Giving the new School Food Standards teeth - What our grantees are telling us.

The updated School Food Standards offer an opportunity to improve what young people eat in England’s secondary schools. Their success will depend on what happens in kitchens and dining halls, and whether young people choose and eat the food on offer. Across the Nutritional Wellbeing Foundation’s secondary school portfolio, our grantees are helping us understand what will make that happen.

The government’s September response sets out plans for most changes to apply from September 2027, subject to Parliamentary approval, with specified secondary school requirements following in September 2028. The accompanying commitment to stronger governance and monitoring is welcome. We have asked our partners what schools and caterers will need, where implementation could falter and how we can tell whether pupils benefit.

The lunchtime experience matters

Queues, short lunch breaks and limited seating repeatedly feature in our partners’ feedback. Chefs in Schools described one observation where the last pupil in a queue had just four minutes to order and eat. Even an improved menu will struggle to make a difference in those circumstances.

Health Equalities Group’s early secondary school pilot has heard from staff and pupils about meals missed because of timing, queues or competing activities. Their views on the solutions did not always match, underlining the value of listening to both. Sustain’s parent feedback raises similar concerns about whether pupils have enough time to enjoy a hot meal.

Access also depends on what remains available later in the lunch break, how payment systems work and whether the food meets different needs. Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or sensory sensitivities, and those with dietary or cultural requirements, need particular consideration. Wider eligibility for free school meals creates an opportunity, but we still need to understand whether eligible pupils take up that offer and can use it comfortably.

Kitchen teams need practical support

ProVeg’s conversations with caterers highlight pressures around ingredients, staffing and the time and skills needed to cook from scratch. Equipment, packaging and the affordability of healthier options also matter. School Food Matters has emphasised that leaders need to understand their catering contracts and know how to work with providers to improve provision.

Partners recognise concerns that unfamiliar menus could reduce meal uptake or increase waste. Chefs in Schools offers practical reasons for optimism, including simpler menus, familiar food descriptions, tasting opportunities and preparation that works across lunch and breaktime. Its healthier snack trial at Dronfield sold all 200 portions, illustrating how nutritious options can appeal to pupils.

For funders, these insights point towards useful investment in kitchen skills, practical resources and support for managing contracts. Schools also need committed leaders who make food a priority alongside their other responsibilities.

Young people need a visible role

Bite Back’s work shows how young people’s experiences can inform national policy. Within schools, their involvement needs to influence what happens next. ProVeg’s pupil engagement and School Food Matters’ Nourish work reinforce the importance of feedback that leads to visible changes in menus or the dining experience.

Food Teachers Centre highlights the opportunity to connect changes in the food offer with lessons and school councils, while recognising teachers’ existing workload. Our support for CRuNCH and Real Food Rebellion also brings practical cooking and food knowledge into this wider picture. Education can help pupils understand and explore changes, particularly when healthier options are accessible in everyday school life.

We want to learn what helps new foods become familiar and appealing, and whether pupils’ growing knowledge and confidence translate into choices they continue to make.

Accountability should lead to improvement

The government has announced expectations for schools to publish menus and food policies and nominate a lead governor for food. It is developing a national monitoring system with the Food Standards Agency. The Food Foundation and Sustain emphasise the importance of making accountability workable, with adequate resources and support to address problems identified.

Checking compliance is important. Evidence of success should also include meal uptake, pupil experience, what children actually eat and what goes to waste. We need to know who benefits and who still misses out. A healthier offer accompanied by more pupils skipping lunch would raise questions that a menu check alone could not answer.

We are developing an outcomes framework to help us follow these changes across our grants. We will use partners’ existing evidence wherever possible and distinguish activities, such as training, from subsequent changes in practice. Early confidence gains are useful, while claims about sustained improvements in nutrition need stronger evidence.

Working together to make change last

School Food Matters’ experience of adapting Nourish for secondary schools shows why change needs time and flexibility. Pupil engagement, catering arrangements and school leadership require more attention than a standard model can always anticipate. CRuNCH’s experience similarly highlights the importance of a committed school contact in sustaining attendance and family involvement.

These lessons should travel across the portfolio. Several partners already work together through the School Food Project. We are exploring how pooled learning and specialist contributions could strengthen support for secondary schools, including through multi-academy trusts and local authorities. Our role as a funder is to help useful connections develop and support work that fills clear gaps.

Giving the Standards teeth means schools can expect meaningful scrutiny and practical help to improve. The test we want to keep in view is whether young people can access food they enjoy, have time to eat it and help shape an offer that meets their needs. Our grantees’ experience will help us keep funding and learning focused on that everyday reality.