SPOTLIGHT ON: Head Teacher Training (Action 7)

13 Jan 2014

The School Food Plan comprises sixteen actions designed to transform school food culture across the country. This week’s update looks at Actions 13/14, around Workforce Development.

While writing the School Food Plan, Henry and John visited more than 60 schools and held 7 regional events across the country. They saw that there are many different ways to do food in schools brilliantly. But they also found that all schools with great food culture had a few things in common – with one trait being leadership from the Head teacher.

As Sarah Ray from the National College for Teaching and Leadership explains:

“In schools, we know that the Headteacher really has to lead  change. This is absolutely the case with food as well. We’re delighted to be supporting the delivery of the School Food Plan by ensuring school leaders are well-informed about the importance of nutrition, diet, and cooking for children and young people.”

The National College for Teaching and Leadership is responsible for setting the standards for Head teacher training, and has agreed that content on food and nutrition should be included in their leadership development programmes, casino including the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers (NPQH).

Sarah Ray is very positive about progress to date on this work:

“We’re busy developing content to include school food in three of our compulsory essential modules within the leadership curriculum. It’s been exciting engaging with schools to pull together case studies on things like improving behavior in the canteen and providing healthy food at an affordable price.”

The School Food Plan includes a specially designed checklist for Headteachers, laying out a few of the things they can do to improve the food culture at their school. You can download the checklist here.