Schools are tweeting what they eat

Using Twitter as a source of local information is becoming increasingly popular.  According to UK LocalCouncils, 116 councils are currently on Twitter, giving people the chance to get regular updates on planning, local initiatives, voting, utilities and a wide range of local issues.

Applying this technology to school food was a natural extension for the caterers involved in the trial: Karen Rafferty, Marketing, Somerset County Services explains, “We are always looking for new ways to get information to parents, so using a social network like Twitter is the next logical step.  The service is very popular with adults across the UK, so we think this is a great extra way for us to send out menus.  We’re keen to get feedback from as many parents in Somerset as possible.”

Cathy Courts, Netmums, thinks using Twitter to send out menus will reassure parents: “Our recent school food survey found that one of the biggest concerns that parents have around school meals is that they don’t know what their child is eating.  Getting a menu every day will put parents in much better control of their child’s diet.  This is a clever use of a new technology, which parents are increasingly using not just to socialise, but to get important information too.”

The School Food Trust hopes that having instant access to school menus will encourage more parents to try school meals for their child.  Chris Wainwright explains: “We are asking parents who don’t currently choose school meals to sign up, look at a few sample menus to see what they’re missing, and make a really informed choice.”

The Trust believes receiving daily menus has very practical benefits.  Chris continues, “You might be in the supermarket wondering what to buy for dinner.  If you access Twitter on your phone, you can check there and then and make sure your child isn’t getting lasagne twice in the same day.”

“It can sometimes be difficult to get children to talk about what they had for lunch, especially at primary age.  With this trial, parents will be able to ask what children thought about the food on offer, and which lunch option they chose.  It gives parents the information they need to start discussions about healthy food.”

Parents who would like to sign up for the daily menu updates will need to sign up for a free Twitter account (if they don’t have one already) and start ‘following’.

Every morning parents who are subscribed to ‘follow’ their local school meal feed will receive an update (a tweet) showing what’s on the menu.  Any parent, grandparent or carer can sign up, whether their child currently eats school meals or not, and keep up to date with the range of seasonal food on offer.  The feed will also be used to update parents on special theme days, taster sessions and how to apply for free school meals.

Somerset County Council’s Somerset County Services (SCS), who provide healthy school lunches to 88 school sites across the county offered the service from the start of this school year. 

SCSSchoolmeals currently has over 80 ‘followers’ (people receiving its updates), which as well as listing the daily menu also include 140 character updates on theme days, and reminders for parents and teachers, e.g. to sign up for National School Meals Week, or Visit their 'I Love Water' website which promotes the health benefits of drinking water.

Wakefield Council began its trial using Twitter in mid-September.  Wakefield Council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for e-Services Cllr Graham Stokes explains: “Wakefield Council already uses Twitter to keep Wakefield residents up to date with our news and events, so we are keen to see if parents find getting school menus in this way useful too.  It will be an extra and innovative way to receive the menu, and they will be able to see what their children are eating as well as seeing the healthy options we are giving all our pupils.”

Since the School Food Trust’s trial began, the London borough of Tower Hamlets has also started its own Twitter feed.  The Trust is looking for as much feedback as possible and if you would like to set up a similar experiment at your own school, The Trust can advise you on how to get started.   

The Twitter trial is part of a raft of initiatives from marketing support to improving kitchen efficiencies that the Trust is piloting to support Local Authorities in increasing take up of school meals.  Results of the trial will be made available online.