Schools are ideal places for promoting healthy eating. With millions of Australian children and staff attending these settings each day, schools have a responsibility to ensure the food and drinks available and promoted on their premises support healthy food choices.
Western Australia^
| Indicator | Result | Assessment* | What was measured? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Food availability |
||||
Proportion of schools with canteen/food service menus that had a minimum of 60% healthy food and drinks** |
87% |
Healthiness of primary and secondary school (n=681) canteen menus using WA Healthy Food and Drink Policy traffic light criteria in metropolitan and regional WA (2022) |
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Proportion of schools with canteen/food service menus that had a maximum of 40% ‘amber’ food and drinks** |
83% |
Healthiness of primary and secondary school (n=681) canteen menus using WA Healthy Food and Drink Policy traffic light criteria in metropolitan and regional WA (2022) |
||
Proportion of schools with canteens/food services that offered unhealthy food or drinks, even on an occasional basis |
25% |
Healthiness of primary and secondary school (n=681) canteen menus using WA Healthy Food and Drink Policy traffic light criteria in metropolitan and regional WA (2022) |
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Healthy food policy |
||||
Proportion of schools with a written policy for the provision of healthy food and drinks |
62% |
Adoption of a written healthy food and drink policy in WA primary and secondary schools (n=681) in metropolitan and regional WA (2022) |
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Proportion of schools that met all the Healthy Food and Drink traffic light criteria** |
43% |
Adherence of primary and secondary schools (n=681) to WA Healthy Food and Drink Policy traffic light criteria in metropolitan and regional WA (2022) |
* Green = ‘Promotes health’; Amber = ‘Needs further improvement to promote health’; Red = ‘Unhealthy’. Refer to Indicator Assessment Criteria at the bottom of the page.
** WA Healthy Food and Drink Policy traffic light criteria requires school canteens to have a menu that offers at least 60% ‘green’ (healthy) food and drinks, no more than 40% ‘amber’ food and drinks , no more than 2 days per week where savoury commercial ‘amber’ foods are available, and no ‘red’ foods or drinks available.
^ Each state/territory has different criteria in their healthy school food policies and so direct comparison between jurisdictions is not recommended
New South Wales^
| Indicator | Result | Assessment* | What was measured? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Proportion of schools that met all requirements of the Healthy School Canteen Strategy** |
95% |
Proportion of NSW Government schools (n=1,612) that have had at least one successful menu check since the launch of the Healthy School Canteen Strategy in 2017 (results as at 30 April 2021)*** |
NSW Education (2021) |
* Green = ‘Promotes health’; Amber = ‘Needs further improvement to promote health’; Red = ‘Unhealthy’. Refer to Indicator Assessment Criteria at the bottom of the page.
** The Healthy School Canteens Strategy requires Government school canteens to offer no sugar-sweetened drinks for sale, at least 75% healthy Everyday foods and drinks on the menu; and meeting portion size and nutrition criteria for less healthy Occasional foods and drinks. Sugar-sweetened drinks and are not to be sold in NSW school canteens under the Strategy.
