A new national online training hub for school cooks, head teachers, school business managers and others working to provide healthy food for children has gone live.

The Children’s Food Trust’s Learning Network aims to be a hub for information and learning about healthy children’s food, and has launched its first e-learning training courses this week. Subjects covered include increasing free school meal take-up, practical low cost improvements to the dining space, and ways to get pupils and parents involved in school food.

Courses to teach practical cooking skills and other subjects will be added later in the year. The hub will also offer webcasts on topical children’s food issues, and a forum to share ideas with schools and catering staff around the country.

Children’s Food Trust chief executive, Linda Cregan, said: “The upcoming announcement of the Government’s new School Food Plan keeps the pressure on schools to increase school meal take up, teach practical cooking and provide healthy, tasty school food.  
 
“Budgets and time are tight, and it’s getting harder to release staff for training. We’ve created the Learning Network to allow school and catering staff to access training without leaving the classroom, office, kitchen or home. It’s a cost-effective way to develop staff and improve school food without breaking the bank or having to source supply cover.”

Everyone who registers for a free trial of the Learning Network at www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/learningnetwork before the end of July will be entered into a draw to win an iPad.

Ray Barnes, chair of the UFI Charitable Trust added: “We’re delighted to be supporting the Children’s Food Trust Learning Network, which is one of the first projects to be awarded funding from Ufi. In our search for projects that would make a real difference to the vocational sector, this one stood out from the many other applications – not just because of the Trust’s obvious expertise, but because their project reaches a very particular audience who are not usually thought of as ‘typical’ users of e-learning.

“The hub will help school and catering staff with their professional development, with the end result of improving children’s food. We look forward to seeing the successful results.”