In England, one in five 4 to 5-year olds are overweight or obese, rising to one in three 10 to 11-year-olds. This sharp increase in obesity rates over the primary school years, alongside the long-term contact that schools have with the majority of children and their parents, are two factors that have led to primary schools being seen as a key setting for obesity prevention.

Schools can provide an environment for children to eat healthily and engage in regular physical activity, and the curriculum presents opportunities for learning and healthy lifestyles. As your school catering service, we too play an essential part in helping to tackle the growing rates of obesity among school-aged children. Indeed, children consume about half of their daily calories at school; for low-income children, school lunch may be their only meal of the day and the food children eat at school influence their lifelong eating habits.

In response to this growing public health challenge, Chartwells have introduced the LACA award winning programme Eat Right Stay Bright into Merton. This educational programme encompasses a range of pupil and parent activities, ranging from classroom nutrition workshops to parent taster evenings which together, have been shown to:

• Increase healthy eating knowledge and awareness
• Increase school meal uptake
• Encourage positive behaviour
• Make a significant contribution to schools Ofsted inspection

We’re piloting this programme across a few select schools in Merton over the Summer 2017 term, with plans to extend this to all 46 schools with whom we work by 2020 - so stay tuned!