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130 CHAPTER 6 ■ Increasing School Meal Uptake in a Deprived Region in England

CASE STUDY
School Meals in England

S E T TIN G THE S C ENE

As a result of rapidly increasing rates of childhood obesity and other weight-
related diseases, there is increasing concern about the quality of children’s diets
and a growing demand for a change to the school meal offer and uptake, sup-
ported through government policy.
As noted in “School Meals in Primary Schools” (Nelson et al., 2005), “school
meals make a vital contribution to the dietary intake of school children in
England” (p. 16). Every day, more than 3 million school meals are served. There
are 7.6 million English primary and secondary school pupils, and 43% of them
take a school meal. However, despite the volume of school meals currently being
served, there are patterns of poor health and eating behavior among children
that are cause for concern and a sense that children are increasingly powerful
consumers—able to choose what they do or do not eat to a growing degree.
Whether a child does or does not eat a healthy meal at school is now recog-
nized as being fundamental to that child’s behavioral, educational, and social
development. As a result of this recognition, coupled with rapidly increasing
rates of childhood obesity and other diet-related diseases, the UK government
has committed to increasing the number of children eating school dinners and
to improving the school meal offer in terms of health and nutritional value
(School Meals Review Panel, 2005).
As the School Meals Review Panel (2005) observed in “Turning the Tables,”
a report on transforming school food:

The health advantages of well-cooked, well-presented meals, made from good-
quality ingredients to accepted nutritional standards, by school caterers who are
confident in their skills and valued by the school community, are inestimable. The
benefits of good school meals go beyond high-quality catering. They also produce
social, educational, and economic advantages. (p. 5)

SCHOOL ME A L S ON TH E P O L I TI C A L A GEND A

England’s Department of Health and Department for Education and Skills
(DfES) are working closely to implement change and have introduced a range of
interventions to boost school meal uptake and improve nutritional health. In