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Aims Include Actively Encouraging Pupils To Drink Water At Frequent Intervals ...

Aims include actively encouraging pupils to drink water at frequent intervals throughout the day and to ensure that pupils have access to fresh drinking water, as the benefits of drinking water are widely acknowledged, (Department for Education and Skills. 2001). However the issue still remains that if policy is not in place then drinks either brought in from home or sold in school may not comply with recommendations.
In March 2, 2006, the School Food Trust (2006), issued its recommendations regarding the development and implementation of food standards for school foods other than lunch, which includes mid morning snacks. The recommendations focused primarily on imposing restrictions or the banning of confectionery, bagged savoury snacks, cakes and biscuits; while at the same time, encouraging the provision of free drinking water aside from specifying the allowable types of drinks to be offered on mid morning breaks. The allowed drinks aside from drinking water include milk, pure fruit juices, yoghurt and milk drinks. It also allows for the addition of artificial sweeteners in yoghurt and milk.

2.5 Implementation of Food and Drinks Policy
A vast majority of school governors reported that schools should indeed have healthy food and drink policies with 84% of the responses agreeing that such policies were a good idea, (The National Governors' Council and Food Standards Agency 2004). However, many responses emphasized that implementing rules regarding type of food and drink permitted within school was an impossible task to enforce and that it was ultimately the choice of parents as to what they gave their children to eat and drink, therefore such policies would only be as effective as the children and parents wanted them to be, (The National Governors' Council and Food Standards Agency 2004).
A survey of eighty four primary school children aged 7-8 years carried out by Bower and Sandall (2002), showed that the children had an overall preference for sweets, crisps and chocolate and less liking for fruit and cereal containing snacks. The choice of food was shown to be wholly dependant on parental influence and availability of food. Therefore research suggests that implementation of appropriate nutrition policy within schools is seldom undertaken for reasons of difficulty with enforcement.
For those schools that have successfully implemented nutrition policies, a whole school approach has been adopted. The Office for Standards in Education Department for Education and Skills, and the Food Standards Agency (2004), report that whole school food policy is likely to be more effective than approaching individual issues. Messages about food and nutrition taught in the curriculum are echoed and reinforced by the type of food and drink provided by the school.


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