Canteens, Healthy Eating and Other Food Services

Resources

Menu planning tools

FoodChecker– Schools can use this tool to help classify individual recipes and food/drink products, plan healthy canteen menus, and find Everyday (green) and Select Carefully (amber) products that can be supplied in schools.

School Confectionery Guidelines

Confectionery – definition and examples (DOCX) provides a definition and examples of confectionery for schools to use when selecting products to supply in canteens.

Practical implementation support

Healthy Eating Advisory Service

The Healthy Eating Advisory Service supports schools to provide and promote nutritious foods and drinks in line with department policy.

The Healthy Eating Advisory Service provides a range of services and resources including:

• a free telephone and email Infoline
• FoodChecker – online menu assessment tool
• online training – a free 1-hour self-paced online training module suitable for anyone involved in food provision in schools, including canteen staff, management, teachers and suppliers
• fact sheets, templates and curriculum resources
• recipes and healthy food and drink ideas, including sample primary and secondary school canteen menus
• healthy school celebration ideas
• healthy fundraising ideas
• non-food fundraising ideas
• case studies.

The Healthy Eating Advisory Service can help schools to:

• apply the Healthy Eating, Canteens and Other Food Services policy
• understand the roles school leadership, staff, students, families and the community can play in supporting healthy eating in their school
• develop a healthy eating policy or embed nutrition into an existing one
• embed healthy eating throughout the whole school environment
• promote healthy eating in the curriculum, and to families
• work with canteen/food service providers and food suppliers
• plan budget-friendly recipes and menus.

Further information is available on the Healthy Eating Advisory Service website or by calling the free infoline on 1300 22 52 88. The Healthy Eating Advisory Service is run by National Nutrition Foundation, with support from the Victorian Government.

Vic Kids Eat Well

Vic Kids Eat Well is designed to support schools to implement the Healthy Eating, Canteens and Other Food Services policy and focuses on:

• refreshing the fridge – promoting water and reducing sugary drinks
• switching up the snacks – reducing sweets and switching to delicious, healthy snacks
• changing up the menu – boosting healthy options and giving fruit and veg the chance to shine
• putting the fun into fundraising and marketing – adding health appeal to meal deals and boost healthy fundraising.

Schools receive guidance and support from a dedicated health professional and can also access a range of resources and promotional materials.

Healthy Schools Achievement Program

Schools that participate in Vic Kids Eat Well are encouraged to continue their healthy eating journey through the Healthy Schools Achievement Program to enhance their achievements by supporting a whole-of-school approach.

The Healthy Schools Achievement Program is a health and wellbeing framework that helps schools create healthier environments for working, learning and playing. It provides quality health promotion benchmarks and government recognition for key areas of health – including healthy eating – and is aligned to the World Health Organisation's model for Health Promoting Schools and Healthy Workplaces.

Student Leaders for Multicultural Inclusion Resource

The department’s Multicultural Inclusion Resource (PDF) provides advice to schools to help them ensure that amenities such as canteens are culturally inclusive. Please refer to the reflection tool on page 8.

Curriculum support

Additional information and resources on healthy eating and physical activity are available from:

• Arc – resources for learning and teaching aligned to the Victorian Curriculum
• Better Health Channel

The Good Practice Guide: Supporting healthy eating and drinking at school

The Good Practice Guide: Supporting healthy eating and drinking at school provides advice for supporting healthy eating and drinking in the school environment. It was originally created and published by the Council of Australian Governments Health Council in 2019.