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Your canteen and the Health Promoting Schools Approach

The school canteen and food service is an important part of the school organisation, ethos and environment component of this framework. The canteen should not only provide nutritious food, but also be linked to the curriculum, the school environment and the wider community. Linking healthy changes to the canteen/food service to other areas of the school will not only ensure that these changes are successful and sustainable, but will have a greater impact on promoting healthy eating to children.

Involving students, teachers and the wider community not only creates wider acceptance of the healthy canteen, but also helps in providing valuable support and resources to help with the canteen’s activities.

Encourage the principal and teachers to be involved in the canteen as much as possible:

• Introduce yourself to the Food Technology and Agriculture teachers and have an informal discussion of ways you may be able to work together.
• Invite teachers on yard duty to visit the canteen and meet the staff.
• Have a regular, brief meeting with the principal or deputy principal each week or fortnight to exchange information on the weeks activities.
• Attend a staff meeting to introduce yourself and have a discussion of ways in which teachers could link there classroom activities in with the canteen.

• Plan canteen special menu items, meal deals and promotional activities to link in with any relevant topics being taught in the classroom. For example:
  • Plan with teachers to serve certain Indonesian foods on the menu or a special meal deal, theme day when this language or history is being taught (and even have students translate the traditional name of the food or dish on the menu).
  • Plan a special menu item, meal deal or theme day based on dairy foods during National Healthy Bones Week (7th – 13th August). Have teachers teach about calcium and bones in class also during this week.
• Get students to help decorate the canteen by painting a colourful mural or a menu/specials board.
• In art classes, get students to help with designing menus, advertising fliers and colorful posters or displays promoting healthy choices.
• Grades could take it in turns to cook healthy food for sale in the school canteen.
• Have students help out in the canteen as part of their food technology subject. This will not only provide assistance for the canteen, but valuable practical experience in food handling, customer service and preparation for the students.
• Food Technology students could design and trial a healthy recipe for the school canteen.
• Involve upper grades in evaluation activities such as designing, conducting and collating feedback surveys or assessing the menu against guidelines.
• Older students could design, produce and market a healthy meal deal concept.
• Run class competitions for students to help with ideas for healthy menu items or meal deal, theme day ideas. For example, each class could design a healthy mini muffin recipe. The winning class can be included on the menu, such as 'Grade 3’s Award-winning Muffin' and each child in the class receives a free muffin from the canteen.

• If the school has a vegetable patch, see if you can use any produce or herbs to prepare canteen foods. Don’t forget to promote to children that the food has come from their garden!
• If the school is involved in an environmental program such as Sustainable Schools or Waste Wize, investigate linking the canteen.
• Use a recycling system in the canteen. Including separate bins for paper, plastic and food scraps.
• Use canteen food scraps for composting for the school gardens.
• Wherever possible, reduce the use of packaging and use environmentally friendly packaging. For example, encourage students to return plastic containers to be washed and reused.
• Link in with Clean Up Australia Day activities in the school - have a ‘Package Free’ theme day in the canteen.

• Encourage involvement and ideas from the wider community by inviting people to submit a healthy family favourite recipe for use in the canteen.
• Keep families and parents updated regularly on canteen activities through the school newsletter.
• Organise a special family healthy food day where families are invited to come and have lunch with the students. Examples include a Mothers Day menu or a family and friends picnic day.
• Promote and encourage the active involvement of volunteers by recognising and rewarding them.
• Involve community groups such as the RSL or Senior Citizen’s Association. Perhaps they might like to volunteer in the canteen or invite them to attend and/or help out at a special healthy food day.
• Make links with local food retailers such as the green grocer or local bakery to supply fresh, healthy foods for the canteen. Negotiate lower prices and free delivery in exchange for free promotion and advertising.
• Invite the local community newspaper or radio station to conduct an interview on your school’s healthy canteen.

• This information has been sourced from Nutrition Australia.