Monday, September 22, 2008
There is such a thing as a free lunch.
A South London Primary School has taken the radical step of offering school lunch free every day to all staff and children.
Launching new nutritional guidelines for all Primary Schools in England this September the government is expecting provision to improve for all children.
School Chefs and caterers are expected to draw up menus which meet the new requirements including the right amount of vitamins and minerals. Each school or caterer will use computer software to calculate how the content of their meals meets the requirements. Menus turn red if they do not meet the guidelines with information of what is missing provided on the screen. The same guidelines will apply to secondary school meals from September 2009.
One school has approached the guidelines in a bold and radical way by making school meals free for all.
Temple Grove Hatcham Primary School re-opened this September as part of a federation with Hberdashers Aske's Hatcham College with part of the new arrangement being school lunch being provided free for all members of the school staff and children. All children and staff will eat together and the school has its own Chef who will cook with locally sourced produce.
The Federation's Chief Executive, Dr Sidwell said, "having a free meal for all members of the school community in the middle of the day will help not only with the nutritional intake of students but also creates a sense of social community and cohesion."
The link between social relationships and the provision of food in schools is becoming more firmly established. Countries such as Finland have been providing free meals in all their schools for many years. If, in England, staff are encouraged, or as in the case of Temple Grove Hatcham, required to eat with the children, dining conditions and expectations of reasonable queuing times might improve too.
Possibly inspired by Temple Grove Hatcham, the government has announced 2 Pilot schemes providing free school dinners to all children in Primary Schools with extensive research into the benefits for children. The Pilot scheme will start in 2009 and run for two years in two local authorities, yet to be announced. Funding of £10million will be provided for each scheme. The estimated cost of providing free school meals to all of England's school children is £1 billion annually. For more information click here.