We all know that a well-balanced diet is good for our heart, body and mind as well as helping to maintain a healthy weight. Educating children about the effect food has on our bodies allows them to make informed choices and take more responsibility for their health.

A free self-review tool, that only takes a few minutes to complete, and provides links to recommendations and resources to support you to develop your whole school approach to food policy.

Food a fact of life is a free online resource to help teachers educate young people about where food comes from, cooking and healthy eating for all ages and policy development support to help you achieve that DoE Healthy School Rating. They also have a bank of free online training and CPD for teaching staff to increase their confidence and knowledge in delivering lessons on nutrition in line with the national curriculum and also running practical food lessons. There are also some online webinars scheduled to offer practical based training for teaching staff.

The Food for Life School Awards is a way for your school to demonstrate the work you do in providing healthy meals, food education and growing 
programmes. The programme supports schools to improve health and wellbeing, encourage pupils to take part in activities and enable children to feel empowered to make their own health choices.

Get Set to Eat Fresh is part of the Get Set family of education programmes. Get Set to Eat Fresh, brought to life through Aldi, Team GB and ParalympicsGB, is a free nationwide education programme to help all young people aged 5–14 develop their love and curiosity about healthy, sustainable food and the knowledge and skills they need to cook nutritious, low-cost meals.

The NHS Food Scanner app helps you find healthier swaps whilst at 
the shops, just by scanning the barcode. This tool can be a useful resources when teaching the Eatwell guide, traffic labels on food packaging or for sugar awareness to bring the content of the lesson to life. It can also be a great resource to signpost families to, to support them at home and when putting together lunchboxes.

Understanding the School Food Standards is a simple way of ensuring children are eating a balanced diet during the school day, from the food provided during your wrap around provision to school lunches. It is also important to be aware that food high in fats, sugar and salt should not be served across the school day, which includes the use of these foods in class based learning. To understand the full standards, head teachers check list or to create a culture of healthy eating: Visit the GOV.UK website to access 'School food standards: resources for schools'.

New school food standards were introduced in January 2015 and have been mandatory in all maintained schools, new academies and free schools since. Governors are responsible for ensuring these standards are being met.

Below you will find some resources we have created to help support your school to meet the School Food Standards across the whole school day. These include some checklists to help you audit your current provision and top tips posters for food ideas that comply with the standards for all potential meals:

We have also recorded our webinar for you to watch to hear on overview of the standards, the national pilot that Telford & Wrekin was selected to be a part of and the local support on offer.