ABSTRACT
Eating food is generally a very pleasurable experience which meets a range of our physical, social and emotional needs. Up to 30 per cent of a child’s daily food is eaten during school hours and a school lunch should provide a growing child with one third of the recommended daily nutritional intake. Research undertaken by the Institute of Education has found that children who have a nutritious diet ‘are five times as likely to behave well, pay attention and work harder than those whose meals were less nutritious’ (TES, 22 August 2008). There is an obesity crisis in the UK, with more than a quarter of schoolchildren overweight or obese. On current trends nearly 60 per cent of the British population would be obese by 2050 (Foresight report on obesity, The Lancet). In response to such concerns, the government and schools are working in a determined way to counteract pressures from advertising and to change children’s lifestyles and attitudes to food and exercise. LTSs are front-line players in helping children to eat healthily. They are the people in the
dining room who are responsible for ensuring that in a relatively short time, large numbers of children are well behaved, safe, happy and eating a well balanced meal.
