We have been awarded funding from the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) to do some ‘development’ research and activities on improving the heath impacts of food provision in special schools. This will lead to outputs including a bid for a future implementation/evaluation project.
Background
Children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) are more likely to grow up in poverty and be entitled to free school meals than other children. However, they might not eat well at school because their needs aren’t always accommodated. There is a need to understand school food provision for children with SEND and how the whole school food environment (WSFE) can be improved to address health inequalities.
Project Aims
We want to find out what ‘good school food’ means for children with SEND, what the opportunities and challenges are for food provision in different types of school and specialist provision, and whether it could be useful and realistic to adapt an existing ‘whole school approach’, called Healthy Zones, that has mainly been used in mainstream schools, to improve the uptake and impact of school food for children with SEND.
Project Activity
To do this, we are working with children with SEND, their families, schools, and people and organisations who work with them, using a mix of public contributor/stakeholder groups, school visits, interviews, survey and desk-based research.
We conducted scoping research and involved public and professional stakeholders in co-producing adaptations to a whole school food approach called Healthy Zones (HZ). The aim was to inform a future proposal to implement and evaluate the Adapt-ed HZ intervention in special schools. The four work packages (WP) (June to November 2024) were: WP1: establish stakeholder groups to co-produce a logic model and HZ adaptations; WP2: scoping reviews of food interventions for CYP with SEND; WP3: analysis of publicly available administrative data and online survey; WP4: ethnographic case studies of three special schools.
Outputs
We aim to maximise impact by engaging with stakeholders from the earliest stages.
Outputs will include:
- A descriptive report for NIHR Journals Library & accessible summary
- A coproduced logic model and blog for the NIHR East of England Applied Research
Presentations for academics and the school food community
Papers and resources
Read the related policy brief, titled ‘Policy Brief: Improving school food for children with SEND'
For more information about this research, read the ARC East of England news article
For more information about this research, read the School Food Matters news article
Key findings
Working with CYP with SEND, parents, carers and professionals in schools and policy roles, Adapt-Ed has provided a wealth of information to tailor and refine the HZ approach for special schools. It has included extensive public involvement and scoping research to inform future research. The work has led to a draft logic model and outline research plan which have been co-produced with public and professional stakeholders throughout.
Through this project we have co-produced HZ adaptations and a draft logic model and learned there is a need and demand for Adapt-Ed HZ to enhance whole school food environments in special schools and promote children’s health and wellbeing. Subject to a pilot to refine the protocol and test data collection methods, a trial is recommended to implement and evaluate the effect of Adapt-Ed HZ on the health and wellbeing of children in special schools.
Who is involved?
- Prof Rebecca O'Connell (Joint lead applicant), University of Hertfordshire
- Dr Amanda Ludlow(Joint lead applicant), University of Hertfordshire
- Dr Angus Holford, University of Essex
- Dr Louca-Mai Brady, University of Hertfordshire
- Dr David Wellsted, University of Hertfordshire
- Dr Laura Hamilton, University of Hertfordshire
- Mr Andy Feltham (Expert by Experience, PhD student and Public Co-applicant)
- Ms Lauren Denyer, University of Hertfordshire
- Eve Blair, School Food Matters
Contact
Rebecca O'Connell, r.oconnell2@herts.ac.uk
This study is funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR163616). Any views expressed are those of the research team and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the UK government.
