Getting started guide

The following steps can be done at the same time, or separately and in any order.

Make healthy changes in your canteen or food service

Work with the relevant team members to decide on simple changes that will have a big impact.

There are many ways to introduce these changes – you can do it all at once or introduce them gradually. You can also start with specific areas, such as drinks.

No matter your starting point, you should prioritise the following goals:

• remove all sugar-sweetened beverages and confectionary
• remove all Occasionally items (these should be offered no more than twice a term)
• provide at least 50% Everyday items on your menu

Gain inspiration from the changes other schools have made

Embed healthy eating requirements in contracts and tenders

Your school may have contracts or lease agreements with a variety of food suppliers including canteen or food service providers, distributors, caterers and/or vending machine suppliers.

• Including requirements in contracts or tenders for food suppliers to provide healthy foods and drinks in line with the Canteens, Healthy Eating and Other Food Services Policy will embed these changes in your school longer term. This establishes clear expectations about the types of foods and drinks your school does and does not want made available.

It also:

• ensures food service providers are contributing to students’ health and wellbeing
• empowers food service providers that want to make healthy changes
• facilitates market demand for healthier food and drink products
• demonstrates your school’s commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles
• reinforces nutrition and healthy eating messages in the curriculum

Your school may also consider joining with other local schools to enable larger orders from healthier suppliers.

Key resource: Template: Example food provision contract

Host healthy events and fundraising

You can reinforce healthy eating messages by making sure that nutritious options are available at school events, like birthdays, fundraisers, school fetes and other celebrations.

This can include choosing healthier alternatives to chocolate fundraising, offering healthier options at barbecues and celebrating cultural events with nutritious food.

Foods and drinks in the Occasionally category are allowed in schools up to twice per term, as they are low in nutritional value and high in energy, saturated fat, sugar and/or salt.

Confectionery, lollies and soft drinks should not be supplied in schools at any time, according to the Canteens, Healthy Eating and Other Food Services Policy.

Promoting healthy eating in the classroom

Healthy foods and drinks should be promoted to students throughout the school, including in the classroom and with families.

When students eat well, they are more likely to perform better and have better mental health outcomes.

Teachers can promote healthy eating by:

• teaching healthy eating curriculum content using reputable teaching resources
• connecting school garden programs to healthy eating and the canteen
  incorporating healthy foods in other curriculum areas (such as combining the history of cuisine and agriculture with lessons about art, maths, psychology and science)
• connecting curriculum activities to the canteen
• not using chocolates or lollies as rewards or incentives
• engaging and educating parents/carers to support healthy eating at home for consistent healthy eating messaging.

Sharing your progress with the school community is a great way to celebrate your success.

You could use the school newsletter, website, social media and assemblies to inform staff, students and families about the progress you have made, announce new menu items, upcoming special events, or to celebrate your achievements.

You could also celebrate the changes you have made by holding a special event at the canteen.

When communicating your changes and celebrating your success to the school community, be sure to use positive language and tone.

You can do this by:

• focusing on what you’ve added rather than what you’ve reduced or taken away
• talk about the broader benefits of providing more nutritious foods, such as optimal growth, development, positive impact on mood, concentration and learning, rather than talking about food in relation to weight or disease risk.
• use fun and engaging names for new menu items or events, for examples ‘zesty summer salad roll’ for a roll at the canteen, or ‘super smoothie day’ for an upcoming fundraising event.

Maintain your progress by:

• ensuring a healthy eating policy is in place, communicated, promoted and reviewed every one to two years
• assessing any new menus or menu changes as they occur through FoodChecker
• reassessing the canteen menu (or other foods and drinks) every one to two years to ensure it still meets the policy (tip: including in your policies and procedures a clause requiring regular menu assessments will help to ensure that they happen)
• ensuring contracts with food service providers require compliance with your healthy eating policy
• ensuring all new canteen staff and volunteers complete training as part of their induction
• ensuring you are taking a ‘whole of school’ approach by involving all members of the school community
• seeking feedback from staff, students and families to identify any issues and make sure you are on track to achieve your goals
• continuing to promote your achievements and share updates to your menu with families, so they know when to expect changes.