Free school dinners for new starters

3:10pm Friday 12th September 2008

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YOUNGSTERS will receive four weeks of free school meals after Bromley Council announced details of an expensive trial.

Bromley Council will spend £487,069 on providing every child in their first year of primary and secondary school with 20 days of free school meals.

The decision has been taken to try and encourage more parents to take up the option of buying school dinners.

Council officers say the four week trial will provide schools and their catering teams a "window of opportunity" to encourage, impress and promote their school meals.

All pupils who have started primary school aged four and a half and new Year 7 pupils will receive free school meals at some point in the Autumn term this year.

The mooted amounts of funding means the council will end up spending £1.90 each day on eligible primary school pupils and £2.15 each day on secondary pupils during the trial.

Currently there are four lunchtime options open to parents and pupils including school dinners ranging in price from £1.70 and £2.50, home-made packed lunches, returning home for lunch or free school meals if eligible. Some secondary pupils also have the option of leaving school to buy lunch.

The council hopes the proposals will persuade pupils to continue to opt for school dinners after the trial while helping to keep costs down and ease the pressure on school budgets.

The biggest benefactors from the grant are likely to be the Priory School in Orpington and Bromley's Ravensbourne School, which have been earmarked for £20,893 and £19,951 respectively to help them implement the scheme.

Councillors agreed to the funding at a meeting yesterday (September 11).