Launching a Healthy Tuck Shop in Your School

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Launching a Healthy Tuck Shop in your school

Launching a

Healthy Tuck Shopin your school

by Seeds for Growth Charity

Supported by
Tower Hamlets NHS Primary Care Trust /

Background

This guide provides information on establishing your own school based tuck shop. The Seeds for Growth charity has based our advice on experience of supporting the formation of school tuck shops and healthy eating projects. We aim to provide some useful hints and tips to help other schools gain from our experience.
Seeds for Growth have assisted people to establish healthy eating projects as social enterprises and co-ops so these were the examples that we used when talking to pupils in schools. In our sessions we described social enterprises, co-operatives, Fair Trade and the reduction in carbon emissions.

Why a Healthy Tuck Shop?

Childhood obesity is a significant problem in Tower Hamlets. The National Child Measurement Programme statistics demonstrate that the proportion of obese children in Tower Hamlets is considerably higher than the national average. Tower Hamlets has the fifth highest proportion of reception age children who are overweight and has the third highest obesity rate of children aged 4-5 years in the country.

/ The government has established a national target for obesity and articulated its objective in a Public Service Agreement to Heal the year-on-year rise in obesity among children aged under 11 by 2010. (Department of Health, Department for Children, Schools and Families & Department of Culture, Media & Sport)
Obesity is now recognised as a significant problem given that the majority of children who are overweight or obese are known to go on to become overweight or obese adults, who are themselves at increased risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. In addition, obesity has been shown to increase the risk of a number of cancers.
Both children and adults who are overweight or obese have substantially more psychological problems compared to the rest of the population, and are more likely to suffer from discrimination.
Healthy School Tuck shops have a positive impact
on health in both childhood and adulthood.

Why eat more fruit?
Fruit and vegetables form part of a healthy, balanced diet. It is recommended that children eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. However, many now eat just 1 or 2 and few achieve over 3 units regularly.
The daily intake of fruit and vegetables can reduce the chance of:
§  Developing coronary heart disease and a number of cancers, particularly bowel cancer.
§  A balanced diet including fruit and vegetables can help prevent overweight and obesity in children.
§  Fruit is a very nutritious snack providing vitamins, minerals and fibre.
§  Eating fruit in moderation, as a snack instead of sugary foods, is the healthier choice for teeth.
§  Eating fruit in childhood can help develop good eating patterns to be carried through into adult life.

What is a healthy food tuck shop?

It is a shop set up by members of the school community (pupils, parents or staff) to sell any combination of fresh fruit, dried fruit and fruit juice and healthy snacks to pupils during the school day.
/ Fruit and the other stock can be supplied via a wholesaler, retailer, supermarket or co-operative, and is delivered to the school or collected on a regular basis. Tower Hamlets CDA can offer a supply service to your school.
The shop will need some adult support (school staff or volunteers) but ideally it will be almost entirely run by children. It can operate before school or at any time during the school day.
The wider benefits
A tuck shop can be tailored to meet individual schools’ requirements and priorities. Some schools will wish to organise a healthy tuck shop as a low-maintenance project that does not intrude into teaching time. For others, the project can be a source of wider benefits.
A tuck shop project can be used as:
§  A practical initiative to support work in the curriculum on nutrition and to further the idea of a ‘health-promoting school’.
§  A ‘real-life’ source of data to supplement the maths and IT curriculum.
§  An opportunity to develop a wide range of curriculum lessons.
§  An opportunity to provide information about co-operatives, environmental issues and fair trade.

Stage 1

Planning background considerations

Tuck Shop Demand
How much initial enthusiasm is there among staff, governors, parents and children?
You need to establish whether a tuck shop would be welcomed by members of the school community, and how much practical support they would be willing to give. You also need to ascertain the number of potential customers to the tuck shop.
Market research
We suggest that you support your own pupils to undertake market research to gauge: -
§  the level of demand,
§  the type of fruit and snacks that the children would buy,
§  their spend, and
§  the level of commitment from staff, children and parents.
Who will be responsible?

Is there a member of staff, governor or parent willing to take responsibility for the initial planning? It will be necessary for at least one key adult to take charge in the initial stages.

However, once the enterprise is established adult involvement can be minimal. Many successful tuck shops operating in primary schools are run almost entirely by the pupils.
Policy on snack foodsWhat do children currently eat at break times? Is any food currently sold at school other than for school lunches?
/ To run a successful healthy tuck shop, you may need to address issues such as children carrying cash or bringing in their own chocolate and crisps, etc to school.
If this is likely to be problem you could consider running the fruit tuck shop before school, or for example collecting money weekly or half-termly.
Money brought into school
Are there any issues to be addressed if children bring money to schools in order to make their purchases?
Location
Decide how to run the tuck-shop. Some schools use the school hall, a classroom or a table in the playground.
Links to your Curriculum
Some schools link the tuck shops to numeracy work, science projects around nutrition and plant growth, running tasting sessions, planning geography lessons based on the fruits country of origin and so on.
You may need to review your policies if a tuck shop is to operate to maximum effect.
How much fruit to order?
Tower Hamlets CDA can arrange for a delivery to your school at set times each week.
We will also help to identify or provide resources to link the running of the tuck shop into the school curriculum.

