LBBD are excited to share details of two upcoming LBBD Food Education Network CPD sessions for 2026, designed in response to feedback from LBBD teachers and schools.

Inclusive Eating – Supporting Picky Eaters and Children with SEN

Date: Wednesday 3rd June
Time: 9:00am–12:00 midday
Location: Company Drinks, Bowls Pavilion, Company Drinks, Bowls Pavilion, Barking Park Lodge, Longbridge Rd, Barking IG11 8TA (parking available on site)

This CPD focuses on creating a more inclusive food experience for all children in school, particularly those who are picky or cautious eaters and pupils with SEND.

The session will explore inclusive, non-pressurising approaches that support children to explore food safely and confidently.  It will also explore why eating environments can be challenging for children with SEN and practical strategies to improve the dining experience, so children are better able to access and enjoy a healthy lunch.

Trainers include:

TastEd: TastEd support teachers to deliver sensory food education, helping children to build curiosity, confidence and a joyful relationship with food. TastEd lessons use the five senses to explore fruit and vegetables in a fun, pressure-free way. The session will demonstrate how sensory food education can help children develop self-awareness and descriptive language, build confidence around food and increase familiarity with new fruit and vegetables.

Attendees will explore how to implement the TastEd approach in schools, which links to the national curriculum and early years framework, supporting literacy, numeracy and oracy. You will also hear from a local LBBD school that has trialled the TastEd approach with teachers, senior leaders and parents as part of a whole-school sensory food education model.

Health Education Partnership: Supporting Children with SEND – Creating an Inclusive Dining Environment

Ofsted routinely observes lunchtimes and breaktimes to evaluate behaviour, safety, inclusion, and overall school culture. While these unstructured social periods offer valuable developmental opportunities, they can be challenging for some children — especially those with SEND due to communication, social, and sensory differences.

Schools often prioritise classroom management, but lunchtime provision has a significant influence on pupil outcomes. Difficult lunchtime experiences negatively impact behaviour, wellbeing and learning for the remainder of the day. Developing a structured, inclusive, and supportive dining environment is therefore essential in ensuring all pupils can access and enjoy the whole school day.

By the end of the session, staff will be able to:

• Recognise behaviour as communication and reframe challenging behaviour as a response to unmet need.
• Develop an understanding of the psychological, emotional, and sensory factors that influence children’s experiences of the dining environment.
• Identify and implement inclusive, practical strategies and reasonable adjustments to increase structure, predictability, and accessibility for pupils with SEND.

The Health Education Partnership will deliver a session focused on supporting children with SEN at lunchtime, practical adjustments schools can make to improve the dining environment and why inclusive dining matters for health, behaviour and learning outcomes.