Schools urged to act over pupils' access to junk food » Communities » 24dash.com

Teachers should consider banning children from leaving the school grounds at lunchtime to stop pupils going to the chip shop, the Government's food chiefs said today.

In some parts of England, pupils have a choice of more than 40 fast food outlets to visit, with many shops targeting children with special lunch menus, according to the School Food Trust.

The Trust, which ministers set up in a drive to improve school dinners, warned that popular takeaways meant many teenagers were not benefiting from the healthier meals now being served in canteens.

Judy Hargadon, chief executive of the Trust, said: "At the moment school canteens have to compete with a myriad of takeaways, chippies and sweet shops for pupils' dinner money.

"We all know that some children will go for chips five times a week if they are allowed to. The problem is that this is damaging their long-term health, and is also threatening the viability of school lunch services.

"Over the coming months we will be looking at ways that schools and local authorities can combat the temptation posed by junk food outlets."

One option the Trust is recommending is a "stay-on-site policy" of stopping pupils leaving the school grounds.

The Trust named and shamed the worst areas of England for offering junk food "temptation" to pupils.

Brighton and Hove was top of the list with 415 junk food outlets among nine secondary schools - or 46 for every school. This was twice the national average of 23 outlets per school.

Blackpool and Hull came in second and third positions, with 40 junk food shops per school.

But areas such as Windsor and Maidenhead - with 11 - and Rutland, with 13 - had some of the lowest numbers of junk food outlets per secondary school.

A poll conducted for the School Food Trust by Tick Box research found that 90% of parents supported the idea of schools banning pupils from leaving the site.

Two-thirds of the 1,000 British mothers questioned for the poll agreed that children would eat more healthily if they were not allowed to leave school at lunchtime.

But headteachers warned that such a policy would be difficult to enforce.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "It is very difficult for some schools because of the sheer number of entrances and exits many have to watch to make sure children stay in at lunchtime.

"It is even more difficult for schools in the middle of towns. In principle, it is a good idea, but it could be very difficult to put into practice."

The Trust said more detailed figures for inner London showed Westminster had an average of 83 fast food outlets per school, while in Kensington and Chelsea the figure was 47.

A spokesman for Brighton & Hove Council said: "Getting people to eat more healthy food and less ‘junk’ food is a key national issue, and we would back national level action to tighten advertising and other regulations that might help tackle childhood obesity.

"But this particular piece of research simply does not reflect the reality of school lunch breaks in Brighton & Hove. We’re a top tourist destination, so have lots of fast food outlets.

"But our secondary schools are all in the suburbs, while the fast food outlets are mainly concentrated literally miles away in the city centre – out of reach for pupils during their lunch break.

"In the areas around our secondary schools there are no more junk food outlets than in other similar urban areas around the country. So we do not accept that pupils here have any extra ‘temptation’ to use junk food shops at lunchtimes.

"Our school meals are consistent with current national nutritional standards and in many cases exceed them. Uptake of meals in our secondary schools is up month on month compared with this time last year.

"We’ve done a lot of very successful work alongside our schools and the local NHS on getting the right messages through to our young people about diet, health and exercise.

"And the result is that children and young people in Brighton & Hove actually eat more fruit and veg than the national average.

"A recent national survey by Ofsted shows 67% of young people here say they eat three or more portions of fruit and veg a day normally, compared to 63% nationally. And 71% say they do sports or other activities on three or more days a week."

Local Education Authority Junk food outlets per secondary school

1 Brighton and Hove 46.11

2 Blackpool 40.63

3 Kingston upon Hull 40.00

4 Reading 39.17

5 Middlesbrough 38.33

6 Manchester 36.95

7 Bristol, City of 36.94

8 Inner London 36.66

9 Newcastle upon Tyne 36.21

10 Gateshead 35.00