*** The menu check is an independent assessment requiring full compliance with the Healthy School Canteens Strategy.
^ Each state/territory has different criteria in their healthy school food policies and so direct comparison between jurisdictions is not recommended
National
| Indicator | Result | Assessment* | What was measured? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Food availability |
||||
Proportion of schools in which unhealthy food and drinks (sugary or artificially sweetened drinks, fried foods, salty snacks, sugary snacks) are usually provided or available for sale at the school |
94% |
Implementation of 32 healthy eating initiatives reported in a national primary school principal survey (n=167), August 2022 to October 2023 |
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Proportion of schools in which sugary or artificially sweetened drinks are usually provided or available for sale at the school canteena |
73% |
|||
Proportion of schools in which fried foods are usually provided or available for sale at the school canteenb |
11% |
|||
Proportion of schools in which salty snacks are usually provided or available for sale at the school canteenc |
76% |
|||
Proportion of schools in which sugary snacks (including confectionery) are usually provided or available for sale at the school canteend |
78% |
|||
Proportion of schools in which fresh fruit is usually provided or available for sale at the school canteen |
73% |
|||
Proportion of schools in which fresh vegetables (i.e. vegetable sticks, not salad on a sandwich) are usually provided or available for sale at the school canteen |
51% |
|||
Proportion of students that have free access to water fountains with cooled plain or optionally carbonated water |
64% |
Implementation of 32 healthy eating initiatives reported in a national primary school principal survey (n=167), August 2022 to October 2023 |
||
Food promotion |
||||
Proportion of schools that use strategies to encourage students to purchase healthier items from the canteen/online canteen e.g. menu labelling, positioning, prompting, feedbacke |
40% |
Implementation of 32 healthy eating initiatives reported in a national primary school principal survey (n=164), August 2022 to October 2023 |
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Healthy food policy |
||||
Proportion of schools that have a policy written by the school (i.e., not the Education sector or state-wide policy) promoting healthy eating and nutrition |
35% |
Implementation of 32 healthy eating initiatives reported in a national primary school principal survey (n=268), August 2022 to October 2023 |
aSugary drinks include regular soft drinks, diet soft drinks, less than 99% fruit juice, 100% fruit juice, energy drinks and other sugar sweetened drinks (e.g. cordials, flavoured mineral waters, sports drinks, iced teas, sweetened waters, sports waters, flavoured crushed ice drink)
bFried foods include foods that have been cooked or heated by deep frying in any oil such as chips
cSalty snacks include such as potato chips or other salty snacks such as twisties or corn chips, savoury pastries (e.g. pies and sausage rolls)
dSugary snacks include confectionery (e.g. lollies and chocolate), sweet or savoury biscuits, cakes, muffins, donuts or muesli bars, ice creams covered in chocolate, other ice-creams, ice blocks or frozen desserts
eMenu labelling is defined as adding coloured symbols to indicate healthier and less healthy menu options; positioning is defined as arranging menu items to make healthier options more prominent; prompting is defined as encouraging users to add fruit, vegetables or water to their orders and feedback is defined as graphical or written feedback to show users how healthy their order is
fPolicy can include a general school policy that explicitly references healthy eating and nutrition practices
Key Findings
- Despite the existence of national and state-based policies regarding the availability of healthy food in schools, most Australian primary schools report having at least one unhealthy food or drink item usually available to students via their school canteen (94%)
- Only a small proportion of Australian primary schools report having fried food available to students via their school canteen (11%)
- The majority of Australian primary schools report having sugary or artificially sweetened drinks (73%), salty snacks (76%), or sugary snacks (78%) usually available to students via their school canteen
- Encouragingly the majority of Australian primary schools have fresh fruit (73%) and fresh vegetables (51%) also usually available to students available to students via the school canteen
- Most Australian primary schools provide students with free access to cooled plan water
- Western Australia and New South Wales governments are the only state governments to monitor and report adherence to their respective food policy / frameworks for schools.
- School canteens in NSW government schools have shown very strong adherence the Healthy School Canteens Strategy.
- The NSW Government monitors each NSW Government school’s achievement against the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy.
- The majority of government schools in NSW (94.6% at 30 April 2021) have had a successful menu assessment at least once since the launch of the Strategy in 2017. Assessment is done by the NSW Menu Check Service.
- A successful menu check requires 100% compliance with the Strategy including no sugar-sweetened drinks for sale, at least 75% healthy Everyday foods and drinks on the menu; and meeting portion size and nutrition criteria for less healthy Occasional foods and drinks.
- The NSW Government provides both local and central support services for schools to assist them to meet the Strategy.
- The most recent Western Australian (WA) Healthy Food and Drink School Principal Survey (2022) found WA schools have made good progress towards meeting the WA Healthy Food and Drink in Schools Policy. The majority of primary and secondary schools (97%) reported that they had implemented strategies to promote healthy eating.
- The two most popular strategies were to ‘run healthy eating programs such as Crunch&Sip ® or a school kitchen garden’ (82% of all schools) and ‘work with the school canteen to adopt the Health Promoting Schools Framework’ (50% of all schools) (n=681).
