Wandsworth Council proposes school food strategy
Emily Harle
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Councillors in south London have agreed to the development of a school food strategy, aimed at supporting children whose families are struggling with food insecurity, amid the cost-of-living crisis.
At a meeting of the children's committee on 28 September, councillors voted to support the development of the £200,000 strategy which will involve working with Magic Breakfast, which provided free breakfasts to children in schools across England each day.
Gary Hipple, head of school support and trade services at the council, gave an overview of the proposal during the meeting, and said that these “new requirements can best be summarized by putting food at the heart of the school, and linking up kitchens and classrooms to ensure food is part of a child’s education".
The strategy will be developed by the local authorities' children’s committee, in partnership with community partners and families, to ensure more children can access free, nutritious meals.
According to research by Wandsworth Foodbank, many children are regularly missing meals, with three per cent of primary school pupils in the borough going without breakfast, and 17 per cent of secondary school students skipping lunch.
Food insecurity also impacts the nutritious value of children’s meals, with 19 per cent of children classed as obese by age 11, in part due to families being unable to afford healthier foods, the council says.
Since the pandemic, the amount of emergency food supplied by the foodbank to local people has increased by 53 per cent, with a third going to children.
The one-year pilot scheme will begin in January, with up to 20 schools being offered the chance to provide free healthy breakfasts for their students. Schools with higher numbers of children in need will be prioritised, and an impact assessment of the scheme will be conducted to evaluate its progress.
The strategy is an extension of existing council schemes which aim to reduce child hunger, including one which provides free meals to those in need during school holidays.
Councillor Kate Stock, Wandsworth's cabinet member for children, said ahead of the meeting: “We cannot have children going hungry. That’s why we’re taking a whole system approach to this, recognising that food insecurity is a result of a variety of issues. Over the coming weeks we will be developing the strategy alongside our partners and will be talking to schools about working with Magic Breakfast and improving school lunches so that they use fresh, seasonal produce and produce real food with no pre-prepared, processed ingredients.”
Councillor Stock added that the cost-of-living crisis is forcing families to make "tough decisions”, saying that she hopes the new strategy will "prevent a future serious health crisis and give our children the nutrition they need to learn, grow and live their best lives.”
The move comes following the publication of an open letter to Prime Minister Liz Trust by child poverty charity No Child Left Behind, urging her to extend free school meals to all primary school children.
The charity tweeted “every child should have hot, nutritious food so they can learn and thrive”, and encouraged others to support the campaign by signing the open letter.
Today we launched our Open Letter to @trussliz urging her to extend Free School Meals to all primary school children.🍲🍎
— No Child Left Behind (@NoChildBehindUK) September 22, 2022
Every child should have hot, nutritious food so they can learn and thrive.
Do you agree? Join our call for #FreeSchoolMealsForAll 👉https://t.co/FIT4EeIQ85 pic.twitter.com/ePwydF50AY
The charity is also urging the public to show their support on social media, with the hashtag #FreeSchoolMealsForAll.
Great to have support from @ChefTomKerridge for #FreeSchoolMealsforAll @trussliz we're asking your Government to provide a hot school dinner for every child, every day. pic.twitter.com/bvhLsCvGzE
— No Child Left Behind (@NoChildBehindUK) September 26, 2022
