Learn more about the Food Environments Guideline

We now know that young people are quite willing to choose a healthier meal, but that they need help doing so. This also applies at school. With the Food Environments Guideline, you can provide your pupils or students with effective support. Step by step, you ensure that young people can make a healthy and sustainable choice in the school canteen.

Request the Stepping Stones package

Is your school doing well in one aspect of the theme of Nutrition, for example by encouraging water consumption or providing lessons about nutrition? Then quickly request the free Stepping Stones package from the Voedingscentrum. This package contains a collection board and six Stepping Stones (tiles, that is) to hang on the collection board at the school.

The six Stepping Stones

  • We have signed and ‘published’ the Declaration of Ambition ourselves;
  • We encourage drinking water (for example, with a water tap);
  • We offer vegetables and fruit in an appealing way;
  • We offer whole-wheat rolls;
  • When food or drinks are offered at the checkout, only better choices are available there;
  • We consider teaching about nutrition important and pay attention to food education at our school every year.

Pause to appreciate every step you take, big or small

With every good initiative and/or Stepping Stone that you hang on the collection board, you take a step closer to providing a healthier range of food for your pupils or students at school. You are on your way to a Healthy School Canteen (a Healthy School activity for special education, secondary education or vocational education) and ultimately you may even earn a School Canteen Scale. But always remember that the journey there takes time and commitment, and that you may be proud of every little step.

Involve pupils or students

Make it clear to everyone at school that the school is committed to healthy food. Make this visible at school with one or more Stepping Stones on the collection board. Share the enthusiasm with your pupils or students and discuss how you can achieve the next step together. Parents and carers are also interested in this development at school.

Work together with parents and carers

In special education and vocational education, involving parents and carers can sometimes be more difficult because there are fewer face-to-face contact moments. You can, for example, inform them via the school’s website, school guide or other (online) school channels about working with the Stepping Stones and working towards a Healthy School Canteen and/or School Canteen Scale. Also ask them whether and how they would like to contribute ideas about the theme of Nutrition and Healthy School.

Would you like to brainstorm with an expert?

The Voedingscentrum has a team of Food Environment Advisors ready to advise you about the Stepping Stones, Healthy School Canteen and/or School Canteen Scale. They regularly visit schools (online) to share experiences and knowledge. They also provide practical tips so that schools can get started with a Healthy School Canteen right away. The Healthy School advisor is also happy to think along with you, for example about the theme of Nutrition and working with the Healthy School approach.