Free school meal offer for York pupils (From York Press)

Free school meal offer for York pupils

10:30am Wednesday 14th January 2009 in

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FREE school dinners are on the way for thousands of York pupils – regardless of their parents’ income.

City of York Council is one of three local authorities chosen by the School Food Trust to pilot a marketing campaign to increase school meals take-up.

Twenty-one York schools – nine secondaries and 12 primaries – will be involved in a scheme trialling free meals between February and April. Those taking part include Fulford School and Park Grove Primary School in The Groves.

The promotion, which starts on February 9, will test a range of marketing techniques in selected areas to identify the short, medium and long-term impact on school food take up. “All the costs of the marketing initiatives will be covered by the trust, which will work with the local authority, caterers and schools in preparatory work.

A trust spokesman said there would be two survey questionnaires for parents and pupils, display posters in schools.

Andrew Calverley, head teacher at Park Grove, said the questionnaires went home last night, but the first free meals for all pupils would be available throughout the week beginning February 9.

He said in the week beginning March 7, there will be free meals on two days.

In the week starting March 30, children can buy four meals and get the fifth free.

The campaign will end with meals costing only £1 each during the week starting April 20.

Mr Calverley said about 60 to 80 pupils out of the school’s 248 currently ate hot dinners, although the number was normally higher in winter and lower in summer.

“I suspect that’s lower than when I started out in teaching, which was a long time ago,” he said.

He said he would generally encourage pupils to eat a proper cooked school dinner than a packed lunch, not least because it was easier to tell if they were eating the right amount, and he was pleased Park Grove was one of the schools to be taking part in the campaign.

He added about eight per cent of pupils at Park Grove currently receive free school dinners routinely through parental circumstances.

A typical menu

So what do children get to eat if they have a hot school dinner nowadays?

At Park Grove Primary yesterday, there was none of the boiled cabbage and mash that might once have been dumped on pupil’s plates.

This was the lunchtime menu:

* Chicken pasta, with peas and sweetcorn and poppy seed bread.

* Vegetarian option: Sweet potato and vegetable bake.

* Pudding: Pineapple upside down cake and custard.