Two pupils left secret letters on Humza Yousaf’s desk in the Scottish Parliament – urging him to support their campaign for free school meals. Rosie McAllister, 11, and Ava Young, 12, were at a Sunday Mail-sponsored event demanding the First Minister extend food provision amid fears thousands of children are going hungry in class.
Teachers, trade unions, public health experts and even the Scottish Government’s own outgoing Children and Young People’s Commissioner Bruce Adamson have called for urgent action.
Primary one to five pupils already receive free meals but Yousaf is under pressure to make good on a vow to extend that to primary six and seven, as well as running a pilot in secondaries. And if he needed a further reminder of how important this is to children, he will have got it on finding the letters from Rosie and Ava, both pupils at Woodlands Primary in Irvine, Ayrshire.
