School catering teams confirm success of Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign
Their research found that 89% of those schools surveyed felt children ate more veg due to their participation in the schools’ programme, 96% felt their pupils enjoyed participating and 95% wanted the programme to return to their school in 2025.
The survey also found:
- 74% stated children were more likely to finish their veg resulting in less food waste
- 55% said it encouraged more children to try school meals
- 42% reported an increase in the amount of veg being included in lunch boxes
The Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign, which was created in partnership with ITV, reached 620,000 children from 2,375 primary and special schools in 2024 via the schools’ programme. This year’s campaign featured a new creative theme ‘The Big Chomp’, with children encouraged to defeat the veg one bite at a time with supporting visuals and fun activities.
As part of the Eat Them to Defeat Them 2024 campaign, each participating school was provided with decorations for the dining hall, a set of posters and rolls of stickers to hand out to children acknowledging their veg-eating successes.
Schools were also given a range of digital assets that could be downloaded to suit the activities they were implementing including lesson and assembly plans, numeracy and literacy worksheets and arts and crafts projects.
Dan Parker, chief executive of Veg Power, said: “We are thrilled with these evaluation results. Not only are we making much-needed positive steps towards improving children’s dietary health in the UK, children, teachers and catering teams are enjoying the experience and can see the benefit of repeat participation.
“I’ve really enjoyed hearing how schools and catering teams have implemented the campaign this year with heaps of creativity and how repeat participation is leading to greater success. We’d love for all children across the UK to participate in Eat Them to Defeat Them next year.“
Eat Them to Defeat Them will be returning to schools in 2025, starting during March. Schools can register their interest on Veg Power’s partner platform.