The Buckinghamshire ‘School Food Partnership’ Programme

Abstract

BiteBack2030 are a "youth activist movement" challenging the food system. They prioritise young people’s voices and support secondary school students to advocate for themselves, to change their ‘school food culture’ and the wider food system. BiteBack developed and led a pilot programme called the ‘School Food Partnership’ (SFP) with eight secondary schools in Buckinghamshire (academic year 2023/24; Appendix A). Some aspects of this programme were designed in collaboration with School Food Matters, a charity providing food education and training in schools, to improve children’s access to healthy and sustainable school meals. BiteBack piloted the SFP programme to determine if this model of delivery is feasible, adaptable and/or sustainable for future work with secondary schools. This brief report addresses the following key questions: (a) What changes occurred in schools and when?; (b) Who or what is driving the change within schools?; (c) What are the main barriers or challenges for schools?; and (d) What are schools’ views of the SFP programme?