Armed with the collated results specific to the school, the SNAG can develop an action plan to meet the school's needs. Ideas will be different for every school because each will have different starting points and different priorities to address. The SNAG should not just limit itself to promoting fruit and vegetables but should look widely at the practical obstacles and opportunities. One of the initial action points should be to get the school management team on board and starting to consider the adoption of a whole school food policy. Practical ways to improve food provision and choice can then be investigated. You may find that the solutions are not in the most obvious places. For example you may find out that kids who eat school lunch eat twice the amount of fruit and vegetables as kids who bring packed lunch, and therefore decide that the way to promote fruit and vegetables is by making school dinners more popular.

Action plans should:

Have a long-term vision of how the various Grab 5! activities will be sustained. Short term funding may help get activities going but if no consideration is given to what happens after the funding runs out, the activity will end and the people involved will get disheartened. In the case of a breakfast club, for example, from the beginning, ways to keep the project going should be investigated, e.g. looking for other sources of funding, charging a minimum fee and/or forging links with local retailers to provide cheap produce.

Info bank 2: Get your hands on some funding, Info bank 10: Work with business

Fit into the overall school development plans. Consideration should be given to how Grab 5! fits into the school's overall aims and objectives. If improving food and nutrition is an aim, Grab 5! may be written into the school development plan. Consider how healthy eating can be promoted at all school events. If there is a sports day planned, for example, it would be relatively easy to set up a smoothie stall for refreshment. If a school is involved in the Healthy Schools Programme the Grab 5! work can fit perfectly into the nutrition element of this programme. It should not be necessary to create two action plans.

Be planned so as to achieve maximum benefit. A one-off event, such as a talk by a nutritionist, while fun and interesting at the time, will not have much influence on children's eating habits unless followed up by other healthy eating activities such as a launch of a fruit tuck shop or an 'Eat 5 a day' competition.

Be realistic, flexible and as easy to implement as possible. Although getting started on Grab 5! activities is going to take some time and commitment the burden on teachers should be kept to a minimum. It is important to be realistic about what can be achieved and when. Good planning is key. Involving parents, governors and the local community can also reduce the workload of teachers.

Support curriculum work. Where possible Grab 5! activities should link in with and support curriculum work. There are many opportunities throughout the curriculum to teach about food and healthy eating. To encourage class teachers to take up these opportunities you may want to work through the curriculum timetable for each year group and highlight where healthy eating appears. Then draw the class teachers' attention to these occassions and remind them of the Grab 5! activities and materials available. They may, for example, decide to organise a visit to a farm or do a survey of pupils' eating habits to coincide with learning about where food comes from and the importance of a balanced diet.

The Grab 5! Curriculum Pack, info bank 5: Get food into the curriculum