Bite Back Parliamentary School Food Champions

Bite Back Parliamentary School Food Champions

[VIDEO]

Once in a generation opportunity

School food is about to become an even bigger part of many children’s lives in England. With free school meals expanding from September and breakfast clubs being rolled out, hundreds of thousands more children will depend on food at school every single day. For families feeling the pressure of the cost of living, that support makes a real difference.

But simply serving more food isn’t enough. It has to be about serving better food. The UK government is also reviewing the School Food Standards: the rules that decide what’s in and what’s out when it comes to food served in schools across England. . Right now, those rules are outdated, unenforced and rarely followed.

Taken together, this is a once in a generation opportunity to fix school food in England, and make sure every child gets the fuel they need to thrive in the classroom and into their futures.

Why should you care?

Healthy food in our schools should be a given, but right now the system in England is letting kids down. Despite the School Food Standards being in place, young people tell us all the time that the food in their canteens is unhealthy, unappealing and letting pupils down. On top of that, lunch breaks are getting shorter so students have less chance to even sit down and enjoy a good meal.

At a time when 1 in 3 children are leaving primary school at risk of a future of food related ill-health, we need our government to do more to protect pupils’ health.

Become a Champion

At this crucial time, we need supportive voices in Westminster to make the case for children’s health and their right to a healthy meal at school. As a Bite Back School Food Champion you:

  • Believe that it should be as easy as possible for young people to access healthy food at school.
  • Commit to taking at least one action from our list of Champion actions below.
  • Will get a shout out from Bite Back on social media, access to our latest research and briefings, and opportunities to meet directly with young people.

School Food Champion actions

We ask that our Champions create change, through at least one of the below actions:

  • Meet with young people to hear about their own school food experiences.
  • Visit a school running the Bite Back in Schools programme.
  • Attend a Bite Back event - details on our next one in parliament coming soon!
  • Make the case for healthier school food in national policymaking - be that in a debate, Questions in parliament, or in the media.
  • Share some of our content on social media