This is a summary of the publication ‘Ready to learn and thrive: School health and nutrition around the world’, developed by UNESCO, Food and Agriculture Organization, Global Partnership for Education, UNICEF, World Bank, World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organization (WHO), with the support of the Research Consortium on School Health and Nutrition and the UN Nutrition Secretariat. Based on the most comprehensive and up to date data, the report provides an overview of the extent to which countries have school health and nutrition (SHN) policies and programmes in place. It aims to encourage efforts to improve, scale up and sustain SHN policies and programmes to improve overall well-being of learners and to provide a basis for monitoring progress.