SCHOOL HOLIDAY FOOD

PROVISION Needs assessment to tackle holiday hunger in the Royal Borough of

Greenwich

Robert Green & Jasel Burroughs

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Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 2

Background ............................................................................................................................................. 3

Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 5

Results ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

Foodbank Data .................................................................................................................................. 10

Discussion.............................................................................................................................................. 11

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 12

Causal Analysis: ................................................................................................................................. 13

Recommendations ................................................................................................................................ 14

Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 15

Appendix 1 - Audit Tool................................................................................................................. 15

Appendix 2 - Case Studies ............................................................................................................. 17

Appendix 3 - Schools of higher need (Free school meal uptake >80) ........................................... 19

References ............................................................................................................................................ 20

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Executive Summary

This report was commission by GCDA and Royal Borough Greenwich Public Health for Good Food in

Greenwich and completed by two postgraduate Dietetic students from King’s College London in

September 2015. Recent evidence and publications have identified the issue of ‘Holiday Hunger’, in

which children who are eligible for free school meals face a food deficit during school holidays, when

families struggle to cope with the increased financial demand incurred when free school meals are

unavailable.

A needs assessment was undertaken to measure current provisions within Greenwich and to also

grasp organisations’ awareness toward the issue, as well as their interest in future programs/

provisions. Establishments targeted were schools, community setting and foodbanks - where

programs are currently operating elsewhere in the UK to tackle these issues.

The assessment found low levels of free food provision in school holidays throughout Greenwich,

largely due to lack of awareness and a variety of challenges that prevent organisations from

becoming involved. The main barriers identified were funding and availability of staff, resources and

facilities.

Data provided from Greenwich Foodbanks allowed potential holiday meal provision target need

areas to be identified, where foodbank use was highest. The data also provided information on why

foodbanks vouchers were issued, highlighting deprivation as the key component, a factor highly

relevant as this is identified as a key element in why many children face a food deficit during school

holidays.

Discussions with schools and community settings within Greenwich and also with program leaders

from across the UK who are currently running provisions in school holidays allowed a broad range of

ideas to be collated and used alongside results to base our recommendations on.

The need for a ‘Holiday hunger group/ board’ has been identified as the core component in tackling

the issue within Greenwich. This group could potentially work on action plans, development of

provisions and identify potential collaborators, funding and opportunities.

Target areas and schools where deprivation and need is greatest have been marked from the data

and surveys collected. It is recommended that awareness needs to be raised amongst the various

organisations of the issues faced by deprived families in school holidays when free school meals are

unavailable. Organisations who are aware and currently operating holiday activities/ clubs need to

be identified as potential collaborators for future provisions.

It is also advised that utilisation of existing resources and volunteers would be advantageous and

cost effective as many programs in the UK have already demonstrated. Such programs have also

been successful in taking the stigma away from receiving free food/ aid and this is also another

recommendation to ensure the best possible uptake of Holiday Provision in the Royal Borough of

Greenwich.

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Background

For families of low income in the UK, the summer holidays can be a very difficult time; causing stress, isolation, poor health and food insecurity (Rai, 2005). Literature shows how this food insecurity can have highly detrimental effects on children’s academic, social and physical development. In a prospective longitudinal study, Jyoti et al (2005) demonstrated how reading and mathematical performance in this instance are compromised and girls face greater weight and BMI gains. This is of great concern in light of the current obesity crisis whereby findings from the National Child Measurement Programme for England in 2013-14 revealed obesity was prevalent in 9.5% of children in Reception and 19.1% in Year 6 (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2015). A report by Kelloggs (2015), using data from YouGov, revealed that more than 60% of parents with household incomes of less than £25,000 reported not always being able to afford food out of term time with up to 1/3 of parents skipping meals themselves so that their children can eat during the holidays. Parents reported reliance on support from family, food banks and free community holiday clubs. It is evident that there is a need for food support during the school holidays, especially for families of low income, and this supported by up to 70% of local authority councillors and officers agreeing that hunger during the school holidays is a key issue in their area (APSE, 2015).

