‘The benefit is massive’: the school offering free meals to all students

Lunch at Urswick school in Hackney. ‘I think it contributes massively to our sense of happiness,’ says the headteacher. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Headteacher Richard Brown grew up on free school meals. He remembers the stigma of having to queue separately. Now he runs a school where everybody gets a free lunch, regardless of their ability to pay.

The Urswick school in Hackney is officially the most disadvantaged school in London. About 65% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (FSM), but for the past eight years the school has provided all pupils with a free lunch, including those in sixth form.