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In the past, we have tried to ensure that packed lunches are of a similar healthy standard to school meals, but we recognise that it can be difficult to navigate the array of different types of foods and to ensure variety in packed lunches. We understand that it is sometimes hard to explain this to children, who may see their friends as being allowed to have something on school meals that they are not as packed lunches, but we can control the sugar, salt and fat content of school lunches in a way that we cannot with packed lunches. This means that although the children will sometimes have puddings, cakes or chips for example, these are sourced and cooked in a healthier way and are presented as part of a balanced menu over the week. All menus compiled by school kitchens must meet these standards and all recipes are scrutinised for their nutritional content before being passed to the kitchen. This includes any salt, sugar and saturated fats. School kitchens must adhere to very strict nutritional guidelines about what can and cannot be included in school meals. We recognise that this issue can sometimes be confusing and would like to clarify this further. There is also a clear link between a high sugar intake and poor behaviour, which we seek to protect our children from.
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There is an increasing issue with childhood obesity and tooth decay and, as an accredited Healthy School, we want to support parents as much as possible to make healthy choices for their children’s meals. Over the last couple of weeks there have been a number of difficulties with some of the items coming in children’s packed lunches so I am writing both to clarify our expectations on this and also to simplify the system so that parents can better understand and adhere to the requirements.