UK-first study aims to improve food for children in special schools

A new University of Hertfordshire-led study aims to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) by looking at how food provision in special schools could be improved.

Sensory sensitivities, restricted diets, communication difficulties and individual health needs can make eating at school challenging for children and young people with SEND, resulting in many of the children most in need of free school meals missing out.

The new study will involve working with staff, parents, children and young people at three special schools in Hertfordshire to identify priorities for change around food, then seeing if those changes can be delivered in a sustainable way.

If successful, a subsequent trial would be set up to establish whether improving school food environments in special schools can reduce rather than exacerbate health inequalities. The aim is to ensure children in all settings can access and benefit from government investment in school food provision, such as universal primary breakfasts clubs and the expanded entitlement to free school meals.

Lessons learned during the study will also be shared through a new virtual network of practitioners and policymakers in the hope of improving school lunchtimes and the wider school experience for children with SEND wherever they learn, including in mainstream settings.

The intervention model builds on Nourish, an existing whole school approach to food developed and delivered by charity School Food Matters that supports schools to create a food environment that puts children’s and young people's nutrition first. Hertfordshire County Council is funding School Food Matters to deliver the tailored version of the programme – called Adapt-Ed Nourish – in the three Hertfordshire special schools involved in the study as part of its Public Health Prevention Investment Programme.

Rebecca O’Connell, project-lead and Professor of Food, Families and Society at the Centre for Research in Public Health and Community Care (CRIPACC), University of Hertfordshire, said:

“A whole school approach means not just focusing on lunchtime but on food across the school day and across the different domains of the school. So, it means thinking about school food policies and food education as well as food provision and trying to create more consistency between them. It also means involving the whole community – pupils, parents and staff – in the school’s approach to food.”

Adapt-Ed Nourish was developed in response to evidence that pupils in special schools find it harder to access free school meals than mainstream pupils despite being more likely to experience poverty, poor nutrition and complex feeding challenges. Data also shows people with a learning disability have a 14- to 17-year lower life expectancy than those without, with diet being a contributing factor.

Reported barriers to accessing special school food provision include noisy dining environments, inconsistencies between expected and actual foods, anxiety about option availability at mealtimes, and limited opportunities to shape policies and decisions.

Although guidance on School food in England recommends schools adopt a whole school approach to food, the Adapt-Ed Nourish model is believed to be the first whole school model tailored for a special school context. It was co-developed with children and young people with SEND, their parents and carers, and people working in schools and with schools.

Stressing the importance of being able to eat well at school, a young person from Norfolk SEND Youth Forum, which has been involved in the project, said:

“We would be more energetic, more involved in lessons, able to concentrate more. When I wouldn’t eat, I would have terrible headaches, feel very weak and dizzy and so tired. Bodies need fuel to function, so when we eat well and feel fulfilled, we have more strength to deal with things.”

The study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and supported by NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC): East of England, and will conclude by March 2029 whether this is the best way to deliver and evaluate the effectiveness of Adapt-Ed Nourish in special schools. It is being carried out in collaboration with researchers from the University of Essex, the University of East Anglia, City St George’s and Aberystwyth University, as well as School Food Matters and charity Future Care Capital.