Jamie Oliver: Schools must become “healthy zones”

The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation and the AKO Foundation have undertaken their first comprehensive review of food education in English schools.

The AKO Foundation commissioned the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation and expert partners (including the British Nutrition Foundation, Food Teachers Centre and the University of Sheffield) to undertake a comprehensive review of the state of food education and food culture in primary and secondary schools in England.

School leaders, parents, pupils, catering organisations, NGOs, governors and more took part in surveys and focus groups, reviewing three key areas: the curriculum, the whole school approach and behaviour change.

The findings showed that there is a stark difference between schools doing a great job at delivering strong food education and others struggling with a lack of time, resource and support.

There are alarming concerns about the unhealthy food environment at secondary schools, compromising pupils’ ability to make good food choices.

To address the findings, the report makes recommendations to ensure young people are receiving the education and start in life that they deserve.

This includes schools becoming "healthy zones" where pupils' health and wellbeing are promoted throughout all parts of school life. This includes fundraising efforts like cake sales, which give out mixed signals.

The report calls for more support to be given to the school workforce, as well as improvements in food education qualifications and resources.

The report also calls for stronger reporting and evaluation to be put in place.

Jamie Oliver said: “This major report has studied all the data. We’ve spoken to everyone, from headteachers, to food teachers, parents, school governors, and kids themselves. And we’ve proven the simple point that we need to help kids apply food knowledge in the real world, and we need to support our dedicated food teachers. We must stop giving our kids contradictory messages. Most of all, if we want healthy children, we need to make all schools healthy zones. Full stop.”