By Andrew Pring | 2 September 2014
Free lunches are now available to all children in the first three years of school in England at the start of the new school term.
The initiative, which has been championed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, offers nearly 1.9 million children in reception, year 1 and year 2 at 16,500 schools a free meal at lunchtime. The government claims it will save families up to £400 per year and help children do better in the classroom as well as improve their daily diet.
Pilot studies showed that where children were given free school meals they were found to be up to two months ahead of their peers elsewhere in maths and English, Clegg said as the scheme was launched nationwide. They were also more likely to eat vegetables, rather than snacks like crisps.
The government has provided over £1bn to meet the costs of the meals over the next two years and has also made £150m of capital available to schools and local authorities to help them build new kitchens or increase dining capacity where necessary. A further £22.5m has been provided specifically to help smaller schools provide free school meals, although the Local Government Association has said that the total funding is not sufficient to meet all the costs of the scheme.
Welcoming the national roll-out, Clegg said: ‘All the evidence, including the pilots in Durham and Newham, shows that free school meals will not only help ease the pressure on household budgets and encourage positive eating, but will also help improve concentration and raise educational performance so that, regardless of their background, every child can have the best possible start in life.
‘This is one of most progressive changes to our school system for a long time. It’s my goal to create a level playing field for all of our children so their success will be determined by their talents and efforts alone and not by their parents’ bank balance.’
Universal free school meals for primary school pupils was a key recommendation in a review of school food produced independently for the Department for Education by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent in July 2013.
Research from the pilot schemes also indicated that provision of free school meals to all children removed concerns of stigmatisation of children who receive free school meals because of their parents’ financial situation.
