Our funding supports School Food Matters to adapt its Nourish programme in 20 London secondary schools. Nourish has already improved food in primary schools, but secondary settings bring different challenges, including larger pupil populations, timetables, student independence and varied catering arrangements.
The first stage combined research and workshops with students, parents, school staff, caterers and sector experts. It identified five conditions for change: moving gradually, giving pupils meaningful influence, involving caterers from the start, drawing on support from wider partners, and tracking and celebrating progress.
The adapted programme will help schools review menus, dining spaces and food culture. It will include staff and caterer engagement, student workshops, planning and ongoing support. Schools will be expected to show pupils how their views have shaped decisions so that student voice leads to visible change.
The work will also explore how different policy and free school meal contexts affect implementation and outcomes. We are funding Nourish because it connects the many parts of school life that shape what young people eat. The next phase will test how this whole-school model works in practice, what changes schools can sustain and how learning can be shared with academy trusts, local authorities and catering providers.
Awarded March 2025
See https://www.schoolfoodmatters.org/