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Over 350,000 children will be offered a free two course meal this week to celebrate the Great School Lunch as part of the 20th annual National School Meals Week.

National School Meals Week is the biggest healthy eating awareness week aimed at children in England & Wales. The event is organised by LACA, the lead association for catering in education, who work with schools to promote healthy school meals in primary and secondary schools, colleges and academies.

Hundreds of schools across the country will be taking part in National School Meals Week, which started on Monday and runs until November 8th. The great school lunch is this year’s initiative to get as many pupils in England and Wales to try school food rather than bring a lunch box from home.

School meals have become a major political issue with the publication of the Department for Education’s School Food Plan in July and Nick Clegg’s announcement of £600m in September to introduce free school meals for all 5 to 7 year olds in England. Many local authorities, such as Islington and Southwark, have already introduced free school meals for primary age students.

The School Food Plan found many parents mistakenly imagine that a packed lunch is the healthiest option but only 1% of packed lunches actually meet the nutritional standards that currently apply to school food.

Among the initiatives being undertaken during National School Meals Week: Newcastle United and Sunderland football players will be visiting schools to promote healthy eating; Lancashire School Catering Service will be serving up a roast chicken dinner to 73,000 primary school children; Spotland Primary School in Rochdale will be hosting a Mexican Day; Leeds City Council is running a school food competition for primary schools in the city; Birmingham City Council is offering a themed meal in all its 300 primary schools; Wrexham Borough Council is offering all primary school pupils a free lunch on Thursday, November 7th.

Anne Bull, National Chair of LACA, the lead association for catering in education, said: “It is vital to our children’s wellbeing that they eat a healthy, nutritious hot meal on a regular basis.

“School caterers are doing a great job feeding our young people during term-time. The aim of National School Meals Week is to showcase just how good school meals have become and to promote the Great School lunch to more students and parents.

“A school lunch helps young people recharge their batteries to be at their best for afternoon lessons.”

To watch Anne’s BBC Soapbox video click here:
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24824357

Meanwhile, Sharon Hodgson MP, Shadow Women and Equalities Minister and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on School Food, commented: “I am delighted to support National School Meals Week and the work of our school cooks and catering staff, and it’s great news that so many children will be getting free meals this week.

“School food is excellent but we need to do more to promote it to parents as a tasty, nutritious option for their children. Well-fed pupils have greater concentration levels and achieve better results than those whose diet is not sustaining them, and for many students a school lunch is the only hot and healthy meal they will get.

“I would therefore love to see as many pupils as possible taking up school dinners, and I hope National School Meals Week is successful in achieving that.”

Schools Minister David Laws MP added: “We know that regularly eating a nutritious school meal can help to increase a child’s educational attainment, so it is fantastic that through National School Meals Week free school meals will be provided to 450,000 children.

“From September 2014 we will provide funding for all infant school pupils to eat healthy meals during the school day. Free school meals for all infant school pupils will save parents an average of £400 a year, and make sure every child can get the nutritious lunch that will help them do well at school.”