April and May bought a heady mix of opportunities to connect, collaborate and be inspired by those shaping the future of food policy. Through webinars, launches, awards ceremonies and conferences, we explored topics ranging from school food education and Healthy Start to childminding and early years nutrition. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to across those two months.
A new recipe for school food – celebrating the launch of the School Food Project, 13th April
Myles joined partners from across the school food sector for the launch of the School Food Project. This new partnership between The Food Foundation, Chefs in Schools, School Food Matters, Bite Back and the Jamie Oliver Group aims to transform school food culture and education across England. The programme will support school leaders, chefs and teachers to provide nutritious meals while building confidence in the role good nutrition plays in children’s health and learning. The launch celebrated the inspiring work already underway, with contributions from headteachers, caterers and chefs alongside keynote speeches from former Ministers Olivia Bailey and Sharon Hodgson. The event reflected the programme’s collective ambition and demonstrated the value in bringing together organisations with complementary strengths, creating a strong platform for school food advocacy.
Making room at the table – embedding race equity and inclusion in early years nutrition advocacy with Lildonia Lawrence, 14th April
Cressida, Rosie and Dayna joined members of the Early Years Food Coalition for an insightful session led by Lildonia Lawrence and Ruth O’Leary on embedding race equity and inclusion in early years nutrition advocacy. The workshop explored how diversity, equity and inclusion can be meaningfully embedded within advocacy work while encouraging participants to reflect on their own experiences, assumptions and approaches. With race equity in early years food remaining an underexplored area, the session offered valuable perspectives that will inform our landscape review with Impact on Urban Health and our work alongside Lildonia to develop practical guidance for the sector.
Hungry for Change Webinar, 29th April
What if food education was treated as seriously as maths or reading? As part of ongoing partnership with School of Artisan Food we coordinated the Hungry for Change webinar, where Myles was delighted to hand the mic to main speaker Jenny Paxman. Drawing on findings from the Hungry for Change report and new polling by Public First, the session dug into why food education deserves far more attention than it gets, where current provision is letting families down, and how getting food education right could supercharge the impact of wider school food policy, from school food standards to free school meals. Best of all, the webinar served up three practical, affordable policy changes that government could implement now: making food and nutrition a protected curriculum subject from Key Stages 1–4, appointing school food leads across multi-academy trusts and local authorities, and strengthening Level 3 food pathways, including at A Levels. Taken together, this shows that giving young people the knowledge and confidence to eat well doesn’t have to cost the earth.
Feast or famine? Are political parties ambitious about food policy in Wales? – A Food Thinkers Webinar, 29th April
Cressida attended a Food Thinkers webinar hosted by the Centre for Food Policy at City St George’s. The session explored how food policy featured in the lead-up to the 2026 Welsh election, examining the food-related commitments made by leading political parties and the role of food in delivering a more sustainable Wales. The webinar highlighted the importance of the Well-being of Future Generations Act as a unique legislative framework for embedding sustainable development into policymaking and supporting Wales’ journey towards net zero. It also provided valuable political context for our early years projects we are delivering with Public Health Wales, as we build a clear picture of the policy landscape and priorities that may shape their implementation.
Good School Food Awards – Expert judging session, 30th April
The Jamie Oliver Good School Food Awards celebrate the schools, caterers and individuals going above and beyond to improve children’s food experiences, while highlighting inspiring practice from across the country. Myles was invited to join the expert panel for the 2026 awards, working alongside leading figures from education, public health, school catering and food policy to help shortlist nominations. Among this year’s winners were Phyllis Levi, honoured for 45 years of service feeding generations of children, and Sharon Hunter, recognised for embedding food education into school life through a purpose-built teaching kitchen and launching the school’s ‘Gastronomers’ Pathway’ food education programme. Together, their work showcases the creativity and commitment of the people driving positive change in school food, helping to ensure more children can enjoy nutritious meals and meaningful food experiences.
Healthy Start evaluation findings event, 30th April
Rosie and Cressida attended an event hosted by the Centre for Food Policy at City St George’s, where findings from the NIHR-funded evaluation of the Healthy Start scheme were shared. The event attracted strong cross-sector engagement, bringing together representatives from local government, the NHS, academia, charities and advocacy organisations to discuss the emerging evidence means for the future of the scheme. A particular highlight was hearing from two mothers from Redbridge, who shared the highs and lows of their experiences of Healthy Start, both as children and now as parents of young children. Their stories illustrated how the impact of Healthy Start can span generations, whilst reinforcing the importance of ensuring this lived experience is central to shaping its future.