This issue is well recognised in the UK with many successful schemes implemented. Blackpool’s Free Breakfast scheme, funded by Blackpool council, is one of the largest of its kind operating within the UK following a successful pilot. Over 11,000 breakfasts have been delivered daily to 33 schools. Findings indicate that children who attended the scheme consumed significantly more healthy items for breakfast than non-attendees and there is potential to reduce inequalities in the nutritional quality of children’s diets (Blackpool Council, 2015). “Holiday Kitchen” was developed in 2013 with the aid of BBC Children in Need funding to deliver 3000 days of quality activities and free nutritious lunches to approximately 500 children in East Birmingham and North Solihull. The key objectives of the programme were to improve social inclusion, improve family nutritional and wellbeing and reduce financial and emotional strain. The evaluation confirmed that Holiday kitchen was successful in reducing the opportunity gap, increasing physical activity, improving opportunities for family bonding and learning outside of home and improving nutrition (O'Connor et al, 2015). Middlesbrough Hope is another scheme that developed as a result of evidence in 2013 that there was a 40% increase in Food bank uptake during the school holidays. Funding was provided from the “Church Urban Fund” and churches were targeted that were already accredited for safeguarding and DBS. The organisation “Safe Families 4 Children” was consulted about the running of the programme who provide respite care for children whose families struggle during the holidays. Activities were often themed days to remove stigma for children of simple going for free provision, but instead attending an event. Food provision was from Food banks and also bulk bought items. This scheme successfully implemented a collaboration of food provision and activities for children who would otherwise go without during the holidays. Guidance can also be taken from the USA where, in 2014, Lindsay Graham undertook a Winston Churchill research fellowship into the USDA ‘summer meals’ federally funded national policy. She visited 9 states in 37 days to explore community projects that address holiday hunger. The research identified that the programmes that used existing resources from community partnerships achieved successful outcomes. Recommendations for the UK Government included: the use of existing resources and staff, robust evaluation framework and funding from a range of government policy areas (Graham, 2014).

Our project aimed to undertake a “holiday hunger” needs assessment for the Royal Borough of Greenwich

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The objectives were to:

Audit “out of school” breakfast and healthy holiday clubs to understand food provision for children in receipt of free school meals

Compile a questionnaire to ask all schools what food provision (if any) they provide in school holidays

Research “holiday hungry” programmes throughout the UK and the wider evidence to support the report

Make evidence base recommendations for Greenwich

Produce a report with evidence and recommendations

Our project aimed to meet the following outcome:

Reduced differences in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between communities: through greater improvements in more disadvantaged communities

Our project aimed to meet the following domains and objectives:

Domain - Improving the wider determinants of health Objective – Improvements against wider factors that affect health and well being,

and healthy inequalities Domain – Health improvement

Objective – People are helped to live healthy lifestyles, make healthy choices and reduce health inequalities

Domain – Healthcare, public health and preventing premature mortality

Objective – Reduced numbers of people living with preventable ill health and people dying prematurely, while reducing the gap between communities.

Our project relates to the following health indicators:

Children in poverty

Excess weight in 4-5 and 10-11 year olds Diet

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Methodology During our 3 week project we developed an audit tool and sent it to schools, community centres, food banks and churches in Greenwich to retrieve information on whether there is any provision of food in the holidays, details of this provision or if there is no provision, the reasons behind this. This audit tool can be seen in Appendix 1. We also arranged meetings with schools and community centres that have implemented successful schemes during the holidays to gain further information on the running of these, funding and challenges.

Timeline of our project with the GCDA:

Monday 14th September

Am: Introduction to GCDA

Pm : Visited the Flowers Estate in Abbey Wood and the GCDA vegetable growing site

Tuesday 15th Am: Had a project briefing and were provided with history to the project and useful contacts

Pm: Conducted background research into existing holiday schemes, produced lists of food banks and community centres to contact in Greenwich, arranged meetings with key members within school meal provision, food banks and a flagship school, developed a draft audit tool

Wednesday 16th

Am: Met with GSPlus catering for Greenwich schools who guided us to existing holiday schemes within schools and advice for our audit tool

Pm: Visited Charlton Manor Primary School to see their community garden holiday scheme and look round the school

Thursday 17th Am: Visited Blackheath Food bank to retrieve information food provision in holiday time

