The important role played by milk in our schools

And as a new academic year stretches out before us, it’s appropriate to reflect on the various ways this important work has been channelled and the impact it continues to make with young people, their parents and teachers.

There are about 350,000 pupils in our school system, of which 180,000 attend primary schools. So, a key focus of the work undertaken by DCNI is to ensure that young children attending school for the first time and their parents are made aware of just how important it is to eat well throughout the school day.

This includes the need to have a good breakfast while also enjoying a nutritious lunch and a healthy break time. It has been proven that delivering a healthy diet for children will act to improve the performance in learning they achieve while at school.

Given this backdrop, DCNI works with primary schools at two key levels. There are approximately 26,000 children coming into the school system at Key Stage 1 level on an annual basis.

Each year DCNI distributes an equivalent number of ‘Milk & More’ information leaflets to all our primary schools.

This takes place at the end of June or early July, timed to allow the schools to include these booklets in the general information pack they make available to the parents of the Key Stage 1 children, who will be enrolling with them for the first time later in September.

And it’s worth pointing out that DCNI receives universal support from the schools in actively distributing the ‘Milk & More’ Leaflets.

In fact, we usually have a significant number of schools getting in touch to request additional copies of the booklets.

They represent a valuable information source for parents, highlighting the benefits of a balanced diet for young children throughout the school day: breakfast time, lunch and break time. And the good news story around milk and dairy products is included within this narrative.

DCNI is also active in primary schools courtesy of our ‘Food and Fitness’ programme. This initiative is for Primary 5 and 6 children: it is delivered in the classroom.

Designed specifically by the Dairy Council, the programme teaches the pupils about the benefits of a healthy, balanced diet in tandem with an active lifestyle.

DCNI has been making ‘Food and Fitness’ available in schools for twenty years: it was launched back in 2004.

It is delivered by university placement students, who are recruited on an annual basis. They are at the core of our food and fitness team, and we are delighted that Ulster University Food and Nutrition BSc students Sara McCullough and Chloe Treanor will be delivering this year’s programme in schools.

They will go out to primary schools, on request, and interact directly with the children in a classroom environment.

At the heart of Food and Fitness is a series of colourful props, educational games and a series of fun activities. The programme has been designed to be interactive in nature. A Food and Fitness Rap has been composed to bring all these elements together in a fun way for the children. It is complemented by a teaching resource pack and an information leaflet for parents.

Demand for Food and Fitness continues to grow.

In fact, recent years have seen it over subscribed with more and more schools wishing to participate. Moreover, the feedback that DCNI consistently receives from teachers is more than positive.

Delivered between October to June an average of 200 school children per day participate in the Food and Fitness presentations. They are also given an opportunity during the presentations to ask questions, reflecting on all aspects of a healthy lifestyle.

The fact is that children are interested in so many aspects of diet and the key role that nutrition plays in their lives. This is why it is so important to tell them directly about the benefits of milk in a healthy diet.

Driving all of this is the fact that milk is naturally rich in nutrients. It is a good source of calcium, high quality protein, iodine, vitamin B2 and vitamin B12. It also provides phosphorus, potassium and vitamin B5 and many other nutrients in smaller quantities.

Milk in school can be a powerful boost to meeting children’s nutrient requirements. The percentage contribution to a primary school child’s nutrient needs provided by a 189ml carton of semi-skimmed milk is very significant.

A carton of school milk can supply more than half of a five-year-old's calcium, phosphorus, iodine and vitamin B2 requirements and a third of their protein needs.

For older primary school children too, it can make an important contribution: the 189ml carton provides over a quarter of protein needs, around 40% of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin B2 requirements, and more than half of iodine needs.

Meanwhile, the School Milk Subsidy Scheme continues apace throughout the United Kingdom.

Here in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has continued to support what was formerly a European Union initiative.

The measure is administered by DAERA. However, it is delivered on the ground by each of Northern Ireland’s five education authorities.

The scheme makes available a subsidy on drinking milk, flavoured milks and plain yoghurts. It is made available across the entire school system: primary schools, secondary schools, special schools and nursery schools.

The scope to increase the uptake of the measure is significant with an increase of 1 million children in the UK school system over the last 10 years to 10.7 million. We also know that Covid-19 had a disruptive impact on use of the scheme by schools and the knock-on effects of that continue to be felt. However, it continues to deliver in a meaningful way for large numbers of school children.

Across the UK approximately 82 million portions of milk and yoghurt were distributed to school children in the 2021/22 academic year courtesy of the subsidy scheme. This is an extremely meaningful figure and one that can be built upon. The Labour Party in its pre-election manifesto recognised the importance of improving children’s life chances and pledged to fund free breakfast clubs in every primary school, accessible to all children. Dairy can play an important role in such an initiative if it is progressed by government.

So, yes, a new academic year beckons. Learning about the benefits of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle are fundamental drivers within the core curriculum followed in our schools. And DCNI is playing its part in helping to make a meaningful reality.

But above all else it’s important to wish all our children every success as they look to the future.