CIPR Excellence Awards 2005 - case study
 

		Entry title: The Meal Deal: Jamie's School Dinners
		Company: Greenwich Council
		Client: In-house
		Category: Public Sector
		Budget Band B £10,000 - £100,000

Background

Greenwich Council knew it had to cook up something special when Government figures showed obesity levels among children had increased 50% in seven years. Most children were now eating more saturated fat, sugar and salt than the maximum recommended for adults.

Objectives

Poor diet affects the health, concentration levels, behaviour and achievement of our schoolchildren. So we came up with our plan to launch our It’s the Meal Deal campaign to:

• Get a decent meal on every child’s plate
• Teach kids about food
• Spend more on school meals
• Make healthy food options “the meal deal”

All this had to be achieved whilst maintaining a Best Value regime. Any increase in costs could lead to the Council losing catering contracts under the tender process – and with it any influence over food fed to children in our schools.

Planning & implementation

Research shows food habits start in children from a young age, so we targeted our initial efforts at primary school children. We launched our Lunch Bunch Club, fronted by fictional food characters who featured heavily on our revamped school menus. Adam Apple and the Bean Babies became popular characters and played a key role in getting children to eat plenty of fibre, protein and vitamins. In return for eating a balanced healthy meal in school, the children were awarded rewards featuring their favourite Lunch Bunch characters.

But we still had a problem in encouraging older students to follow their lead. We reached an agreement with celebrity figurehead and chef Jamie Oliver to make our tukka pukka and plans for our revamped school dinners took off.

In return for our permission to film the project for a new TV series, Oliver undertook to work with our catering staff in Kidbrooke school. The first comprehensive school to be built in the country, we had highlighted poor diet as a barrier to pupil achievement there. We were confident the introduction of a balanced diet would set pupils up for a healthier, more prosperous later life.

Our scheme was launched with a fanfare of publicity in Summer 2004.

• Head teachers from Greenwich were invited to a series of monthly briefings. Selected local and national media were given exclusive details of our plans
• Jamie held an assembly in the school to set the scene with students and a regularly newsletter called Meal Time was sent home to all parents
• Greenwich Time, the Council’s fortnightly newspaper ran a regular column in support of the initiative. Posters were produced for the school canteen to remind kids of the benefits of eating healthily

But we recognised from that the success of the scheme would not just rest with parents and pupils. Our catering staff would need to endorse the change.

So we worked with Oliver to boost the professional development of our dinner ladies. The Head Cook at Kidbrooke school swapped places with Jamie at his restaurant Fifteen. Greenwich catering staff were helped to update their skills in a series of confidence boosting away days led by Oliver.

By now the scheme was starting to gain real momentum. Other schools welcomed our plans to roll it out across the borough. The then Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, met Jamie Oliver to discuss how it could be implemented nationally – a meeting that again made national headlines.

We cranked up our publicity machine further by launching a healthy eating section on our website. Another parents’ newsletter was launched informing borough residents of the successes so far.

With the TV series now only weeks away we invited journalists to go back to school to try the tempting new food. National newspapers were queuing up to welcome the ground-breaking work Greenwich was undertaking. A special taster session had to be set up in Leicester Square to meet the demand. Our catering staff cooked and served them their meals.

The news agenda was now clearly focused on the need for school children to eat a healthy diet and Greenwich Council continued to seize the initiative. Our Council leadership announced a budget increase in the amount spent on school meals. Not only did this ensure the long-term survival of the scheme long after the TV crews had left, but it also reaffirmed our commitment to improving the health and achievement of our schoolchildren.

Evaluation & measurement

The project had a number of key measurable outcomes.

• A staff survey of catering staff showed staff morale increased by 32% as they felt valued in their work
• School meal take up has risen by a staggering amount with students eating at least one healthy meal a day now thanks to their school
• Media coverage for Greenwich has been overwhelmingly positive. To date over 215 articles have appeared in local, national and international media. Only two have been negative. Viewing figures for the first show in the series saw 4.3 million viewers tune in – a strong showing for a Channel 4 show – and an indication of the level of interest in our scheme
• The scheme won the interest of national government and led to an announcement being made on healthy eating guidelines in schools

What makes this campaign stand out?

Our scheme was creative not only because of our many media stunts and celebrity staff away days, but also because Greenwich took the brave step to allow a TV crew to film our project. We knew dietary issues were a problem in the borough, but we also knew the risks involved in going public on our efforts. It easily could have backfired and seen Greenwich portrayed as a borough of unhealthy, obese residents rather than a borough with community leaders who wanted to play a proactive role in improving the health of local residents.