Every single child deserves access to healthy, nutritious food at school – but we all know that’s not the case. Yet.

Bite Back challenges a world in which a handful of companies have the power and influence to flood our world with junk. We’d love your school to join the fight.

We’re constantly on the hunt for passionate pupils who can make a difference through social action – and dedicated staff to lead and inspire them. Since September 2021, over 200 UK schools have already signed up and counting.

How Does It Work?

If your school makes the cut, we’ll kick things off with an inspiring assembly, led by the Bite Back team or one of our incredible young activists. That leads into a series of engaging sessions for a whole year-group – around five hours in total during curriculum time.

Don’t worry, we’ll handle all the planning and resources. We’ll even train up your staff to deliver the sessions. We call this phase one – it’ll help open your students’ eyes to the many ways the global food system is rigged against them, encouraging them to take part in collective social action.

Those whole-year sessions fuel the flames for phase two, when you’ll recruit a passionate team of 10-15 hand-picked students to join forces as School Food Champions, hungry to improve their school food environment. We’ll provide training and resources for you to deliver informative, engaging sessions on topics such as:

• What does a great school food culture look like?
• What is youth social action?
• How do we design a great campaign?
• What are the harsh truths about the food system?
• What is food inequality?
• How do we build a great team and get the skills we need to make our voices count?

Armed with this knowledge, your team of young activists will review your school’s current food culture. Then they’ll work with school leaders, caterers and governors to develop a social action project that puts nutritious, great-tasting food in the spotlight instead of the junk that’s all-too-often forced down our children’s throats.

You’ll meet weekly during the second and third terms, either at lunchtime, as an after-school club, or as an enrichment activity during class time.

You’ll connect with some of Bite Back’s amazing young leaders, get inspired by examples of how great school food can be, and tap into a fast-growing network of young activists who are leading change across the country and sharing what they’ve learnt along the way.

Finally, phase three gives two of your most engaged and ambitious young activists the chance to represent your school at a national level as part of Bite Back’s School Food Champions Network. They’ll join a 100-strong collective working to amplify young people’s voices and drive real change in schools all across the country.

Bite Back in Schools is a fully-funded programme – if your school is accepted, Bite Back provides £1100 as remuneration for the teacher/s involved, and to cover the costs of your activities and campaigns. Watch this space for other goodies too, like merchandise, workbooks and big-prize competitions.

Benefits for Young People

1. Transform the school from the inside.
2. Join a fun and rewarding programme that goes beyond class-as-usual.
3. Make new friends in the fast-growing Bite Back movement.
4. Build valuable campaigning, leadership, and public speaking skills.

Benefits for Teachers and Schools

1. Drive social action through pupil voice on issues that matter to young people.
2. Make a tangible difference to your whole school community.
3. Join a community of 200 schools sharing best practice on school food issues.
4. Put healthy food in the spotlight within your school.

Interested?

Drop us a line at schoolfoodchampions@biteback2030.com to discuss what Bite Back could do for your school. We’ll start recruiting a new cohort in Spring 2024, to start in September.

Be the first to hear when the recruitment process begins, and get all the latest Bite Back news: click here to sign up now.

Bite Back in Schools is funded by the #iWill Fund. The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action opportunities.