Have we room for free school meals? (From The Argus)

Have we room for free school meals?

11:15am Monday 8th December 2008

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For the first time in Sussex a council has agreed that all schoolchildren should eat for nothing. But many heads say if every child took up the offer of free meals dining halls would be overrun and kitchens would go into meltdown. Naomi Loomes reports.

Late on Thursday evening after hours of debate Brighton and Hove City Council made the unprecedented decision to try to offer free school meals for every pupil in the city.

If it went ahead it would be a first in Sussex and only the second pilot scheme in the country after Hull.

It would mean all children at primary and secondary school getting free meals every lunchtime for three years, at a cost of about £20 million.

Half of the funds were expected to come from the Government and the rest would be covered by the relevant councils and health authorities.

The vote was tight, with 25 voting in favour and 24 against, and opinion remains divided.

Councillor Vanessa Brown, cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said free school meals would mean a financial commitment of at least £5 million and that was too much for an already overstretched council.

She said: “It’s a wonderful idea and we would all like to do it, but there is just no way the council in current circumstances would be able to find the money.

“Even if there was only a 50% uptake in the scheme it would cost £5 million, and if there was a 100% uptake it would be closer to £10 million and we would need to find half of that money.

“It would just be irresponsible to say we would do that. What else would we be taking the money away from?”

She said the council already funded free school meals for children from families with low incomes and subsidised every school meal by 5p to ensure healthy options were available.

Many headteachers also voiced concern, saying that school infrastructures will break under the strain.

Trevor Allen, head of Dorothy Stringer School in Loder Road, Brighton, said: “I didn’t know the decision had been made and I have not been told whether we are automatically included.

“I applaud the idea. It’s good in principle – but can it be applied?

A lot of good ideas fail because they can’t be made to work and that would be my fear in this case.

“We have 1,643 children at our school and we don’t have the facilities to feed them all.

“We struggle to feed those who take us up on a paid meal as it is, but if they were free I imagine we’d be overrun. Our dining hall is not big enough and most schools would say the same. The council can’t announce something like this and expect schools to do it. If every child has a right to the meal, lunch queues will either be so long they stretch into lesson time or some children will be turned away disappointed and hungry.

“A cheaper way for the council to encourage healthy eating would be to remove the ice cream and burger vans that are allowed to wait outside school gates.”

Stuart McLaughlin, from Falmer High School, Brighton, said: “We would need to consider how we could manage the massive increase in children sitting down for lunch because our canteen is small.

“We provide around 38% of free meals at the moment, the highest in the city. We can cope with that but if it was suddenly 100% we would have to make major changes.”

Other heads believe healthy eating should come from within a school rather than being imposed. Louise Willard, head at Carlton Hill Primary School, Brighton, said: “We have around 190 children and although we could seat them all, we couldn’t cook enough meals so would have to take on extra staff, and it will be interesting to see where the funding will come from.

“We are a very healthy school and hold workshops on healthy packed lunches so I do think change can come from within.”

Councillor Brown said she believed that rather than spend millions on this scheme the council should use the money to promote the free healthy meals already available to children from low-income families.

She said: “Not everybody who is entitled to free school meals does take them up.”

Despite the potential problems, many believe it is an important, innovative step that would transform schools in the area.

Brighton Green councillor Rachel Fryer, who led the campaign, said: “Families surviving on small budgets face many pressures and the high cost of healthy food for children is a major obstacle.”

A council spokesman said: “We have accepted the idea and will write to the secretary of state to bid to offer free school meals, but it is by no means set in stone.”

Do you think free food for all pupils is a good idea? Tell us below.

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