Manchester Fayre scooped the prize at the Local Authority Caterers Association Awards for actively promoting the benefits of healthy eating and the need for pupils to learn about healthy and more active lifestyles.

Manchester's catering service helped deliver the Change4Life initiative in Aspinall Primary School in Gorton, with a specially created programme. This included creating a link between the school canteen and the dining room at home, helping educate parents about the risks associated with an unhealthy diet and what that could mean for their children, teaching children about the importance of eating well and following a healthy lifestyle and creating a whole school approach to healthy eating.

These steps were carried out through a number of different activities including tasting sessions of the school meals menu, demonstrating the fat and sugar content in popular confectionary and offering advice on alternative healthier foods and snacks.

Changes are already being seen following the introduction of these measures including a 15% increase of school meals in favour of packed lunches and healthier snacks and lunches being prepared by parents.

Councillor Bernard Priest, Manchester City Council's executive member for finance and human resources with a responsibility for school meals said: "The Change4Life agenda has been welcomed in Manchester as it is a direct response to tackling some of the key health problems that exist within the city. I am particularly proud that we have been recognised for our work in this area and we will continue to build on our achievements and roll the scheme out across the city."

The Chang4Life campaign promotes eight different behaviours:

Reaching at risk families, helping families understand health information, convincing parents that their children are at risk, teaching behaviours that will reduce risk, inspiring people, creating the desire to change, triggering action and supporting the sustained change.

These are all areas in which Manchester Fayre have been successful while working with Aspinal Primary School and the service can now confidently embark on delivering their support for Change4Life across all the schools with which they work.