Working with Schools
Specialist dietetic support for pupils, families and school teams — across nutrition, feeding, ARFID, eating disorders, SEND and the wider school food environment, from the early years through to sixth form.
School food is changing
Supporting schools through the new School Food Standards and the new allergy safety duty (Benedict’s Law).
New School Food Standards for England were published in September 2026, with updated requirements due to take effect from September 2027, subject to Parliamentary approval. Schools are being asked to begin preparing now — reviewing food provision, menus and policies, working with catering providers and considering how the new standards will be implemented across the school day.
At the same time, the new statutory guidance Allergy safety in schools (2026), which applies from the 2026–27 academic year, strengthens expectations around allergy safety and inclusion in schools.
Dr Bujtor co-signed The Feeding Trust’s position statement on the 2026 consultation, which argued that the Standards should recognise children who cannot eat what is provided.
For schools, these changes create an opportunity to look not only at what food is provided, but how children are supported to access it.
For pupils with feeding difficulties, ARFID, sensory differences, neurodivergence, food allergies, anxiety around eating or a very restricted range of accepted foods, changes to menus, snacks, breakfast provision or familiar foods can have unintended consequences.
A food may meet a nutritional standard and still be inaccessible to an individual child.
Understanding this distinction is important when developing school food provision that supports nutrition without inadvertently increasing anxiety, restriction or food avoidance. Dr Bujtor works with schools to consider how changes to food provision can be implemented while meeting the needs of pupils with feeding difficulties, SEND, allergies and other dietary requirements.
Schools & education settings
Read the full brochure below, or download a copy to share with your team.
How I support schools
Pupil and family referrals
Specialist dietetic assessment and intervention is available for children and young people with feeding difficulties, ARFID, selective or restricted eating, disordered eating and eating disorders, from the early years through to sixth form.
NO GP REFERRAL REQUIRED · Schools can signpost families directly or contact the practice with parent or carer consent.
ARFID, feeding difficulties & individual school support
For pupils with ARFID or significant feeding and eating difficulties, Dr Bujtor can work with the school and family to understand the individual child’s needs and translate these into practical recommendations for the school day.
Recommendations may cover meals and snacks, access to familiar and accepted foods, the eating environment, communication and expectations around food, transitions, school trips and residentials, and other situations in which eating may be more difficult.
SEND, neurodivergence and eating
Autistic children, children with ADHD and other neurodivergent pupils may experience food and eating differently. Sensory processing, interoception, appetite, attention, executive functioning, predictability, transitions and the eating environment can all play a part.
Dr Bujtor can help schools identify and reduce barriers to eating and develop appropriate adjustments to routines, environments, communication and expectations — while ensuring significant feeding or nutritional difficulties are recognised and addressed rather than simply attributed to neurodivergence.
Staff education and training
Practical, evidence-based training can be delivered in person or online and tailored to the needs of individual settings. This may include feeding development, selective and restricted eating, ARFID, eating disorders, neurodivergence and eating, supportive language around food, recognising when a pupil may need further assessment, and creating more inclusive eating environments.
Training is available for SEND, pastoral, teaching and catering teams, as well as whole-staff training, INSET sessions, workshops and parent education.
School food, dietary needs & inclusive provision
Dr Bujtor can work with schools and catering teams to consider whether food provision is nutritionally appropriate and accessible for pupils with different feeding, sensory, medical and dietary needs.
This may include familiar and accepted foods, food allergies and coeliac disease, medically required dietary exclusions, vegetarian and vegan diets, restricted food ranges and nutritional adequacy — particularly where removing foods from an already limited diet may create additional nutritional or feeding concerns.
Whole-school food practice
Whole-school review and consultancy can consider the wider practices that shape pupils’ experiences of food — including school meals and snacks, breakfast provision, packed lunches, celebrations and events, food-related rewards, communication with families, and the language and expectations surrounding eating.
The aim is not to create one set of eating expectations for every child, but to develop an approach that supports nutrition, inclusion and individual feeding needs across the school community.
School consultancy & case consultation
Schools can seek specialist dietetic input where a pupil’s feeding, eating or nutritional needs are affecting their school day. Consultation can support SENCOs, pastoral teams, teaching staff and catering teams to understand the difficulty, consider appropriate adjustments and determine whether further assessment or referral may be needed.
School food policy & provision
Support is available for schools reviewing food policies and provision, including school meals, breakfast and after-school provision, snacks, packed lunches, celebrations, dietary inclusion and implementation of changes to School Food Standards. This can include policy review, consultation with school and catering teams, and practical recommendations for implementation.
When children and young people need more support
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Dr Bujtor’s wider work on feeding development. Explore feeding development →
Feeding development continues from infancy through to adolescence. At every stage, how a child or young person eats and their relationship with food are shaped by nutrition, sensory processing, motor skills, appetite and interoception, emotional regulation, cognition, social experiences and the environments in which eating takes place.
For some children and young people, difficulties with food and eating emerge early; for others they appear, or become more apparent, later on. These may include a very limited or narrowing range of foods, anxiety or distress around eating, difficulty managing school meals, avoidance of particular foods, textures or eating situations, inadequate intake, ARFID, disordered eating or an eating disorder.
