1,000 children a day do not have ‘access to a hot meal’

A PILOT scheme providing free and subsidised school meals should be rolled out across the Island to ensure that young people are properly fed, a school governor has said.

As many as 1,000 children in the Island are said to be going without a hot meal each day, and Phil Horsley, a governor and former chairman of the board at Haute Vallée School, admitted he was ‘not surprised’ to the hear that the figure was that high.

Hannah Skelton, operating manager at Caring Cooks, has highlighted that families in the Island are living in poverty with nowhere to cook. Writing in today’s JEP Weekend Essay, she said: ‘Some might be surprised to know that as many as 1,000 children each day are unable to access a hot meal due to a lack of funds or inadequate cooking facilities.’

She added: ‘Poor nutrition is a problem in Jersey and not just for those who cannot afford healthy food. We live in a community where one in three children will leave school either overweight or obese.’

Asked by the JEP whether the provision of school meals should be expanded, Mr Horsley said: ‘I would support that.’

Mr Horsley said the provision of meals was ‘such a help’ and said that expanding the scheme would be an ‘incredible, powerful thing’ for the government to do.

‘I fully support any programme or initiative that feeds schoolchildren,’ he said.

Caring Cooks launched a pilot school lunch programme, called Flourish, in association with the government in 2019. According to Ms Skelton, the scheme ‘enables schoolchildren in three primary schools to eat a freshly prepared meal, rich in nutrients, on a daily basis’.

She said the programme would be rolled out to two further schools in February and March.

‘The government subsidises meals for all and fully funds meals for those children whose families are in receipt of income support, meaning that the lunches can be accessed by those who need them most,’ she said.

Mr Horsley said he fully supported ‘anything and everything that Caring Cooks do’.

‘I am aware that there are children in Jersey schools who are not concentrating because they are hungry,’ he said, adding that he was ‘haunted’ by this and that it was one of the reasons he had become involved in education.

During a Scrutiny hearing last year, Mr Horsley and Haute Vallée chairman Philip Le Claire handed back a poster promoting the government’s ‘putting children first’ initiative, saying the school did not feel the pledge was being met.

‘I think Jersey is a very easy place to put your head in the sand. Those problems do exist,’ he said, of child hunger.

A government spokesperson said they worked with Caring Cooks ‘to provide a daily main meal and dessert to children at Janvrin, Samarès and St Luke’s primary schools’.

But the spokesperson said the extension of the pilot had been hampered by the pandemic.

‘Covid-related impacts on school closures have restricted the extension of the pilot scheme,’ they said, adding: ‘However, we are further extending the service to provide a daily meal at St Martin’s and St Peter’s primary schools after the February half term to provide the government with a full set of data as per the original plan.

‘Following a tendering process, the next phased rollout of a further six schools is planned for July 2022.’

A proposal from Deputy Rob Ward in December 2020 to set aside £573,717 to extend this programme to all fully-state-funded primary schools was rejected.