Initiative Descriptive: The intervention comprised of both nutrition and dining room components, which together facilitated improvements in the provision, promotion, and consumption of school food and to the dining room environment. Environmental changes included newsletters to parents about school meals, behaviour management training for dining room supervisors, sticker schemes for pupils tasting new foods or eating fruit or vegetables, dining room displays and school assemblies on healthy eating, introduction of dining room rules, tasting sessions, promotion of menus at parents’ evening and through mail-outs. Some schools also staggered lunchtime to reduce queuing, introduced music in the dining room, changed the layout of chairs and tables, introduced ‘grab and go’ school lunches and involved pupils in the dining service

Study Results: Increased levels of alertness (concentration/engagement) among pupils in the hour after lunch.

Reference: Golley, R., Baines, E., Bassett, P., Wood, L., Pearce, J., & Nelson, M. (2010). School lunch and learning behaviour in primary schools: an intervention study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 64(11), 1280–1288. https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.150

Level of Evidence: Excellent