​This practice exemplar shows how education and catering staff in South Lanarkshire Council work collaboratively as outlined in Better Eating, Better Learning guidance. It is part of a series of practice exemplars about making the links between education and catering.

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What was done?

South Lanarkshire Council’s School Catering developed a Better Eating, Better Learning competition for all secondary schools. Engagement with school health and wellbeing leads ensured the competition made key links between food education and school food provision. The competition was open from August 2016 to March 2017, allowing schools to have autonomy as to how and when departments participated, linking to relevant learning.

Why?

The competition was introduced to raise the profile of Better Eating, Better Learning guidance and encourage schools to engage with the self-evaluation process in collaboration with catering.

What was the impact?

• stronger links at school and local authority level between education and catering services
• young people are influencing positive change in the schools food service

Improvement questions

• Consider the current links between education and catering in your local authority. How could you use Better Eating, Better Learning to enhance food education/the school food experience?
• How do you ensure cross-departmental curricular links are made in order to enhance the whole school food education experience?
• In what ways can you use the Better Eating, Better Learning self-evaluation toolkit to ensure children and young people have a voice in delivering positive outcomes around school food provision?