Oh yes there is such thing as a free lunch

I was reading yesterday about a school (Temple Grove Hatcham in south London) that is offering all children free school meals, without means testing and I take my hat off to them. They found that they already have 60% of children who get free meals after being means tested and decided that the good nutrition of their pupils was important to them. Of equal importance is the social element to eating, so they also make sure that staff and children eat together to "build relationships" and "improve social skills".

Temple Grove Hatcham is offering locally produced, fresh, healthy food that is presented to be inviting to the children that will eat it.

After my battle just to get some answers about what was being provided in lunch boxes to children with free school meals and a lack of response when I queried whether we should not allow crisps and discuss the possibility of not giving children drinks with artificial sweeteners or low-fat yoghurts, I think that it is great that a school is really going out of its way to do something so beneficial for children.

To me it seems that offering healthy food is common sense, but it seems that not many people agree with me (I do recall being asked if I was becoming "one of those governors" for hassling the head teacher about this. The implication being that the children's health in an infant school was of less importance than other issues.)