Lead Investigator
Dr Sara Long
Co-Principal Investigator
Dr Kelly Morgan
Co-Investigators
Rochelle Embling; Judith Gregory; Lucy Jayne; Prof John McKendrick; Prof Graham Moore; Dr Kelly Morgan; Prof Kevin Morgan; Dr Suzanne Spence; Prof Jayne Woodside
Background
Many families are struggling with the cost of living. Prices have risen, and often, less healthy food is cheaper and easier to access. Children living in the poorest areas often do not eat enough fruits, vegetables, and other foods that make up a healthy balanced diet. They are more likely to develop as overweight or obese. Local councils and schools can help by providing affordable and healthy school meals. Some areas are going one step further and making school meals free for all children, with the aim of improving take up of school food and access to a healthy diet.
Despite the school meal offer, we do not know enough about the nutritional content of food offered in schools. Not all children and families choose to take up school meals. For those that do, little is known about food choice and whether children eat the healthier items put on their plates. In the UK, Wales is the only nation to offer Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) to all primary school children. At the moment, we do not know how to make sure the families and children who need healthy school meals the most opt-in to UFSM.
To achieve good health as adults, it is vital that children eat a healthy, balanced diet from an early age. What children eat now can affect
their likes, habits and food choices as they get older, impacting on health and wellbeing throughout life.
Aims and Objectives
- First, we will work with school staff, local councils, caterers, public health experts and politicians to explore what food is provided at school, and what is chosen by families and learners. We will compare UK nations, which will help us transfer lessons from this work across the UK.
- Second, we will work with schools in two local authorities in Wales to study the content and nutrition of UFSM school menus, and to measure what is chosen and consumed by learners at school. We will also speak to children, their families, and school and canteen staff to unpick why learners and families choose the meals that they choose. This research will help us understand the types of food children are eating in school, and how this can support a healthy diet.
- Third, we will send surveys out to schools each year to ask questions about school food choices and to see changes over time.
- Finally, we will explore the best ways to improve the school food that is provided, how to increase take up of school meals, and how to support children and families to make healthier choices.
To achieve good health as adults, it is vital that children eat a healthy, balanced diet from an early age. What children eat now can affect their likes, habits and food choices as they get older, impacting on health and wellbeing throughout life. This work will help us to:
1) Support caterers and school staff to create the best meals for their schools;
2) Support schools to encourage take up of school food; and
3) Encourage children and families to make healthier choices.
Overall, this work will help Wales and other nations improve school food and better understand roll-out of UFSM policy.
Study Design
In partnership with Public Health Wales (PHW), Children’s Commissioner for Wales (CCW), and the Local Authority Catering Association (LACA), we will adopt a mixed-methods approach to explore existing FSM/UFSM provision across the UK and to explore the impacts of UFSM on food choice and consumption in primary schools. We will do this through delivery of four complementary work packages:
1. Mapping of school food systems across four areas of the UK (Wales, Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland), focussing on the provision and uptake of school meals in primary schools;
2. Understanding the causes of food choice and consumption patterns of children in primary school settings, and impacts on nutritional intakes at school;
3. Expanding data infrastructures in Wales to develop a framework for the long-term process and outcomes evaluations of Wales-wide primary school food interventions;
4. Optimising UFSM as a multi-level, place-based system intervention to address food inequalities, and via a process of co-construction, scope the scalability and transferability of UFSM across regions.
The research team includes public health academics from Cardiff University, Glasgow Caledonia University, Newcastle University and Queen’s University Belfast, who will work with their national and local partners and a variety of national cross-sectoral policy and practice bodies to support pathways to effective dissemination, implementation and impact to improve public health.
Start Date
April 2025
End Date
March 2028
Funders
Amount
£1.6m
More information
School meals the focus of new UK-wide study 9 July 2025