Pm: Contacted community centres to inform of project and to request appropriate email address to send audit tool to

Friday 18th Am: Met with the organiser of Greenwich Food Bank to discuss the existence of holiday schemes within Food bank and to request for completion of the audit tool. Met with a school meal provider who agreed to send out the audit tool to all schools in the borough

Pm: Sent out the audit tool to food banks, schools, community centres and churches

21st-25th Collated data from completed audit tools Contacted schools, community centres, churches and food banks regarding

completion of audit tool Attended a GCDA Growing Subgroup meeting Met with community centres that provide holiday schemes and could

demonstrate successful provision to use to make recommendations for the whole of Greenwich.

28th-2nd October

Report write up Presented findings to food poverty subgroup meeting

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Results

8 food banks, 72 schools, 15 community centres and 6 churches were contacted and asked to complete the audit tool. The audit tool was completed for all 8 food banks operating within the borough of Greenwich. 12 community centres failed to complete the audit tool for reasons including having no involvement with children, no interest in helping as well as lack of completion before deadline. 11 schools completed the audit tool as well as 1 church. 17 establishments in total completed the audit tool and the findings can be seen below.

Figure 1: Provision of free food

In response to the question of whether there is any provision of free food outside of term time in Greenwich, 2 out of 17 (12%) said that they did and 15 said that they didn’t (88%).

Figure 2: Awareness of need for provision

35% of establishments stated awareness of the need for out of term time provision of free food

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Figure 3: Interest in receiving further information In response to the question of “If unaware of the issues around “holiday hunger” would you be interested in receiving further information?” 9 out of 17 (56%) said no and 7 out of 17 said yes (44%). When asked, “Do you provide free food in addition to free school lunches during term-time? e.g: breakfast club, afterschool club”. All 11 of the schools replied yes and included:

“For vulnerable families on a short term basis” “Breakfast provision for children who the school are aware that they haven’t eaten before coming to school” “We offer some children free breakfast and food after school through pupil premium funding” “Breakfast clubs” “Milk for children who need it” All of the 3 community centres replied no.

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Figure 4: Barriers to provision

When establishments were asked in the audit tool to provide additional comments of other schemes run out of term time, responses included:

“We provide week long summer holiday clubs every morning” “Child care provision” “The main need at the school is for pupils who have no access to public funds. We provide food whenever we are aware, and frequently signpost to food banks or charities. Those eligible for free school meals are well fed”

Figure 5: Interest in receiving information and support to set up a scheme 9 establishments (69%) reported no interest in receiving information and support to set up out of

term time free food provision. 4 establishments (30%) reported an interest. 36% of schools

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expressed interest whereas 64% had no interest. 50% of community setting expressed interest in future provision of free food outside of term time, 50% had no interest.

Provision of food out of term time 1 school reported provision of free food out of term time. This was provided 5 days per week with a cost per head of £2.33. The percentage of children attending and receiving meals eligible for free school meals not through Universal Free Meals qualification was 20% and the program operated through in-house staff & external operators. The school referred to “Food for Life Gold” for guidance to food provision and the funding was through the school. When asked to provide information on the challenges faced in the future running of the programme, responses included: “We are constantly faced with families living in poverty and crisis. As a school we have a tight budget and staffing and whilst we have very supportive workers we have time restraints” “A support network for holiday times would be excellent to tap into but we work term time only. Contacts for families would be invaluable.” “Lack of Funding” “To ensure pupils attend and funding” “I am aware that those children who do not qualify for free school meals, e.g. those families who have nil recourse to public funds may need food provision out of term time”

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Foodbank Data

Data on the use of all food banks within Greenwich was provided from between 01/09/2014 - 31/08/2015. A breakdown of the data provided clear indications of areas with the highest need and reasons why food banks are most commonly used.

Figure 6: Uptake of food bank vouchers in areas in Greenwich Foodbank usage was highest in the wards of Woolwich, Thamesmead, Plumstead and Abbey wood.

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Figure 7: Uptake of food bank vouchers between 2014 to 2015 This graph shows that foodbank use was highest in December, March, April and July.

