The free school meal offer should be extended to all secondary age pupils, Plaid Cymru said today as the new term begins in the face of the deepening cost of living crisis. All reception age children in Wales will be offered free school meals from the first day of term, with the offer being rolled out to older primary children later.
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said universal primary school meals is “step one” as he has renewed his calls to extend the offer. Welsh Government data shows 21% of primary and 18% of secondary children are eligible for free school meals on average.
Schools have long warned that some children, even those not eligible for free school meals, come to classes hungry. Mr Price said: "Universal free school meals for primary school pupils is Plaid Cymru at its best. However, we have always said that we see the introduction of free school meals for primary school children as a first step. To us, it isn’t a matter of if this should happen, but when.
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“By starting the conversations and outlining what needs to happen to roll this out across all schools, and to all ages, we can plan to make a tangible difference to people’s lives. I’m under no illusion that this work will be easy, but there can be no doubt that it’s necessary. Hungry children cannot learn, and this is no less true in secondary schools as it is in primary schools. In the face of a Tory Westminster Government, it would show exactly how we can do things differently in Wales.”
Carmarthenshire County Council leader, Councillor Darren Price said poverty doesn’t stop when children reach secondary school, and conversations need to begin now on making universal free school meals a possibility in Wales. Cllr Price said his council, which has a Plaid-Independent alliance, stands ready to assess what would be required to deliver free meals to a higher number of secondary school pupils.
“In accepting that universal free primary school meals are an important step in tackling the symptoms of child poverty, the next logical step is starting to think how we could roll this out across secondary schools.
“We can begin conversations around how we do this by learning from the free school meals rollout for primary schools. After all, poverty doesn’t stop in primary school. That’s why we need to be taking steps to assess what would be required to deliver to a higher number of pupils.
“Anything we can do now to help plan for a future rollout of this policy we are glad to do – we have learned a lot and overcome a number of challenges to hit the target of commencing the rollout of free school meals for primary school pupils. In conjunction with local government across Wales we stand ready to offer expertise and ideas as to what this could look like in secondary school settings.
“In Carmarthenshire, a key focus as we continue the present rollout for primary schools will be to develop and support local suppliers and producers through the supply chain, thereby supporting local businesses and help safeguard jobs in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.”
The Welsh Government was approached for comment.
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