Free school meal

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The term free school meal refers to a meal that is provided to a child or young person during a school break that is paid for out of Government funding. For a child to qualify for a Free School Meal, their parent or carer must be receiving particular eligible benefits as stated by Government. Free School Meal applications are dealt with in different ways according to the Local Authority where you live. Some Local Authorities provide a centralised application process, whilst in other areas, individual schools deal with their parents/carers application. Usually the school caterer is informed of a pupils eligibility, it is unusual for pupils or their parents to be given physical cash for a meal.

Traditionally, when applying for a Free School Meal, parents would need to present evidence of their eligible benefit, usually in the form of a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions, Tax Credits (HMRC) or the Home Office. In October 2007, the Department for Children, Schools and Families introduced an 'Online Hub' pilot which allowed invited Local Authorities to check applicants eligibility without the need for claimants to submit evidence. The Hub communicates with HMRC, DWP and Home Office systems to upload information in order for Local Authorities to verify a claimants eligibility. The Hub gives Local Authorities no particular information about a claimant, it simply states whether or not a claimant is eligible. It gives no information regarding the particular type of benefit the claimant is receiving.

The Hub was rolled out for all Local Authorities to use in January 2008 and has helped Local Authorities to streamline application processes and more importantly has helped a lot more people access the benefit in a fast and efficient way.

Contents 1 History 2 School League Tables 3 Problems 4 By Country 4.1 Scotland 4.2 Nordic countries 4.3 India 5 See also 6 References

[edit] History

The 1944 Education Act made it an entitlement for pupils to receive a free school meal. This entitlement was scaled back in 1949 when a flat charge of 2.5 pence was introduced. Over the next thirty years this flat fee was gradually increased, until in 1980, legislation was introduced to remove the requirement for Local Education Authorities to provide a meal for every pupil. Since that date, authorities have been obliged only to provide a meal to those pupils who are eligible for a free meal.^[1] Before this, the Liberal Government of Britain introduced measures which gave power for local councils to give free meals for children from poor families in 1906. By 1914, over 158,000 children were fed free meals once everyday. However, the number was low in comparison with all the other poor children who needed free meals. ^[2]. In 2004 14.3% of pupils in English schools were eligible for Free School Meals ^[3]

[edit] School League Tables

The percentage of children eligible for free school meals in an area is thought to be a fair measure of deprivation. This figure is therefore used in conjunction with the scores children achieve in SATs, GCSEs and A-levels to determine a school's position in the local and national league tables. If two schools get their children to the same scores, the school with the most children eligible for free school meals is judged to have done a better job, as it has been likely to be teaching children with access to fewer resources and less home encouragement.

[edit] Problems

Free school meals can be seen as stigmatising to those pupils involved; studies have shown that many of those entitled to free meals do not take them and it can have a negative effect on those that do. Another problem is that not all those children who could benefit from the scheme qualify for it. Organisations such as the Child Poverty Action Group have called for school meals to be made free for all pupils to tackle the problems mentioned above. Tests of these free-school-meal-to-all programs have been funded by Share Our Strength in some school districts in the United States of America.^[4]

[edit] By Country

[edit] Scotland

Frances Curran MSP led a broad campaign with widespread support through many children's and anti-poverty organisations to provide free nutritious meals for all Scottish schoolchildren to tackle the problems of poor diet among Scottish schoolchildren^[5]. A bill to this effect was proposed in parliament in 2002 but was defeated. A subsequent Scottish Executive consultation which found that 96% of respondents were in favour of free school meals. The SNP introduced free school meals for the first three years of primary schooling as a pilot project in 2007.

[edit] Nordic countries

In both Sweden and Finland, free school meals are offered to all pupils. This practice has been in place since 1948 in Finland, and was introduced to Sweden in 1973.

[edit] India

The Mid-day Meal Scheme is a school meal programme in India. 120 million children are covered under the Mid-day Meal Scheme in India, making it the largest school lunch programme in the world. Originally only in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, it has now been expanded to all parts of India after a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of India on November 28, 2001.

The scheme involves provision of lunch free of cost to school-children on all working days. The key objectives of the programme are to protect children from hunger and malnutrition, increasing school enrolment and attendance, improved socialisation among children belonging to all castes, and social empowerment by providing employment for women. Due to the immense cost of catering for so many schoolchildren and the rapid growth of the poor sending their children to school, the government has raised funding for the programme from Rs. 3010 crore to Rs. 4813 crore (Rs 48 billion, $1.2 billion USD) in 2006-2007.

[edit] See also

• Mid-day Meal Scheme
• Nutrition
• Poverty
• School Food Trust
• FRESH, UNESCO
• Share Our Strength
• Reduced price meal

[edit] References

1. ^ "The Case for Free School Meals" (PDF). Child Poverty Action Group. http://www.cpag.org.uk/scotland/Case-for-Free-School-Meals.pdf. Retrieved on 14 January 2007. 
2. ^ OCR British Depth Study 1906-1918 by Colin Shephard & Rosemary Rees (2002) ISBN 0 7195 7734 9
3. ^ "Wasted talent? Attrition rates of high-achieving pupils between school and university" (PDF). The Sutton Trust. 2008. http://www.suttontrust.com/reports/wastedTalent.pdf. Retrieved on 30 June 2009. 
4. ^ "State Partnerships to End Childhood Hunger in America". Share Our Strength. 2009. http://strength.org/state_partnerships. 
5. ^ Campaign for Free School Meals - Scottish Executive School Meals Bill

• "Free School Meals" (html). Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. http://www.qca.org.uk/9987.html. Retrieved on 22 July 2006. 

• "Campaign for Free School Meals". Child Poverty Action Group. http://www.cpag.org.uk/scotland/meals_bill_main.htm. Retrieved on 18 February 2006. 
• Consultation on Free School Meals Bill

• Will McMahon, Tim Marsh (1999). Filling the Gap: free school meals, nutrition and poverty. Child Poverty Action Group. p. 48. ISBN 1-901698-25-4.