Figure 8: Reasons for food bank voucher referral This pie chart identifies the reasons for foodbank referrals. ‘Other’ was likely linked to circumstantial situations such as family disputes. Other common reasons were benefit delays or changes, low income and other factors strongly linked to deprivation.

Discussion

This project aimed to audit the provision of food out of term time in the borough of Greenwich to develop a needs assessment for the population. The extent of the problem of this gap of nutrition during the school holidays has been analysed in the literature. A report on food poverty has revealed the extent of food poverty in England and Wales where 2.4 pupils in every class in England and Wales will arrive at school hungry at least once a week (Kelloggs, 2013). If a child arrived at school hungry once a week, they would lose 70% of a term’s learning over the whole of their primary school life. A report involving teachers revealed that 13% of children are not having enough to eat during school holidays and any return to school looking noticeably thinner (Kelloggs, 2014). Food poverty also has strong links with obesity, whereby families may choose to buy foods that are cheaper in price and higher in fat and sugar. This may well be contributing to the obesity burden in children of the UK which poses huge risks to health.

The Northern Housing Consortium (Rai, 2013) emphasised the increasing concern of food poverty in the UK. However, as shown in Figure 1, this hasn’t been acted on in 88% of the establishments in Greenwich who completed the audit tool whereby there was no provision of food outside of term

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time. This shows a possibility of the existence of this gap in nutrition for children over the school holidays in Greenwich, in particular those eligible for free school meals. This may be exacerbated by the lack of awareness around the need for out of term time provision, Figure 2 shows 65% of establishments stating that they are not aware which, considering the scale of the problem, creates a huge barrier to overcome.

The challenges that were reported by establishments in the running of a programme such as this were overwhelmingly associated with funding and resources as shown in Figure 4. Despite this, 44% of establishments displayed an interest in receiving further information on the topic of “holiday hunger” in Figure 3 and 30% reported an interest in receiving information and support to set up a scheme with provision of food for children out of term time as seen in Figure 5. It is apparent that while the problem exists and there are many barriers to overcome in ensuring success of a holiday scheme, there is a good degree of interest that can be acted upon.

The information collected on food banks in the borough interestingly shows no increase in uptake over the school holidays as displayed in Figure 7, however the areas in which usage was highest was revealed in Figure 6 which will help with the targeting of future action plans. Reasons behind this were explored by liaising with key members and it was thought that the negative stigma attached to families receiving support for matters such as food was enough to prevent such families attending food banks. Other factors such as inability to afford the bus fare to the food bank and inconvenience may possibly have had an impact on these findings. However, the most common reasons for food bank voucher referral as shown in Figure 8 were due to benefit delays/ changes, low income and other situational factors that are likely to be experienced by families of which their children are eligible for free school meals.

Successful schemes operating in Greenwich, which can be seen in Appendix 2, obtain funding from either the school itself, the local council and grants or from parents who are able to afford payment for holiday clubs. The schemes operate on existing facilities and have strong links with other organisations e.g. local schools, community centres and churches to pool funding and resources.

Conclusion

The borough of Greenwich has a great need for action on tackling food poverty during the school holidays as indicated by a strong lack of awareness of the issue and only a minority running schemes that provide food for children out of term time. The great challenges raised by organisers of existing programmes and those considering implementation of schemes are the funding and resources including staffing. In cases whereby schemes are successful are whereby funding is secured largely by profitable organisations, existing buildings, facilities and staff are used and there is collaboration of local organisations.

A task force is needed to implement these action points and to collaborate with schools, community

centres, food banks and churches for a united approach. Focus need to be directed to overcoming

barriers to implementing holiday schemes, including lack of awareness and the stigma attached to

receiving help that is causing those who need it most to go without.

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Causal Analysis:

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Recommendations

1. Establish ‘Holiday Hunger Group/Board’

Aim:

- Develop a designated group or board to work towards and develop action plans in order to

tackle holiday hunger, with regular meetings to evaluate current actions and make plans for

future development. Encourage and promote the use of the 10 key actions of National

simple guide Filling the Holiday Gap www.fillingtheholidaygap.co.uk

- Collaborate with school, community settings, food banks, Fareshare and other potential

organisations that could be beneficial to future provisions.

