Between the 12-16 of November hundreds of schools across England will be taking part in National School Meals Week – the biggest healthy eating awareness week for children.
The free school meals programme was introduced by the Liberal Democrats in Government. With £1.2billion given each year and £150million for kitchen upgrades for schools across England.
Why?
Research shows that a nutritious meal at lunch helps children concentrate, get more out of school and do better academically. Offering free school lunches to every child means better concentration in the whole class and results improve even more. But that’s not all, helping young children to enjoy a range of healthy foods means they’ll have a healthy relationship with food as they grow up.
Commenting Cllr James Newport said, “Eating a healthy and nutritious meal at school means better health for our children and better results at school.
“With the help of hard-working teachers and staff, thousands of infant children locally are getting a free healthy meal at lunch time – saving parents a huge £400 a year.
“National School Meals week is a chance for schools to really get stuck in and embrace school meals. Using the creativity and talents of their cooks to the full.”
Cllr James Newport added, “During National School Meals week we should also reflect on our schools as a whole. We need to demand better for our schools and reverse damaging budget cuts to get the best for our children.”