Provision of Universal Free School Meals in two secondary schools

The PHIRST research team has worked in partnership with Hammersmith and Fulham colleagues from public health, children and adult services, to create an evaluation study that takes into account the priorities and concerns of all interested parties within the borough. It focuses on the following research questions: 1) Is UFSM feasible in secondary schools? 2) What is the impact of UFSM on student hunger, school attendance and behaviour, and food that is eaten in school? 3) What is the impact of UFSM on family finance and food security? 4) What do students, carers and school staff see as the reasons UFSM leads to these outcomes? 5) What are the things that help or prevent UFSM being delivered effectively in secondary schools? 6) Could UFSM in secondary schools be a cost-effective approach to addressing student hunger? We interviewed students, parents/carers, school staff and catering staff from the two schools receiving UFSM, and senior leaders in eight other secondary schools, ii) ran student surveys in the two UFSM schools and in two comparison schools, and iii) looked at information about student attendance, academic work and behaviour collected by the local authority and by schools before and after UFSM was introduced. We also worked with a group of student co-researchers in both UFSM schools. They advised on the content and format of our interviews and survey and helped us to plan observations of their school lunch times. These students did the observations themselves and shared their findings with the study team.

PHIRST研究团队与哈默史密斯和富勒姆地区公共卫生、儿童及成人服务部门的同事展开合作，开展了一项评估研究，充分考量了该自治市镇内所有利益相关方的优先级与关切。本研究聚焦以下若干研究问题：1）统一免费校餐（UFSM）在中学中是否具备可实施性？2）统一免费校餐对学生饥饿状况、在校出勤与行为表现，以及校内就餐食品摄入情况存在何种影响？3）统一免费校餐对家庭财务状况与粮食安全有何影响？4）学生、护理者及学校教职工认为，统一免费校餐带来上述结果的原因是什么？5）哪些因素有助于或阻碍了统一免费校餐在中学中的有效实施？6）中学阶段的统一免费校餐是否可作为解决学生饥饿问题的高成本效益方案？我们对参与统一免费校餐的两所学校的学生、家长/护理者、学校教职工及餐饮工作人员，以及另外八所中学的高层管理者进行了访谈；其次，在两所参与统一免费校餐的学校与两所对照学校中开展了学生问卷调查；其三，分析了地方政府与学校在统一免费校餐实施前后收集的学生出勤、学业表现及行为记录。此外，我们还与两所参与校的学生研究协作组开展合作，他们为我们的访谈与调查问卷的内容与格式提供了优化建议，并协助规划了对学校午餐时段的观察工作。这些学生亲自完成了观察任务，并将研究发现分享给了本研究团队。