Thanks to people like Jamie Oliver and organisations like Merton Parents many school children are now enjoying healthier food and drink in school.



The government has recently announced that from September 2007 pupils in primary, secondary, special and boarding schools, and pupil referral units in England should have easy access at all times to free, fresh drinking water. This is an important step as "Poor hydration adversely affects a child's mental performance and learning ability," according to Hilary Forester of the British Medical Association. (1)

The new standards were developed following research which showed that children were not choosing healthy food choices at lunchtime as most of the options available didn’t meet their nutritional needs.

In 2005 the newly appointed expert group, the School Meals Review

Panel proposed radical changes which prohibit/restrict food high in fat, sugar and salt or food made with poor quality meat from being served at school.

In May 2006, the Government announced new standards for school food to be phased in by September 2009. The standards are all encompassing and cover all foodstuff sold or served in schools including food and drink served during breakfast, mid morning break, lunch and after-school meals, the standards also make provision for snacks and drinks served from tuck shops and vending machines.

A sum of £220 million is reserved for the implementation of the initiatives from 2005 to 2008 to help local authorities introduce these standards. An additional £240 million was announced in 2006 to cover the 2008 to 2011 period.

It is hoped that this initiative will encourage pupils to switch to drinking water with their meals rather than drinking less healthy sweetened soft drinks. The advantages to water over other alternatives are that it promotes hydration but has no calories; potentially the water may be supplied via the schools mains water supply making it free to all children. To make the mains water more appealing it is suggested that schools could chill the water in the fridge or provide access to a constant supply via mains connected (plumbed in) water coolers or drinking fountains. The School Foods Trust have written ‘A guide to the

Government’s new food-based standards for school lunches’ which states that; schools should “Consider installing a point-of use water cooler which uses

mains water…" and “...Modern water fountains could be an additional water point in the dining room" (2)

The School Foods Trust suggests that it’s good practice to “Make sure that water is available, easily accessible and is free of charge to all pupils where they are having lunch…" the guidelines go on to suggest that schools should “…promote water availability throughout the school, so children do not have to rely on taps in toilets for a drink." (3)

For more information on drinking water for schools see page 16 of “A guide to the Government’s new food-based standards for school lunches" sourced from the School Food Trust website, see the resources section below.