Stage 2

Running a Tuck Shop

Storage
Having decided where to locate the tuck shop there are other activities to take into consideration such as storage.
Plan where you will store the stock, some of which will be perishable. Usually a cool dry storeroom will be adequate.
Hygiene
Plan who will wash the fruit and vegetables. Sometimes the fruit or vegetables will need cutting or preparing in some way before you sell them.
Ensure that people handing the food always wash their hands before preparing fruit and vegetables. An adult must supervise this work following health and safety guidelines on preparing food and the use of food preparing equipment. Seeds for Growth can provide a guide.
Pricing and Cash
Make up price lists to display around your school and at the tuck shop. Decide who will handle the money at the tuck shop.
Rota
It will be a good to rotate jobs giving everyone a chance to do each of the different duties involved in running your tuck shop.
Also make plans for younger children to become involved and learn what to do, then when older children move up the tuck shop can continue to run smoothly.
/ Sell to make a profit
It is important to monitor how sales are going. So ensure that the children always maintain a daily sales record from which you can analyse sales patterns.
Promote and market the tuck shop e.g.
§  two for the price of one,
§  loyalty cards,
§  free sticker with portion of fruit, etc.
Think of different ways to present the fruit and vegetables e.g. pick and mix, fruit kebabs, fruit smoothies, and stocking unusual or exotic fruit.
Borrow ideas and search the web and tell other schools about your ideas. Have competitions for children to design and make advertising posters. Send letters home to parents to let them know about the tuck shop.
Recycle & Compost
Remember to always pick up and collect litter from your tuck shop.
Check if you need more litter bins.
Recycle everything you can from your tuck shop.
If you have a composter you can collect fruit skins and cores to make compost.
Useful Links
Seeds for Growth

020 7247 1056
Food in Schools Toolkit www.foodinschools.org
Food Standards Agency Fruit Tuck Shops
www.food.gov.uk
School Tuck Shop Case Studies

Setting up the healthy tuck shops is part of the healthy outcomes for children under Every Child Matters (ECM) and to the Healthy Eating theme of the National Healthy Schools Programme. It encourages children to make healthy choices in what they eat and provides an introduction to developing enterprise in schools.

School Tuck Shop Case Study 1

The school plays a strong part in the community life and has developed highly effective links with the other schools engaged in similar activity. This includes the excellent links with a school in the countryside near London which has given the pupils first hand experience of visiting the countryside and learning about healthy and sustainable foods.

Where the idea came from?
The idea came from the School Council which is run by pupils from Years 2-6 with 1 boy and 1 girl as representatives on the council. The council sits about 3 times a term.
What work was done to prepare for the launch?
The children prepared a proposal which they submitted to the Deputy Head who readily agreed to the idea but had a number of questions. The children compiled a survey to find out what to sell, how much they would buy and how would they organise money issues.
Initially it was agreed that the children would hand over their money to prevent any problems but organisationally this provided too onerous and the children now keep hold of their own pocket money.
Pupils developed their own publicity and flyers which they distributed throughout the school.
Support from the school
The school has been very supportive of the Tuck Shop. The tuck shop is being run by a parent with the help of a volunteer in the sheltered area in the playground. However, the Gifted and Talented and elder pupils participate in serving in the tuck shop and purchasing food.
Where is the food purchased?
The food is primarily purchased from Sainsbury who provide the produce at discounted retail prices i.e. “2 for the price of 1” etc. The CDA is looking into supplying some or all of the food.
Role of the pupils.
The pupils are years 3-6 aged 8-11 Key Stage 2. Key Stage1 are already provided with free fruit and vegetables through government funding schemes.
Description of how it now operates.
The tuck shop is run 3 days a week Wed, Thurs and Fri from 10.20 to 10.40.
The average takings are £24.00 per day.
Typical Stock Includes:
Raisins 10p
Fruit bar 10p
Raisins 10p
Fruit bar 10p
Yogurt tubes 25p.
Cheese sticks 25p
Bread sticks at 5p.
Fruit salad pots 20p.
Apples, tangerines/bananas 5-10p
Sandwiches are made up selling cheese, tuna and salad on wholemeal brown bread.
Environmental Impact
Eating healthy food and being aware of where fruit comes from is an important environmental message for the children to learn. This was reinforced by a session led by the Tower Hamlets CDA on assessing the food miles, carbon emissions and the importance of buying food locally.
Relating to curriculum
The lessons learned in the tuck shop are related to the maths class to ensure that pupils have practical demonstrations of addition and subtraction.
Leftovers
There is not usually any food left over but there are composting facilities at the school.
Are any changes planned for the future?
More visits are planned to the out of London school. When the pupils went to the school they loved the outdoor space, gardening and fresh air. As a result they are now trying to get an allotment. The next stage is for the children to gain experience of gardening so they can grow their own vegetables and fruit and set up a Gardening Club.
Good and negative lessons learned.
§  A key lesson to pass on is that a dedicated person is required who would be responsible at the beginning for purchasing, operating and selling in the tuck shop. As the project develops the pupils will take ownership and increasingly run the tuck shop themselves.
§  The behaviour in the playground improves when the tuck shop is operating. Children are better behaved and queue for food in an orderly manner.
§  Children have increased their responsibility in terms of handling money and improving their mental calculations. Many of the younger children have had no experience of dealing with money and saving it for the tuck shop provides a safe environment for them to ‘gain experience of shopping’.
§  The sharing of expertise with a school located in the countryside has been very beneficial in terms of putting children in touch with a growing environment
§  It is hoped that some parents will get involved in the Gardening Club and growing food on the allotment.
School Tuck Shop Case Study 2
At 10.15 every morning a teaching assistant assist supports two pupils to sell individual items of fruit such as an apple, pear, banana all priced at 20p. We sell on average 8 items per day for £1.60.
The children love staffing the stall are there is strong competition to do the work.
We train the pupils in terms of hygiene, customer care, handling money, setting up the stall and storing the unsold fruit.