The Minister of Education in the UK commissioned two well known and successful chefs, Dimbleby and Vincent (D & V) to investigate the provision of meals in State schools. The pair assembled an expert panel to assist and advise – academics, school cooks, head teachers, nutritionists etc. They were asked to make a report, but they have come up with an action plan. It is gratifying to find that much of the plan is action that we, The Private Initiative, Hastings Daniel, Mark Roberts and myself, have been advising the past and present Nevis Administrations to do, and things that we have done ourselves.
Since there are over 20,000 State schools in the UK, D & V could only visit a sample. They and their panel talked to large numbers of cooks, educators and of course children. Indeed they sat down to meals in over 60 schools and thought carefully about the different experiences in quality and in atmosphere that they observed. Let us see what relevance their plan has to our situation, where we have under 10 State schools, three of which, The Jocelyn Liburd Primary and the two secondary schools have no kitchen. Here are some excerpts from their Plan:
‘This plan is about good food and happiness. It is about the pleasures of growing, cooking and eating proper food. It is also about improving the academic performance of our children and the health of our Nation… This country faces a serious health crisis caused by bad diet. Almost 20% of children are obese (very fat) by the time they leave Primary school at age 11. Diet related illnesses are putting a huge strain on the Nation’s finances, costing the National Health Service (NHS) £11 billion every year. We need to tackle the problem now, before the costs (personal and financial) become too heavy to bear.’
What D & V are saying is that we have to focus on prevention, that the ever rising statistics of diabetes, cancers and heart disease, if allowed to continue, will overwhelm the NHS. We are in the same trap.
In the UK school meals take up, at 43% is low. The Plan continues:
‘Increasing take up is not something that can be done from the top down. It requires a cultural change within each school. It means cooking food that is both appetising and nutritious; making the dining hall a welcoming place; keeping queues down; getting the price right; allowing children to eat with their friends; getting them interested in cooking and growing. The only person to orchestrate all this is the head teacher. He/she needs support from their Governors and leadership team, but if the Head isn’t behind changing/improving the food culture in a school it won’t happen. In every school that we went to that had a good food culture – every single one – the teachers regularly ate lunch with the children.’
D & V arranged a study involving 400 Heads equally from Primary and from Secondary schools. About 90% of these Heads believed that eating healthy nutritious food improves attainment and behaviour. A further survey within the Plan, in which a large random selection of packed lunches brought to school were assessed, found that only 1% came up to the nutritional level of even an average cooked lunch… And we know that some children are not eating lunch at all… In addition to the problem of children from more disadvantaged homes not getting a proper lunch there are children arriving at school without having eaten breakfast. Teacher surveys suggest this is linked to poor parenting as much as poverty – but whatever the cause, hungry children can’t concentrate… A 2012 study of nearly fourteen hundred 6-16 year olds showed that those who had eaten breakfast performed at least twice as well on six measures of cognitive function as those who had not. Children who can’t concentrate can’t learn, and are more likely to disrupt the class. A good breakfast sets them up for half the school day – often the half in which the most difficult lessons are scheduled. Without breakfast the academic performance of already disadvantaged children suffers. … We also need to equip today’s children with the skills they need to feed themselves – and, in time, their own children. We are delighted that the Government has accepted our recommendation that cooking lessons should be made a part of the national curriculum for all children up to the age of 14. The new curriculum will emphasise the importance of cooking nutritious savoury dishes, understanding where food comes from, and taking pleasure in the creative arts of the kitchen…’
School Principals in the UK may have more autonomy than ours. The report talks of Principals deciding to change the system and bring provision of meals in house, ie hire a chef and create those meals at the school. Indeed sometimes they have to raise money and build a kitchen. D & V say that (the UK) Government can do very little, ie change and improvement has to be brought about locally. Here in tiny Nevis, Government and the Principals, teachers, parents, cooks all have their part. Nevertheless D & V’s Plan for the UK should be considered carefully by all our educators, for much is relevant here, not least the priority that should be attached to its suggested measures. Note, it is about good food, happiness, good health and attainment. It is also about changing food and cooking culture, through the schools and out into the general population. The Private Initiative has been imploring our Governments, for the last several years to take the necessary steps to bring about a food and therefore health revolution.
This issue, involving the future of the nation, should be an extreme priority for CCM and NRP. Neither party treats the matter with the importance it deserves. The NRP built the Charlestown Primary School canteen and kitchen space and appointed a Director of School Meals. But the Director was only given advisory powers and no chef was appointed. The CCM has appointed a well qualified chef, our own Michael Henville, but on limited hours of 8.00 am – 1.00 pm. He is based at CPS and is responsible for their lunch programme. He is also to have overall responsibility for the entire school meals programme. He must redesign the menus, advise on and check purchasing, train the cooks, teach the children to cook, and start and supervise breakfast programmes throughout. This is the most important job on the island bar none and it is part time! Congratulations to Michael for accepting it.
A couple of year ago, in order to try to draw attention to the poor nutritional value of some children’s lunches I referred to a child whose lunch was two slices of white bread with nothing in between. In some quarters this factual statement was not well received. But facts are facts. Since that article there has been an official survey of the breakfasts taken or not taken by school children on the island. Six per cent, or sixty in every one thousand children never had breakfast. A further number sometimes had none. The UK Report showed that some children had no lunch and of the 57% of the entire population of State school children only 1% brought a nutritionally adequate lunch. Why should we be very different? It is obvious that our aim should be to have nutritious and enjoyable breakfasts and lunches available at every school and to see to it that every child is in the programme.
We are told that those who resort to the gangs are often the under attainers at school. Give them all the opportunity at school to be properly nourished, and their attainment will rise, they will be happier, healthier children and less certain fodder for the gangs. Teach them to cook, a lifetime skill and some who may not be academically strong may develop a confidence boosting creative talent, another factor to incline them to stay away from gangs.
A short while ago the PS Education, Mrs. Q. Connor, said that her Ministry had met around 85% of its targets. We were not told what these targets were, nor which ones had been missed. Are cooking lessons now in the curriculum? How can the chef teach the children to cook unless the curriculum allows for it?
The D & V Plan is on the net and should be studied by our educators and health advisors (Google: Dimbleby and Vincent School Meals Plan). The last section is ‘A check list for Head Teachers’. Some of this could be an inspiration for our teachers. Perhaps the Ministry could ensure they all have a copy of that list?
Finally, there is, for our Ministry of Health, in the UK Plan a striking statistic from Finland. In the 1970’s Finland held the world record for heart disease. A young medical graduate Pekka Puska was in 1972 put in charge of an experimental project. He felt that the ill health epidemic had to be tackled at its cultural roots, and that educating people is not enough to change their behaviour. You have to make it easy for them. Many different initiatives were involved, but essential was the free school meal. Puska said: ‘If we were to change our National diet, it was critical that this started in schools. All the evidence shows that a childhood habit for healthy eating is likely to stay with you for life. By 2009 the annual mortality rate from heart disease in Finland had dropped by 80%. Average life expectancy has risen by seven years for men and six years for women. No other measure has any prospect of effecting this kind of improvement. Expensive new drugs? Forget it. We need a Puska. The nearest we might come to him is the newly appointed part time chef, the school meals supremo, Don’t you think, Ministers of Government, that he and all of us would think that you were actually serious about the school meals programme becoming a food and health revolution if he had a full time post, and you put in the empty room called the chef’s office, a telephone and a computer with internet access? It is a tremendous task you have asked him to take on. He needs everyone’s support, and that starts from the top.
*************************
DISCLAIMER
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