Education settings are often where changes or difficulties with eating become particularly visible. What happens at snack time and lunch, on trips and residentials, during celebrations and in other social situations can provide important information about how a child or young person is managing — and when they may need additional support.
Feeding difficulties do not always look the same in every setting.
When eating may need more attention
A single behaviour rarely tells the whole story. Eating difficulties are more important to explore when they persist, become more pronounced, affect a pupil’s nutrition, growth, wellbeing or everyday life, or represent a clear change from how they usually eat.
Signs that warrant further consideration
- Weight loss, concerns about growth, or an unexpected change in a pupil’s usual growth pattern
- A very limited range of foods, particularly where this affects dietary variety or nutritional adequacy
- A food range that is becoming progressively narrower, including the loss of previously accepted foods
- Regularly eating very little, skipping meals or avoiding eating during the school day
- Significant anxiety, distress or avoidance around food, eating or mealtimes
- Regular gagging or difficulty managing particular foods or textures
- Recurrent coughing, choking or apparent difficulty swallowing when eating or drinking
- Increasing rules, restriction, rigidity or preoccupation around food, exercise, weight or body shape
- Changes in energy, concentration, mood or participation alongside changes in eating
- Eating difficulties that interfere with school trips, residentials, friendships or other aspects of school life
Not sure whether a pupil needs specialist input? Schools and families are welcome to contact the practice to discuss whether specialist dietetic assessment or support may be appropriate.
Feeding development continues well beyond the early years.
Support at every stage
Early years
Birth to five
Eating skills are still developing. Children are building the skills, experiences and confidence that underpin eating for life, and settings often see the very first signs that this is not progressing as expected.
What settings may notice
- Difficulty moving on to more complex textures
- Gagging, coughing or difficulty managing food
- A very small range of accepted foods
- Distress at mealtimes, or refusal to come to the table
- Eating little or nothing while at the setting
- Reliance on milk or a small number of familiar items
Why it matters early
- Nutritional adequacy during a period of rapid growth
- Early difficulties can become more entrenched over time
- Early feeding skills provide foundations for later eating development
- Sensory differences may be emerging alongside feeding difficulties
- Concerns can be identified before school entry
How I can help at this stage
- Practitioner training on feeding development and responsive feeding
- Assessment and practical guidance around mealtime routines and the eating environment
- Specialist assessment and individual recommendations where intake, growth or feeding development are a concern
- Support with the transition from milk to complementary foods and progression through textures
- Liaison with parents, health visitors and the wider early years team
- Planning for the move into Reception
Primary years
Five to eleven
Eating becomes more social and more independent. School meals, packed lunches, snack times and trips all place new demands on children, and difficulties that were manageable at home can become visible here.
What schools may notice
- A narrow or progressively narrowing range of foods
- Eating very little at school but more at home
- Discomfort eating in front of others
- Difficulty managing the dining hall environment
- Avoidance of trips, parties or celebrations involving food
- Missing snacks or struggling to stop an activity to eat
What may be contributing
- Sensory characteristics of food and the environment
- Anxiety, or a previous difficult experience with food
- Time pressure and noise at lunchtime
- Neurodivergence, attention and interoception
- Unfamiliar foods and lack of predictability
- Emerging concerns about food, weight or body image
How I can help at this stage
- Specialist assessment and individual recommendations to support eating during the school day
- Staff training for SEND, pastoral, teaching and catering teams
- Consultation on food provision, dining environments and barriers to eating at school
- Practical adjustments around packed lunches, snacks and celebrations
- Planning for trips, residentials and other situations involving food
- Written input for support plans, healthcare plans and EHCPs
- School visits and mealtime observation, where seeing a pupil in their usual eating environment would help inform assessment or recommendations
Secondary years
Eleven to eighteen
Adolescence brings rapid growth, increasing independence and greater privacy around eating. Changes in eating can be easier to conceal, and eating disorders commonly emerge during these years.
What schools may notice
- Skipping lunch, or regularly eating very little at school
- Withdrawing from social eating or the dining hall
- New or increasing rules around food or exercise
- Preoccupation with food, calories, weight or body shape
- Changes in energy, concentration, mood or participation
- Excessive or compulsive exercise
Particular considerations
- Eating disorders can occur at any body size
- Restriction may be hidden rather than obvious
- Nutritional needs are high during adolescent growth
- Sport, training and performance add further demand
- ARFID may persist into adolescence or become apparent for the first time
- Concerns should not wait for weight change
How I can help at this stage
- Staff training to recognise emerging disordered eating and eating disorders, respond appropriately and know when to escalate concerns
- Guidance for pastoral and school teams on responding to concerns, communicating with families and accessing appropriate support
- Specialist dietetic assessment and treatment for individual students
- Specialist nutrition support for adolescent growth, sport, training and performance
- Advice on accessing food across a longer, less supervised school day
- Liaison with pastoral teams, GPs and specialist services
Working together
Schools, settings and families are welcome to contact the practice to discuss training, consultation, an individual pupil or a possible referral.
Dr Bujtor is an HCPC Registered Dietitian and AfN Registered Nutritionist with specialist expertise in paediatric dietetics, feeding development, and feeding and eating disorders.