Frequently Asked Questions

Hasn’t Jamie Oliver already done this?

Thanks to Jamie’s very public Feed Me Better campaign we now have nutrition and food based standards for school meals. This was a major breakthrough and we can now be confident that our children won’t be fed junk at school. But healthy food is no magic bullet and we’ve seen that take-up can remain low if the other pieces of the school food jigsaw are not in place. That means better kitchens, more training and paid hours for catering staff, dining rooms that work efficiently and specifications that ensure fresh sustainable food. Add food education and good food leadership to the ethos of your school and you’ll have a winning combination

How is SFM different from School Food Trust and Food for Life Partnership?

Whilst we share many of the same goals, SFM takes a more tailored and local approach to achieving better school meals. We work in depth, in one or two areas at a time, with parents, head teachers, local authority officers and others to create and implement changes to school meals and to support food education. We can link schools to programmes that most suits their needs and support national initiatives by promoting their great work locally.

Who pays for SFM to get involved?

Foundations provide our core funding and thereby sponsor the majority of our campaign and food education work. We continuously seek funding for specific project work such as our Cooking Ideas and Growing Ideas or indeed the creation of a school farm at Grey Court School in Ham. We partner with like-minded organisations such as Waitrose to further promote our activities. We are moving towards a fee-based structure for speaking engagements, membership and advisory services.

I’m a parent. How can I start the conversation with other parents about school meals?

Check out the new Parent Pages on our website as well as our case studies and links pages. The ideas here have all been put into practice by parents just like you and we think their experience will help. Don’t hesitate to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  if you have more questions.

How does SFM help achieve a better food culture at school?

We listen to schools, parents and children and together urge local authorities to improve school meals and to support food education. In practical terms this means we often host campaign events, conduct surveys, involve local councillors and lobby local authorities to give parents and schools a voice at the policy table. We also contribute to a number of regional and national steering groups to help set food policy agendas.

We are a school and need funding to buy allotment beds and materials for our new outside classroom. Can you help?

Yes! Check out the Growing Links for a list of organisations who are running gardening schemes with schools. Also, sign up for our newsletter where we highlight any helpful promotions on offer to schools. Follow our Latest News RSS feed for updates on funding and you can also check out our Growing Ideas web section. You’ll find lots of ideas to get you growing.

We are a school and would like to be featured as a case study on your website. How do we do this?

We are continually looking for great case studies to share on our website, so please give us a call. Our website aims to be a hub for anyone who cares about school food and food education. We aim to pinpoint good practice, and let you know who is doing what in London and beyond. We can connect you with other groups who can help you make a difference in your own school. So please just call or email - we would love to hear from you!