- Identify potential sources of funding – Government grants, investors, sustainable

- Establish platforms for organisations to begin out of term time provisions – Using exampled

case studies to develop these.

2. Target most deprived wards/ wards where foodbank use is highest & schools with highest

uptake of Free School Meals

Aim:

- Identify wards and schools mentioned where the need is greatest (See Figure 6 & appendix

3)

3. Raise awareness of holiday hunger and issues that families/ children face in school

holidays

Aim:

- Produce resources for organisations to identify issue and also show how the problem can

be tackled. Drawing from example of other programs that have been rolled out in the UK

(see appendices)

4. Target schools/ community settings already running clubs/ activities during school

holidays

Aims:

- Identifying clubs/ activities already set-up could potentially bypass difficulties faced in

setting up a program from scratch

- Tackles lack of staffing/ facility issues that many organisations identified as a barrier to

starting an out-of-term provision

5. Tackle main barriers faced by organisations to begin new programs/ provisions

Aim: - Utilise current government grants, lottery fund, sustainable opportunities etc. - Utilise church group volunteers, university & college students to when staffing programs (See appendices for examples)

6. Work to de-stigmatise any programs and provisions that can put people off from receiving

help/ aid

Aim:

- Take example from programs such as in Appendix 2e, in which programs run themed

activities and this becomes the purpose of the day, not to simply receive a free meal.

7. Encourage evaluation framework for any future programs/ provisions

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Appendices

Appendix 1 - Audit Tool

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Appendix 2 - Case Studies

2a) Blackheath and Charlton Church Food Bank

Volunteers report a decrease in intake over the summer – possibly due to stigma attached

Children may tell their friends who will tell their mums Barriers to holiday scheme

Changing of venue every week

Data protection of children

Church members tend to be older children rather than children – unable to target and approach children and their families

Dependent on church income

Recommend

For schools to provide vouchers for children eligible for free school meals for food banks over the holidays

2b) Charlton Manor Primary School

Run a Community Gardens, vegetable growing scheme over the holidays Children referred if behind at school/ safeguarding issue – pupils who get referred

tend to be eligible for free school meals Involves education on English and maths and gardening, get veg from the garden

and cook produce in kitchen with assistance from chefs Involves 4-5 local schools, ~30-50 children

Barriers Costs – of teachers, gardener (but he is paid all year round), chef, additional food or

ingredients for meal Other schools have to pay per pupil Children may not be around during holidays School’s lack of focus on holiday hunger issue

Results Found improvement in attainment/ or maintained level

2c) Middle Park Community Centre

Have breakfast club that runs every day from 7-9am

Includes provision of cereal, yoghurt, pancakes, eggs Costs £3.30 per head

Have after school club every day from 3-6pm

Attendance up to 60-70 children

Costs £7.20 per head

Have computers for homework, toys, outdoor play area, sports and music sessions

During school holidays have holiday scheme from 7am-6pm

Includes breakfast and afternoon tea, ask for children to bring their own lunch – but often they come without and they will get given lunch

Incorporates activities such as going to the woods/ cinema (have arranged with local cinema to get tickets for £1 per child)

Middle Park Playscheme is a separately registered charity (charity number: C287953R) and has its own report and accounts. The playscheme provides heavily subsidised activities, projects, estate based schemes and residentials during school holidays for children and young people aged 5 – 19 years.

Majority of children are in primary school, some secondary. 13 paid workers to help

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The Centre is funded through a mixture of service level agreements and grants from statutory agencies (notably LB Greenwich) and charitable trusts. Increasingly our income is from services the Centre supplies to other agencies. Threats

Costs Reliant on generosity/ donations, of the workers etc

Are often flexible on payments

2d) Somali Parents Network

Work with parents to arrange meetings with the council and represent their voice

Work together on employment skills – close link with jobcentre

Have close network with Somali Education Association who work with children and organise activities/ teaching – depending on funding

Biggest challenge – funding/ resources Can refer onto food bank

2e) Middlesbrough Hope 4 summer

Program leader began speaking to churches in ‘problem areas’ - Particularly targeting ones with safeguarding and DBS in place for running children’s activities/ events.

Was able to receive funding from ‘Church Urban Fund’ (local) to run activities within the churches.