- 71% of canteen supervisors and 55% of employers completed traffic light training
- Effective 1 July 2022, the Department of Health is funding Nutrition Australia to implement a comprehensive whole of school healthy eating program, the Fresh School Nutrition Advisory Program (FreshSNAP).
- The Department of Health and the Department of Education continue to support the independent evaluation of their healthy food and drink program and make the survey results publicly available.
Key Recommendations
- Schools should be healthy places. They play an important role in developing children’s knowledge and habits relating to food. Schools also shape social norms and so provide an opportunity to improve children’s diets. The World Health Organisation calls on every school to be a health-promoting school.
- Whilst all state/territory governments have healthy school food policies in place, there is a need for additional support and stronger incentives for schools to adopt comprehensive food and nutrition policies.
- Schools canteens, vending machines and other food services should be regularly monitored to ensure adherence to state/territory policies.
- State/territory governments should work towards a common food nutrition classification system to allow for comparison of school food environments across jurisdictions.
For more information
Websites
Visit the Obesity Evidence Hub for key evidence on obesity trends, impacts, prevention & treatment in Australia. Access evidence related to settings based approaches for children and adolescents.
Journal Articles
- Bell, J., O’Brien, KM., Wolfenden, L., Yoong S., Bauman, A., Leigh, L., Lecathelinais, C., Hodder, RK. (2025). Prevalence of Healthy Eating Initiatives in Australian Primary Schools: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Under editorial review Health Promotion Journal of Australia
- Wu, J.H., Berg, J. and Neeson, M. (2016) Overview of development and implementation of school canteen nutrition guidelines in Australia. Journal of the Home Economics Institute of Australia, 23(1), pp.2-10.
- Rosewarne, E., Hoek, A.C., Sacks, G., Wolfenden, L., Wu, J., Reimers, J., Corben, K., Moore, M., Mhurchu, C.N. and Webster, J. (2020) A comprehensive overview and qualitative analysis of government-led nutrition policies in Australian institutions. BMC Public Health, 20(1), pp.1-15.
- Ooi JY, Yoong SL, Sutherland R, Wrigley J, Lecathelinais C, Reilly K, Janssen L, Nathan N, Wolfenden L. (2021) Prevalence of current school‐level nutrition policies and practices of secondary schools in NSW, Australia. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. 2021 Apr;32(2):216-26.
Reports
- Western Australia Department of Health (2024): WA Healthy Food and Drink School Principal Survey Report 2022
- Western Australia Department of Health (2022): WA Healthy Food and Drink School Principal Survey Report 2021
- Western Australia Department of Health (2021): WA Healthy Food and Drink School Principal Survey Report 2020
- Western Australia Department of Health (2020): WA Healthy Food and Drink School Principal Survey Report 2019
| Indicator Assessment Criteria | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Metric | |||
% of WA schools with canteens/food services that had a minimum of 60% healthy foods |
≥80% |
20-79% |
< 20% |
% of WA schools with canteen/food service menus that had a maximum of 40% ‘amber’ food and drinks** |
≥80% |
20-79% |
< 20% |
% of WA schools with canteens/food services that had unhealthy food or drinks even on an occasional basis |
<20% |
20-79% |
≥ 80% |
% of WA schools with a written policy for the provision of healthy food and drink |
≥80% |
20-79% |
< 20% |
% of schools with canteens/food services that met all policy/strategy criteria (WA and NSW) |
≥80% |
20-79% |
< 20% |
% of schools in which unhealthy food (including sugary or artificially sweetened drinks, fried foods, salty snacks, sugary snacks) are usually provided or available for sale at the school canteen |
<20% |
20-79% |
≥80% |
% of schools in which healthy food (including fresh fruit, vegetables) are usually provided or available for sale at the school canteen |
≥80% |
20-79% |
<20% |
% of students that have free access to water fountains with cooled plain or optionally carbonated water |
≥80% |
20-79% |
<20% |
% of schools that use strategies to encourage students to purchase healthier items from the canteen/online canteen e.g. menu labelling, positioning, prompting, feedback |
≥80% |
20-79% |
<20% |
% of schools that have a policy written by the school (i.e., not the Education sector or state-wide policy) promoting healthy eating and nutrition |
≥80% |
20-79% |
<20% |