Free meals for all primary children in borough

The east London borough is one of just four councils to have expanded free school meals across all its primary provision.

From the start of this school year all children in infant classes in England - Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 - are eligible for free school meals.

Tower Hamlets started offering free school meals to all Reception and Year 1 pupils last September.

From the start of this term, the council has expanded this to all primary school children in the borough, including those at free schools and academies, regardless of family income.

The move follows a recommendation last year by the School Food Plan, a project commissioned by the Government, that free school meals should be extended to all primary school children.

Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman said, 'We know the importance of making sure every child has a hot and nutritious meal every day. Healthy children make better learners and the high performance of the schools in Tower Hamlets is testament to this.

He added, 'While news reports talk of free school meals causing a crisis in school kitchens around the country, here in Tower Hamlets we were already ahead of the curve.

'With the support of headteachers, our award-winning catering service has gone beyond the Government's policy and expanded its operation to serve a free meal to every primary school pupil in the borough every day.'

The council's school catering service, which provides more than 30,000 school meals a day to primary and secondary pupils, was recently named the best in Britain at the Lead Association for Catering in Education Awards.

According to the School Food Plan, which runs a support service for schools providing free school meals, the other councils providing free meals for all primary pupils are Southwark, Newham and Islington.

Last month, a Freedom of Information request by the Labour party revealed that nearly a third of local authorities did not have sufficient funding from the Government to pay for universal infant free school meals.

However, the Department for Education disputed the figures.

Commenting on the rollout of free school meals to all five- to seven-year-olds in England, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said, 'This is one of the most progressive changes to our school system for a long time, so there'll always be critics but that won't cloud my goal to create a level playing field for all of our children so their success will be determined by their talents and efforts alone and not by their parents' bank balance.

'All the evidence, including the pilots in Durham and Newham, shows that free school meals will not only help ease the pressure on household budgets and encourage positive eating, but will also help improve concentration and raise educational performance so that, regardless of their background, every child can have the best possible start in life.'

• Download the 'Universal Infant Free School Meals Toolkit' at www.schoolfoodplan.com/toolkit

ON THE MENU AT BEN JOHNSON PRIMARY SCHOOL

Homemade spaghetti beef bolognaise

Jacket potato with cheese and homemade coleslaw

Southern-style quorn escalope in a bun

Oven-baked potato wedges

Fresh organic carrots and sweetcorn

Choice of seasonal salads

Freshly baked organic baguette slices

Home-made organic sultana flapjack

Organic yoghurt selection

Cheese and bread sticks

Fresh fruit platter

Source: www.myschoollunch.co.uk/towerhamlets.