October has certainly been a full and varied month! Through workshops, conferences and events, we’ve been imagining a better future for school food, exploring racial equity in children’s food policy and listening to the everyday challenges of feeding young children from parents and practitioners. Along the way, we’ve shared ideas, heard fresh perspectives and made plans for what’s next. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to.
Myles joins education, school food and academic leaders to imagine a better future for school food, 1st October
Myles spent two days at Windsor Castle for the Foundation for Education Development’s latest consultation, Appealing Nutrition for Effective Attendance, Wellbeing, Learning and Inclusion in Schools.
The event explored how school food can meet nutritional guidelines and be enjoyable and appealing to children, and how this can then contribute to wider outcomes, including attendance, behaviour, emotional regulation and readiness to learn. Through panel discussions, keynote conversations and workshops, attendees considered what a positive future for school food could look like, and how to turn this vision into practical recommendations that can work across a diverse range of schools.
Myles joins education, school food and academic leaders at Windsor Castle
EYFC brings together members for its 10th workshop, 1st October
Bremner & Co and Impact on Urban Health welcomed attendees from over 20 organisations working across the sector for the 10th Early Years Food Coalition workshop. The afternoon highlighted updates on the latest policy developments and emerging findings from the Coalition’s race equity research, conducted by Bremner & Co and Lildonia Lawrence. We also heard from some of our members who presented on recent research topics; including food poverty in under 5s (from Dr Kerris Cooper at the Education Policy Institute) and funding the early years workforce (Lucie Stephens at Early Education and Childcare Coalition).
We especially enjoyed hearing from members of the Coalition’s Parent Ambassador and Practitioner Advisory Groups. It was both an opportunity for parents and practitioners to see how their voices are shaping the Coalition’s research and advocacy, and for Coalition members to hear directly from those facing challenges on the ground and bringing their valuable insights to the discussions.
Sharing member and early years food policy updates across EYFC
Looking ahead: An afternoon with the Nourish Our Future team, 7th October
Dayna and Rosie hosted the Nourishing our Future (NOF) team for an afternoon focused on strategic planning and putting food at the heart of early years. The programme is exploring what it takes to put the EYFS nutrition guidance into practice, working closely with early years settings to understand and address the challenges they face. Bringing together expertise from across public health, education and research, the workshop focused on future priorities for NOF and how to build on the amazing work done so far as the team plan the next phase in NOF’s journey.
Dayna and Rosie with the Nourishing Our Future Team
Rachel presents her PhD research at the EGEA conference, 9th October
We were delighted to see Rachel’s PhD research featured at the EGEA conference, organised by Aprifel (the French Agency for Research and Info on Fruit and Vegetables). Her research, completed at the Institute of Development Studies, looked at how families experience feeding young children, and how fruit and vegetables compete with commercially produced children’s foods for their attention and appetites. Drawing on families’ everyday experiences, it explored what makes different foods appealing to children and how this shapes their eating habits. Seeing presentations from other researchers meant that Rachel also came away with plenty to think about, including the importance of pleasure in healthy eating and idea of prescribing fruit and vegetables through healthcare.
Rachel presents her PhD at the EGEA conference
An action plan for racial justice in children’s food policy, 20th October
Cressida and Rachel attended a workshop hosted by Sustain’s Children’s Food Campaign, contributing to the development of a shared action plan to embed racial justice, equity, diversity and inclusion into work on children’s food and health. The session was a chance to share learning from our racial equity work in early years food, hear what other organisations are doing and discuss whose voices are missing from conversations about children’s food. It also prompted reflections on our Breastfeeding in Focus report and symposium, which highlighted how cultural and language barriers, lack of representation and systemic inequalities in breastfeeding support can prevent mothers from minoritised groups from reaching their breastfeeding goals.
Exploring commercial baby foods and packed lunches with our EYFC Parent Ambassadors and Practitioner Advisory Group, 23rd & 27th October
It was lovely to bring together our Parent Ambassadors and Practitioner Advisory Group for our third round of workshops, this time focusing on commercial baby food and packed lunches. Discussing the same topics with each group separately helped us understand how these topics play out in different parts of the early years food system; at home and in settings.
In our parent workshop, hosted alongside our partners at Sustain, we heard how commercial baby foods can be a convenient option for busy families, particularly when out and about. However, parents also expressed frustration and distrust around how these products are marketed and the lack of regulation, calling for greater reassurance that the foods on supermarket shelves are suitable for their children.
In our practitioner workshop, hosted alongside our partners at LEYF, we heard about practitioners’ experiences of commercial baby foods arriving in settings through packed lunches or food brought at drop-off. Practitioners described how these foods can sometimes conflict with their settings’ food policies, making it difficult to maintain a consistent approach to food provision. Practitioners also discussed how this can also be an opportunity to open sensitive, constructive conversations with families about food choices, describing how they navigate these conversations whilst recognising the different pressures that families face.
It’s been a full and varied past month and we’re grateful to everyone who’s welcomed us, shared their experiences and given us plenty to think about along the way!