We welcome the Mayor of London’s announcement that universal free school meals funding will be extended for the academic year 2024/2025.
Newham's Eat for Free is the longest running universal meals scheme in the UK, providing nutritious food to our young people for almost 15 years. We believe all children across the UK should receive the benefit to health, performance and attainment that a universal meal provides. We will continue to call on government to allocate funding to universal free school meals and have already written to the Prime Minister about this matter.
Councillor Sarah Ruiz, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Education said:
“I am delighted the Mayor of London has decided to extend free school meals. This will have a huge impact on children and their families, many of who are particularly affected by the rise in the cost of living.
“While today’s announcement is a step forward, it’s not the solution. It is vital free school meals are extended to all school-age children.”
Our award-winning school meals provider, Juniper Ventures, prepares and serves more than 23,000 meals daily to almost 60 primary and secondary schools in Newham, 80 per cent of its staff are also residents. Juniper is the largest local authority controlled catering service in London, with 75 per cent of primary schools in Newham choosing the service. The team delivers Eat for Free in all of these schools.
In Newham, we have shown that universal meals, combined with whole school approaches to food, is the way forward. This ultimately results in community wealth building, as well as benefits for pupils, parents, teachers, schools and the wider local economy. Universal meals create credible local jobs and enable schools to be a driver of action on the climate emergency.
For more information about our free school meals, visit www.newham.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals