Food, glorious food: why nutrition should be a top priority in schools

TE Schools Advice