AFTER a damning report reveals that a growing number of people in Britain are becoming obese, the Guardian contacted the borough's schools to find out what measures they are taking to contribute to the healthy living of our teenagers.

The report, produced by the Royal College of Physicians, the Faculty of Public Health and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, says that if current trends continue, at least a third of all adults will be obese by 2020.

More worrying perhaps is the revelation that by that time, a fifth of all boys and a staggering third of all girls could also be overweight.

The report calls for the food industry and the Food Standards Agency to work together to promote healthier foods. It also calls for health professionals to be trained in how best to prevent and manage obesity.

The promising news is that many of the schools in Waltham Forest are taking steps to improve the long-term health of our youngsters.

Patricia Cutler, headteacher of Rush Croft School in Rushcroft Road, Chingford, said that students at the school were actually asking for healthier drinks, including orange juice and bottled water.

She said: "That has led us to change several of our vending machines so they now dispense healthy drinks instead of the previous canned ones.

"This change fits well alongside the the school's healthy eating initiatives and the fact we are a specialist sports college as there is no doubt that young people need to maintain a high fluid intake during a working day but equally the drinks they have should be as healthy as possible.

"We are also now serving things like containers of salad and freshly prepared fruit salad much like you get in supermarkets. We are serving pastas and on the whole a much more sophisticated menu.

"We also have new uniforms for the catering staff and have got rid of the old pre-war dishes which used to be common in schools.

"The healthier eating initiative started in May and at present it is too early to judge performance but we hope that healthy meals will mean even better academic performance in the long term."

A school in Bedfordshire hit the headlines last week when it became the first in the country to remove all of its sugary snacks from school vending machines and replace them with healthier options such as fruit juice and fibre bars.

However, the assistant head teacher of Kelmscott School in Markhouse Road, Walthamstow, says the school already has a healthy eating policy, and vending machines have never been installed to tempt pupils into buying junk food.

Miranda Perry said: "From April we are having new caterers, which means a new school dinner menu with healthy options.

"We chose the catering service provider after consultations with the student council, staff and our parent food committee. The new menu means we are banning drinks which contain E numbers."

She adds that the school does have healthy eating programmes as part of its Citizenship in Schools scheme, and says that the school has seen a direct link between pupils' poor diet and their behaviour in the classroom.

The apparent uptake of healthier options in schools comes despite the publication of another damning report late last year by the Soil Association, the UK's main promoter of organic and local food.

The report accused the Government of allowing children's health to suffer as there was no routine Government monitoring of what children ate in primary schools.

Although many schools, including a number in Waltham Forest, are clearly doing their bit to improve the diet of their children, statistics reveal that 15 per cent of 15-year-olds are still classed as overweight. The figures come despite the fact that the Government has set out several guidelines specifying the type of food that should be served in schools.

Another school which is looking to improve the eating habits of its children is Norlington Boys in Norlington Road, Leyton.

Head teacher Neil Primrose said that the school now encouraged children to bring their own water into class. He said: "It was quite a shock for me at first seeing all the children drinking water in class. I've been teaching for 30 years and I sometimes thought 'hang on, I've suddenly changed the rules and allowed children to drink in class'.

"But we now know that it is a fact that performance is enhanced by good hydration and that is something we have improved here."

Mr Primrose added that the school, together with Waltham Forest Catering which provides school meals to the borough's children, would be "revolutionising" the way it served meals from April.

"We are looking at introducing new nutritional bars for children to have here at the school for breakfast," said Mr Primrose.

"It is easy to say parents should make sure that children should have breakfast before leaving in the morning and to some extent that is true. However, the demands of daily life mean that that is not always possible."

He added that lunchtime meals were also being reviewed and that changes would be taking place in the new financial year.

A spokesman for EduAction said that although there was, at present, no specific guidance on vending machines, advice encouraged schools to be consistent and provide options that reflected what was being taught in class about diet and good health.