Development programme "Building Food Awareness in the School Community"

"Building Food Awareness in the School Community" is a school-based development programme in Tartu County that helps schools improve food education and school catering in a practical and long-term way. The programme supports schools in making healthy eating a natural part of everyday school life and in involving the whole school community in that process.

School lunch is an important part of the school day. Tasty, balanced and varied food helps maintain energy levels, supports learning and physical activity, and contributes to children’s and young people’s mental and physical wellbeing. In Tartu County, this programme is used as a practical tool to connect school food, food literacy and student-centred catering.

What makes the programme strong

A whole-school approach
The programme brings together everyone connected to school food: school leadership, teachers, parents, students, kitchen staff, catering providers and the school owner. This helps schools address food-related issues systematically rather than as isolated activities.

Tailored support for each school
Each participating school enters the programme with its own goals and development needs. The school team is supported throughout the process by expert mentors.

A practical and structured process
The active programme period lasts five months. During this time, each school forms a broad-based team, completes a self-assessment, measures plate waste in the dining hall, and prepares both short-term and long-term action plans.

Long-term change, not a one-off project
Schools are expected to continue the systematic development of food education and catering after the programme ends, based on the action plan created during the process. By the end of the programme, each school has a long-term plan for further work.

How the programme works

The programme takes place in the school itself and is built around collaboration, reflection and practical development. The main responsibility for change lies with the school team, while mentors support the process, help assess progress and prepare a final report for each school. The report covers the school’s starting point, the action plan, implementation steps, and lessons learned along the way.

Participating schools

The pilot programme started in the 2024/2025 school year with five schools in Tartu County, in the 2025/2026 school year, five more schools joined. 

Background and partners

The programme was developed by the Tartu County working group on food education and catering in educational institutions and the Organic Centre of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, in cooperation with Tartu Biotechnology Park. 

Pilot implementation and scaling have been supported by the Association of Municipalities of Tartu County, the RTK local and regional development capacity measure, the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project Circular FoodShift, and cooperation with the KISMET project of Tartu Biotechnology Park, which contributes a food waste perspective.

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