National News
License to Cook
An entitlement for all students in maintained secondary
schools in England. Support available soon - details in training section of Newsfeed - click here
Food: an analysis of the issues
A discussion paper with a wide range of statistical information about the UK’s eating habits, health and food industry. The document has lots of easy to use facts and figures for presentations and teaching about healthy eating and the UK’s relationship with food. Details in the Resources/Reports section of Newsfeed - click here.
Shaping the eating habits of the next generation
The Food Standards Agency’s framework of core skills and knowledge for children and young people, which sets out the essential building blocks in relation to healthy eating, cooking and food safety. Details in the Reports section of Newsfeed - click here.
Potatoes for Schools
Grow your own potato - register now
Don’t miss the opportunity to register for Grow Your Own Potatoes 2008 here. Register before 8th February and you will receive a free growing kit containing two varieties of seed potatoes, an interactive height chart and a £5 garden centre voucher.
There will also be regional prizes for the heaviest crop and, as part of our celebration of the International Year of the Potato, registered schools will automatically be entered into a grand prize draw for a chance to win a free Potato Day Experience at school. Click here for more information
Campaign for School Gardening
The Royal Horticultural Society launches the Campaign for School Gardening
The Royal Horticultural Society has launched the RHS Campaign for School Gardening with a call to action to all UK primary schools to use gardening to teach the National Curriculum. The campaign aims to have 4,000 schools gardening, with RHS help, by the end of 2008.
Support includes a programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) days and access to regional advisors who will be phased in across the UK from 2008. After registering via the campaign website, schools can progress through the RHS benchmarking system with rewards and recognition at each stage.
In the absence of concrete data about the number of school gardens and how they are being used the RHS is urging schools to visit the campaign website and register whether or not they are gardening in schools.
For more information on the scheme and to register visit www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening
Regional Health Profiles
New and improved health profiles have been launched. These have been produced for each local authority in England by the Association of Public Health Observatories, led by SEPHO; there are 74 Health Profiles for the South East Region. Health Profiles 2007 give a snapshot of health in each area. They are designed to support action by local government and Primary Care Trusts to tackle health inequalities and improve people’s health. You can download and view health profiles for your local authority on the dedicated Health Profiles web site.
For South East public health data please visit www.sepho.org.uk