Beyond the School Gate

3rd June 2014

New initiative encourages shops to offer healthy choices near schools

A new initiative has been launched to promote healthy eating choices for children outside their schools.

Beyond the School Gate is a Scottish Government project backed by COSLA and the Scottish Grocers' Federation. It aims to promote ways to encourage children to stay on school premises at lunchtime and eat a healthy meal, and for shopkeepers near schools to think about how they can offer more healthy choices.

New research from Young Scot, carried out for the Beyond the School Gate project, shows that more than half of secondary school pupils buy lunch outside school at least once a week. Of the 938 young people who responded, more than 70 per cent have at least four food outlets in the immediate vicinity of their school. The most common shops visited were large supermarkets (18.6 per cent), small convenience stores (16.6 per cent) and bakeries (14.5 per cent).

Public Health Minister Michael Matheson launched the scheme today in Glasgow today. He visited Eastbank Academy to meet pupils and see what the school has done to encourage pupils to stay in school at lunchtime. The school has recently opened the Gallery Cafe, a modern eating area offering healthy options in an attractive environment.

Mr Matheson said: "We have made excellent progress in improving the standard and nutrition of school meals in Scotland. However, the evidence shows that many children are simply not staying to eat these meals.

“We are fighting a battle against obesity in Scotland, and we know that if children eat unhealthily in their teenage age years it’s a habit that can be hard to break. That’s why this is a battle we want to take beyond the school gates. This initiative looks at how we can encourage children to choose healthier options both inside and outside school.

“This government has already made a major commitment to children’s diets by extending free school meals to primary 1 to 3 children from January 2015 and launched new guidance on school food earlier this year. Through Beyond the School Gates we aim to enable children to continue that healthy eating into their teenage years."

Beyond the School Gate sets out ways that shops, schools and local councils can play their part in offering healthy choices. For schools that includes advice on how to encourage pupils to stay on-site at lunchtime. For convenience stores it involves tips on how to increase the sale of healthier options.

The guidance includes a self-assessment tool to help partners consider their role, recognise positive work already underway and identify what more can be done.

Actions identified in Beyond the School Gate include:
1. How to encourage children to stay on site to eat lunch, through better cafes and more appealing food and drink
2. Ways to use marketing, promotions and incentives to encourage healthy eating and discourage junk food.
3. Provide better support and guidance to caterers and retailers
4. Explain how environmental health, licensing and planning can be used to encourage healthy options near schools

Councillor Peter Johnston, COSLA Health and Wellbeing Spokesperson, said: “Councils have done much to improve the food on offer within our schools in recent years, and are working hard to encourage more pupils to take advantage of this more often. However, we know that there will always be occasions when pupils want to leave school at lunchtime and more work can be done to improve the range of healthy options available beyond the school gates.

“This will require co-ordinated action, not just by councils, but across the wider public and private sectors, and councils are well-placed to facilitate this through their leadership of community planning partnerships. So we look forward to working with the Scottish Government and other partners to improve access to healthier choices that will also deliver benefits for the wider community and help to establish healthier eating habits that will be passed on to future generations.”

John Drummond, Scottish Grocers’ Federation, added: “The Healthy Living Programme is a superb example of partnership working between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Grocers’ Federation representing the convenience store sector in Scotland. It is having a real impact in our communities and shows the highly active role that retailers play in offering healthy eating choices and promoting healthy foods, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables.”

Background:

Beyond the School Gate runs alongside Better Eating, Better Learning - a set of guidance introduced by Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment and Cllr Douglas Chapman, COSLA Spokesperson for Children and Young People in March 2014 to make further improvements to school food and food education.

The full Beyond the School Gate document can be viewed here: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Healthy-Living/Food-Health

The Young Scot survey about out of school lunch choices can be viewed on their website here: http://www.youngscot.net/media/41392/btsg_-_2014_lunch_survey_report.pdf