Liaised with ‘Safe Families 4 children’ about running the programs:

-> Organisation that provides respite care for kids whose families struggle during school holidays - relieves both financial burden, pressure and stress faced by parents. -> Obtained volunteers (family, friends, current members of church team’ -> Trained the volunteers

Budget for activities was left with volunteers to arrange the summer’s events. ->varied in duration/ timings etc. - whatever the program could manage based on budget, uptake, availability of resources and staffing.

Activities were often themed days -> harry potter/ pirate days -> This removed stigmas of simply going for free provision, i.e. ‘attending pirate club’

Gained funding from council to provide food. -> Foodbanks used and food was bought in bulk to provide healthy packed lunches -> Sandwiches, fruit, juice drink, yogurts

Issues tackled:

Free food provided to children who face deficit in school holidays

Activities for children whose families may not be able to afford holidays/ activities during the school break.

Themed days removed the stigma and changed focus from the clubs purpose - to help deprived and struggling families

Future issues:

Further funding - church urban fund for new starting schemes and programs -> Heather believes there are various pots of money available to schemes such as this, such as mayor of London fund, lottery funds etc.

Volunteers - many schemes could not run daily as this is a lot to ask of volunteers -> Potential in asking universities as such volunteering can be very beneficial to students - Important to ask well in advance to ensure availability.

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Appendix 3 - Schools of higher need (Free school meal uptake >80)

Heronsgate

Rockliffe Manor

Millennium Primary

Greenslade

Horn Park

St. Thomas A Becket

Fossdene

Notre Dame

Christ Church 0445

St. Joseph's RC

Plumcroft

James Wolfe Royal Hill

St. Thomas a Becket ED

Gallions Mount

St. Margaret Clitherow

Invicta

Willowdene

Morden Mount

Eglington Primary

Waterside

Bishop John Robinson

Kidbrooke Park Prim.

Eltham C of E

St. Peter's RC

Heronsgate Royal Arsenal

Campus

Thorntree

Mulgrave

Charlton Academy

Nightingdale

Discovery

Bannockburn Church

Abbeywood Nursery

St. Mary Magdalene CE

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References

APSE (2015) “Holiday Hunger” Available at: http://apse.org.uk/apse/index.cfm/members-area/briefings/2015/15-41-holiday-hunger/ (Accessed: 22/09/15)

Blackpool Council (2015) Free Breakfasts. Available at: https://www.blackpool.gov.uk/Residents/Education-and-schools/School-meals/Free-breakfasts.aspx (Accessed: 23/09/15)

Health and Social Care Information Centre (2015) “Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet”. Available at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB16988/obes-phys-acti-diet-eng-2015.pdf (Accessed: 23/09/15)

Graham, L (2014) “170 days”. Available at: http://www.wcmt.org.uk/sites/default/files/report-documents/Graham%20L%20Report%202014.pdf (Accessed: 22/09/15)

Jyoti, D. Frongillo, E. Jones, S. (2005) “Food Insecurity Affects School Children’s Academic Performance, Weight Gain, and Social Skills” J Nutr 135 pp1077-1080. Available at: http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/12/2831.long (Accessed: 22/09/15)

Kelloggs (2015) “Isolation and Hunger: the impact of the school holidays on struggling families” Available at: http://pressoffice.kelloggs.co.uk/download/HOLIDAY+HUNGER+REPORT.pdf (Accessed: 21/09/15)

O'Connor, J. Wolhuter, C and Every, S (2015) “Holiday Kitchen. An evaluation of Holiday Kitchen 2014: Learning, food and play for families who need it most in the West Midlands” Available at: https://www.familyaction.org.uk/content/uploads/2015/01/hk_bcu_report.pdf (Accessed: 23/09/15)

Rai, S. (2015). Food Poverty. School holidays and wider impact, Northern Housing Consortium. Available at http://neytco.co.uk/food-poverty-school-holidays-and-widerimpact. Accessed: 23/09/15)

APPG on School Food Holiday Hunger Task Group (June 2015) Filling the Holiday Gap key point guide for organisations considering Holiday Meal Provision www.Fillingtheholidaygap.co.uk