Daily roundup 4 April: Free school meals, fruit and veg, and children's centres

Counting the proportion of pupils taking free school meals is an increasingly unreliable way of measuring poverty and the fairness of admissions policies, it has been claimed. The BBC reports that researchers at St Mary's University in London said free meals can be a "misleading" marker for deprivation in schools. The study warns of the need to support the "hidden poor".


More than nine out of every 10 older children are not eating the recommended five portions of fruit or vegetables every day, a charity has warned. The Daily Mail reports that a study by the World Cancer Research Fund found that only eight per cent of 11- to 18-year-olds are achieving the target.


A council has unveiled plans to close a children's centre. The Northern Echo reports that the Darlington Borough Council's children's and adults services department has announced plans to shut its Haughton children's centre and run a reduced service in others as part of £1.4m worth of cuts being made across its remit. The council currently operates five centres across Darlington.


A school has been caught up in a privacy row after claims that there's a new "stop and search" policy on children's mobile phones. The Sun reports that staff will be able to confiscate pupils' phones and devices as part of a move to stop "inappropriate" use at Bournemouth School, in Charminster, Dorset.


Six more people have been charged over an attack on a teenage asylum seeker in south London. Kurdish-Iranian Reker Ahmed was chased and subjected to a "brutal attack" in Croydon last Friday night. The 17-year-old was left with a fractured spine, fractured skull and a bleed on his brain after the assault. The BBC reports that, in total, 13 people now face charges over the attack.