I am delighted that Ed Balls has announced further extending free school meals for primary school children. The results in the six schools which have been part of a pilot scheme introduced by Labour councillors in Islington show a big increase in uptake of meals in some of our most deprived schools. Clearly many low income families have been sending children with packed lunches to save money. Many out of work parents have told us that the fact their children will continue to get free school meals once they have an income, removes a major barrier to returning to the labour market.
Not only do the free meals help parents’ budgets, research on nutrition in the school day shows that one hot meal in the middle of the day makes the classroom less difficult in the afternoon and helps with discipline issues. Children tend to be more settled if they’ve eaten well at lunch time and if you look at the added value of the government’s free fruit programme, these two dietary measures combine to represent most of a child’s ‘five a day’ recommendation.
From 8 March of this year, all children in Islington primary schools now have the benefit of a free meal. As Labour councillors we will be watching closely to monitor the impact of school results. Islington schools have come a long way as a result of the 50 per cent greater investment from the Labour government. Now with improved children’s nutrition, we can look forward to even better academic standards in schools.