Cultivating the Future: Celebrating 5 Years of Fix Our Food, 11th May
Cressida and Dayna were delighted to attend the FixOurFood celebration event at York’s Guildhall, marking five and a half years of research, practise and policy action to transform Yorkshire’s food system. Dayna reflected on a defining strength of the programme, which has been its joined-up approach, recognising the links between farming, health, schools, communities, procurement, poverty and place. By bringing together researchers, policymakers, local authorities and public health professionals around a shared mission, FixOurFood has demonstrated the value of systems-wide collaboration. Bremner & Co were proud to contribute to this work through our involvement in the programme’s auto-enrolment strand, which helped deliver free school meals to more than 22,000 children, as well as our research into mapping the policies that shape early years food provision. With the programme now drawing to a close, we’re excited to see this work continue through the newly established FixOurFood Commission, which will build on its legacy by driving the next phase of food systems change.
Dayna and Cressida at York’s Guildhall to celebrate 5 years of Fix Our Food
Coram PACEY’s Childminding Week reception, 12th May
Rosie attended a reception held by Coram Pacey to celebrate their Magic of Childminding campaign and the launch of their new report. The report sets out the flexible, responsive provision childminders offer families – with 80% offering flexible start and finish times, 70% providing short-notice cover, and 42% offering emergency or ad-hoc care. Yet there are now just 24,990 registered childminders in England and 1,043 in Wales, and the report warns that without government support, families could lose access to this form of childcare within the next decade. Several members of our Early Years Food Coalition Practitioner Advisory Group were there to share their own experiences, and it was a reminder of just how much expertise, care and insight sits within this part of the early years workforce, as well as the important role they play in shaping children’s early food experiences.
APPG on Dietary Health Parliamentary Drop-in with the Early Years Food Coalition, 20th May
Rosie and Dayna represented the Early Years Food Coalition at the launch of the new APPG on Dietary Health, alongside Carole Coulon from Impact on Urban Health, who fund the Coalition. The event provided a valuable opportunity to speak with parliamentarians, such as Jessica Brown Fuller MP, Marie Goldmann MP and Joan Walmsley, about the importance of improving nutrition in the early years for child development, school readiness and long-term health. Drawing on the Coalition’s Too Young to Count report, they shared evidence that support in the early years remains fragmented: an estimated 290,000 young children living in households receiving Universal Credit are currently missing out on a free meal because of gaps in the existing system, underlining the urgent need for greater support for children under five.
Dayna and Rosie attending APPG on Dietary Health Parliamentary Drop-in event
Our latest thinking on school food funding, a guest blog with The Food Foundation, 22nd May
The Food Foundation’s blog series on school food standards features a contribution from Myles on school food funding, building on his role coordinating the funding workstream for the School Food Review. With around 4 million children set to be entitled to free meals from September, alongside updated school food standards, Myles argues that success will depend on getting the funding right. Three longstanding problems need addressing for this to happen: funding is fragmented across multiple schemes; rates have not kept pace with rising costs; and smaller schools face higher per-meal costs they can’t spread across volume. He sets out three immediate recommendations: a £7,000 annual subsidy for the 10,000 smallest schools; conditions of grant requiring transparent reporting on how funding is spent; and clearer communication so schools have a single, legible picture of their budget. Read the full article here.
Dublin Gastronomy Conference, 26th-27th May
Dayna attended this year’s Dublin Gastronomy Symposium, where food in crisis was the throughline across their programme. Standout keynote speakers included Rupa Marya, who explored ultra-processed foods through the lens of colonialism; Todd Armstrong, who examined how borscht became a symbol of Ukraine’s cultural identity and resilience; and Michael Shaikh, whose reflections on Gaza highlighted the devastating impact of conflict on food systems and culinary heritage.
Dayna presented a paper co-authored with Rebecca Wells of City St George’s, University of London, examining media and communication in food crises – how these stories get told, and who gets to tell them. It was a fitting contribution to a conference that reminded of both the politics and the fragility of food. The full paper is available here.
Taken together, these conversations reflect a collective of expertise, ambition and momentum currently shaping food policy across the UK. We’re always grateful for the opportunity to contribute to these discussions, learn from others across the sector and connect to emerging research and practise.