About our school meals

School meals are available to encourage children to eat healthy, well balanced meals at school.

Helping you make informed choices about the food your children eat, you'll discover why eating freshly prepared school meals are such a great idea.

Whole school approaches

Schools are an influential setting and can make a significant contribution to improving both the environment and the health of pupils, staff and the wider community.

Schools can increase knowledge and awareness of food issues and nutrition which can help to influence eating habits. Schools can provide nutritious, good quality food during the school day.

There is evidence to support whole school approaches as the best way to improve overall nutrition and healthy eating in the school setting. It is beneficial for children and young people to receive accurate and consistent messages throughout the school day, in the classroom, the school dining room and the immediate school environment.

Increasing the capacity of schools to promote healthy nutrition is an essential element of the local strategy in order to increase the health and learning potential of children and young people, families and other community members.

Schools provide an extremely effective and efficient way to reach large proportions of the population. Children and young people can be reached at influential stages in their lives, during childhood and adolescence when lifelong nutritional patterns are formed.

Supportive school policies provide an essential framework that guides schools in planning, implementing and evaluating efforts to promote health and nutrition.

Food and health

Recent evidence of the increasing levels of overweight, obese and diabetic children and young people in the UK has led to a focus on the food and lifestyle behaviours of this population group.

It is already widely established that the risks of these particular conditions and diseases are significantly reduced by a combination of eating a balanced diet and being physically active. Long term effects of poor dietary intake and lack of exercise are clearly linked to an increased risk of other diseases such as coronary heart disease and cancer.

Good nutrition helps to prevent some of today's leading health problems and enables healthier adulthood and ageing. Good nutrition also strengthens the learning potential and overall well being of children.

In Swansea, there is evidence that poor dietary intake leads to local children and young people experiencing chronic constipation, anaemia and high levels of dental decay (Swansea HSCWB Needs Assessment, 2003).

For this reason there is a considerable public health benefit in addressing the barriers to good nutrition and healthier eating choices, habits and behaviours early in life. The development and support of good eating habits in children and young people is therefore a lasting investment and worth prioritising as an effective public health intervention.