Healthy school initiatives
School lunches, breakfast clubs and other school food initiatives can play a key role in improving children's diets.
The School Meals Scheme
The School Meals Programme provides funding towards provision of food services for disadvantaged school children through two schemes:
- the statutory Urban School Meals Scheme for primary schools is operated by local authorities and part-financed by the Department of Social Protection
- the non-statutory School Meals Local Projects Scheme provides funding directly from the Department of Social Protection to primary schools, secondary schools and local groups and voluntary organisations which operate their own school meals projects.
Nutrition Standards for School Meals
The Nutrition Standards for School Meals aim to ensure that children and young people in schools participating in The School Meals Scheme are provided with healthy balanced meals that follow the Healthy Eating Guidelines. These Standards were developed with the assistance of safefood and the Health Service Executive in cooperation with members of the School Meals Programme in the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Department of Education and Skills.
Nutrition Standards for School Meals
Healthy Food Made Easy for post primary (cooking skills)
Healthy Food Made Easy is a HSE nutrition and cookery course which helps students build confidence in preparing and cooking healthy meals. This interactive course is run with students over 6 sessions, and is an ideal course for Junior Cycle Health & Wellbeing or Transition Year students. Teachers must attend a 1 day training in order to implement this programme.
