Healthy Schools Snack Policy

Thanks to food campaigners across the country, we have standards in school food to ensure that children don’t get offered junk and can eat well at school.  A set of newly revised food standards were made mandatory for all schools in January 2015

The need to influence the eating habits of our children is well documented but here are a few reminders.

• The UK now has the highest rate of obesity in Europe with one in three children overweight or obese by Year 6.  Obesity in children under 11 has risen by over 40% in ten years. If this trend continues, half of children will be obese or overweight by 2020.  

• The financial impact of obesity is estimated to become an additional £45 billion per year by 2050 with a seven fold increase in NHS costs alone.

• Junk food diets are causing other health problems too. For example, type 2 diabetes - once known as "late onset" and traditionally found in the over 40s - is increasingly found in adolescents.

• A poor diet also has significant effects on children's behaviour, concentration and mood. Children with diets lacking in essential vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids tend to perform worse academically, cannot concentrate and are more aggressive.

  Whilst we recognise the need to promote healthy eating and healthy choices across school we recognise that for some of our students this can be difficult due to rigidity, limited diets, sensory issues around food etc. As a school we have just shared the student-friendly snack policy with our students as we aspire for all our students to eat a healthy snack. However, for a small number of students this remains a target either in an individual behaviour support plan or as a learning goal, and we will try to find a reasonably healthy alternative in the meantime.

Click the below links to review Greenbank Schools Healthy Snack Policy and a summarised verson of the Schools Food Standards.

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