The purpose of this paper is to provide an up-to-date literature review on school feeding and the potential impact on nutrition, including school age children, pre-school and adolescent girls. The review is aimed at providing evidence-based guidance to national governments on school feeding and nutrition from a lifecycle approach. The review seeks to consolidate the existing evidence, analyse what this evidence translates into in terms of programming, and understand the potential of improving nutrition through school feeding programmes globally. Gaps in the evidence are also consolidated in a research agenda.