The reign of the candy cane
Anastasia De Waal, 12 June 2009
Entrepreneurial, or dangerous? Creative, or subversive? This week it was disclosed that staff at a top Merseyside grammar school, St Anselm’s College in Birkenhead, have successfully foiled a plot designed to break Jamie Oliver’s heart: sweet racketeering.
The government’s current emphasis on healthy eating, and consequent clamp-down on junk food in schools, means that the reign of the tuck shop and vending machine is over: these days, one is more likely to find an apple than a Mars bar in most law-abiding schools. But give a child the choice, and many would still opt for the irresistible lure of refined sugar. Their parents, too: take the tale of the Yorkshire mums serving junk food through the school gates a few years ago, or the worrying early rejection of healthier free school meals in favour of nearby fish and chip shops.
Children have always enjoyed breaking rules: there is nothing more appealing than an area marked ‘out of bounds’. In my school it was ‘jumping the stream’, a scandalous bound across a narrow stretch of water at the bottom of a playing field: one small step for girl, one giant leap for your reputation. Now some enterprising children have been discovered dealing fizzy drinks and chocolate bars on the bus and in the playground: a minor rebellion, you might think. Yet the school has announced that it will exclude any pupil involved in the contraband activities, and confiscate their “ill-gotten gains”.
Given the obesity problem in Britain, moves to promote healthiness are certainly desirable, arguably essential. Fortunately, post-Jamie, school meals are now much more nutritious, and Pru Leith’s efforts as Chair of the School Food Trust are going some way to tackling the problem. Yet this latest story doesn’t seem to really be about nutrition: the letter sent home to parents stressed the lawlessness of the children: “Sweets are not allowed to be sold in schools under food regulations, and we would not let any student subvert these necessary rules”. Surely these ‘regulations’ are not there simply for arbitrary extra control, but for real health reasons?
Perhaps the school should recognise the enterprising nature of the pupils involved. The current push for skills for life and school experiences relevant to the world of work seems beautifully pertinent to this case. Here are children actively engaging with markets, considering supply and demand, and commanding profits from their peers: the sort of thing they might be expected to do in a business or retail course. Sir Alan Sugar, newly appointed Enterprise Tsar, would be impressed.
It is crucial to fight the causes of childhood obesity, but schools should also arm themselves with a realistic understanding of child psychology in this war: naughty things are always more fun.
By Helen Cowen