Bowden House School
Bowden House School: Food for Change
Bowden House is an ‘OFSTED Outstanding’ special, weekly residential boys school located in Seaford, East Sussex, that supports students between the ages of 9 - 16+ who present with a range of complex, social, emotional and mental health difficulties. It is maintained by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and admits students from a wide geographical area, all of whom have Statements of Special Educational Needs or Education, Health and Care Plans (EHC Plans).
The Senior Management team at Bowden House wanted an independent and expert assessment of the food offering at their school, and the task given to BANT-registered Optimal Nutrition was simple - write a school-wide brief, that identifies the changes that could be made to the food offering at Bowden House to improve the nutrient density of the student’s meals, can increase staff education around the influence of food on students’ behaviour and overall health, and consider how this can be done in the style of “marginal gains” - to ensure compliance, and importantly that can be adopted across the whole school.
Adolescence is a period of significant growth for teenagers, and nutritional status in childhood has been shown to have a significant effect on pubertal development. Energy requirements for young people are dependent on activity levels, which also need to be high to support bone mass during this period of rapid physical maturation. Bowden House School identified that the role of nutrition is vital during the school years - for energy, growth, sleep, hormonal change and behaviour. Improving the nutrient density of students’ meals both supports this growth, and also begins to establish good habits for their future.
The result of this analysis, and the brief, is “Food for Change” - an ongoing 3 year programme delivered by Optimal Nutrition to the whole school team, that includes:
A school-wide mission statement
CPD for the three staff teams (Education, Residential and Domestic)
Menu and snack alternations in line with nutritional requirements for growing teenage boys
Introduction of school-wide health and exercise challenges
Creation of menus
Design of visual guides connecting health and food,
Presentation to parents during open days in order to communicate changes and build connection between home and school
Planning of student engagement with nutrition on personal days, and
The onboarding of the multiple departments and stakeholders involved in student welfare
Student response and staff engagement during the project has been very positive, with particular successes including the establishment of the salad bar, changes to the regular menus, overall discussion and awareness with staff and students about the impact of nutrition, and and the team continue to drive forward changes across the school.
If you are a school leader, and would like to find out more about how nutrition can impact, support and enhance the current behaviour and future health of your students, and how it might work for your school, please get in touch for an informal meeting or chat - it would be great to find out more about your school
“Kathrin has provided invaluable insight and training, alongside supporting an extensive programme of change in relation to the nutritional offer for our students.
The collaboration between Optimal Nutrition and Bowden House has covered an extensive period of fact finding, analysis and evaluation followed by a period of direct
input, change management and review.
By providing relevant CPD alongside thoughtful guidance and direct
involvement, we have seen a huge change and improvement to all aspects of nutrition at
school.
I would be very happy to welcome potential clients of Optimal Nutrition to visit Bowden House and see first-hand the impact the work has had. ”
Balanced Fruit smoothies introduced at breakfast
The revamped dining room, with fabric chairs to soften the acoustics, and restaurant-style tables to encourage attendance
Family-style dining
Student art on walls, to support acoustics and create welcoming environment
Newly introduced (and now permanent) salad bar