As I travel around schools, I see evidence of innovative practice in many areas – but in the majority of schools the noisiest, messiest, least happy place is the dining hall.
Common sense tells us we need calm children and staff at lunchtime and research reinforces this. The School Food Trust (2010) – now the Children’s Food Trust – reported that “primary school pupils were more alert and over three times more likely to be ‘on-task’ working ... following an intervention to improve the dining environment and the nutritional quality of the food served”.
Brooks (2013) re-iterated our core belief that only by giving attention to the whole child including physical and mental wellbeing can we release their full potential. It is timely therefore that Ofsted has now stated their intention to include the dining hall in their observations.
Register now, read forever
Thank you for visiting Headteacher Update and reading some of our content for professionals in primary education. Register now for free to get unlimited access to all content.
What's included:
-
Unlimited access to news, best practice articles and podcasts
-
New content and e-bulletins delivered straight to your inbox every Monday
Already have an account? Sign in here