ALL primary school children will be offered hot school meals – if a £1.6 million funding plan is approved by the States.
As part of the Government Plan, ministers have agreed to ring-fence funding to expand the school meals programme to all government-maintained primary schools.
The funding would be used to not only cover the cost of the meals, but also to create storage and serving areas.
Chief Minister Kristina Moore said: ‘This substantial sum of funding underpins our commitment to supporting children and families.
‘The access that children have to healthy food has an impact on their development and their school performance: it is also a key predictor of their health throughout their life.
‘This intervention is timely.
‘We know that the cost of living is rising, and that there are many families for whom providing healthier options is becoming harder.’
The school-meals programme, which is a collaboration between the government and local charity Caring Cooks, currently runs on a pilot basis in five schools – Janvrin, Samarès, St Luke’s, St Martin’s and St Peter’s schools.
The programme allows each student to receive a nutritionally balanced main meal and a dessert for £2.50, with many students – such as those with families on income support – eligible for free meals.
At the end of last year, students at Victoria College called for the pilot scheme to be expanded to all schools, after they were inspired by England footballer Marcus Rashford’s successful free school meals campaign.
Children’s and Education Minister Inna Gardiner said: ‘In the Council of Ministers’ 100-day plan, we committed to funding the expansion of the school meal plan, and I have worked closely with officers to make this happen.
‘I recognise exactly how ambitious this plan is: if funding is approved, we will go from providing a few hundred meals a day to several thousand meals a day.
‘This is more than double the number produced by the General Hospital every day, for delivery across the Island. This is a huge logistical challenge, and I recognise that there is a substantial amount of work needed to make this happen.
‘However, it is absolutely worth doing to ensure that as many children as possible can benefit from healthy meals.’
