Our Story

School Food Matters was founded in 2007 by parent Stephanie Wood, inspired by environmentalist Zac Goldsmith, now Conservative MP for Richmond Park. At the time the campaign was looking specifically at the school meal service for primary schools in the London Borough of Richmond. Our quest was to actively engage parents and head teachers about the quality and delivery of school meals and to help provide a better model to the Local Authority.

We believed that Richmond primary schools could be serving fresher, more sustainable food. We also believed that children should have freshly prepared food cooked on site and a more enjoyable dining experience. We wanted to find out how many head teachers and parents felt the same and what changes they would like to make.

We then set about a lengthy series of surveys and telephone calls with all the schools in Richmond and within the London Borough of Kingston who were experiencing similar challenges. 65% of Richmond schools and 55% of Kingston schools responded in support of our goals.

The official launch of the campaign took place in Richmond Theatre in May 2008 and included a list of high profile speakers. Chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby, the panel included Jeanette Orrey (the “dinner lady” who started the school meal revolution in Nottinghamshire), Prue Leith (Chair of the School Food Trust), Chris Collins (Blue Peter Gardener) and Jackie Schneider (Merton Parents for Better Food in Schools).

And look what Jamie O had to say!

With over 200 people attending the launch and over 500 signatures on our online petition, SFM had a body of support to catch the attention of the local authorities. School Food Working Parties were subsequently established at both councils with representations from schools, parents, national campaign groups and, of course, School Food Matters.

SFM recommended that the Richmond group survey parents before setting about the task of writing the specification for the new meals contract. 650 parents completed the survey providing some interesting feedback:

'Meals cooked from fresh' was by far the most popular change to the service requested by parents, followed by information about food quality and sourcing.
'Not being able to sit with friends having packed lunch' is a key obstacle to improving take up of school meals.

The majority of parents seemed happy with the set meal price but not satisfied with the current offer.

Parents with several children at school thought the price prohibitive and suggested that a sibling discount would be an incentive.

The survey was followed by presentations from Sustain and Food for Life Partnership and site visits to London boroughs with winning school meal services. With the fact finding mission complete and an idea of what can be achieved with a clear vision and lots of enthusiasm, the working parties set about producing contract specifications that reflected the wishes of schools and parents and that would secure a school meal service that would make both councils proud.

In May 2011 the new contracts for Richmond and Kingston were awarded. Since September the winning caterers (ISS Education in Richmond & Cygnet in Kingston) have been providing school food which meets the Bronze Food for Life Catering Mark standard as a minimum and in Richmond, Silver. Meals in Richmond are being cooked fresh on site and schools in Kingston without kitchens are receiving meals produced to the same food standards, cooked within the borough. Kingston meals have remained at £2.00 and in Richmond the meal price has dropped by up to 35p.

In just four short years, School Food Matters has earned a reputation for being a highly effective voice in school food advocacy. We have been asked to participate in several high-level policy steering groups, speak at a number of high-profile events and have brought about genuine change in two London boroughs. This has made us confident that our campaign approach works, is both necessary and influential and that we can offer a valuable service to parents, schools, food organisations and Local Authorities who are seeking change.

For more information on where we are working today, please visit our campaign and project updates.

"My two sons attend Queen's School in Kew and have just switched back to school meals after a couple of terms of packed lunches. They love the new meals - a great improvement on what went before. The food seems to have lived up to its promise and it's great that they now use proper cutlery, proper plates and drink from proper glasses.
I just want to say a big thank you for all your tireless work over the past four years. I attended the School Food Matters meeting in Richmond Theatre in May 2008 and, whilst impressed by your enthusiasm, I felt it was an impossible task to get all the Richmond schools on board. I am glad that I was wrong!

Paula Brackenridge, Parent, Queen's School

"I have been in the Hall (having my own lunch!) just about every day since the start of term monitoring the reception of the 'new' food. Certainly an improvement with some well received surprises, namely the butternut squash! Children seem really happy with the food and have been trying out new things like the beetroot chocolate cake. Many thanks for your drive and passion!"

Heidi Johnson Paul, Headteacher, Hampton Wick Infant and Nursery School

"Lunches at Clarendon have been totally transformed! Pupils are loving the improved choices and quality and staff uptake has increased dramatically. My school cooks are motivated and enthusiastic about their job which is lovely to see! We really appreciate the relative flexibility shown by the new caterer enabling us to use eggs from our chickens and produce from the school allotment to supplement meals. Very, very impressed so far!"

John Kipps, Headteacher, Clarendon

"The food is outstanding and has been received really positively by the children and staff. The food is the best school food I can remember!"

Hampton Hill Junior

"I had a very tasty mandarin cheesecake portion today. All round better - real meat, real mashed potato and real CUSTARD! So far, so good."

Neil Meehan, Headteacher, Trafalgar Junior School

"Informal feedback from children and parents has been positive both with regard to the menu and food. Our meal numbers have been higher than is typical for this time of year.

Mrs Karen Finnemore, Headteacher, Bishop Perrin CE Primary School