To: UK Government
Free Lunch for Secondary School Students
Let’s make lunch at school a necessity rather than a privilege.
Why is this important?
We must attempt to make secondary school meals completely free, or as close as we can to this dream. Or maybe funding for a separate catering service to feed non-free school mealers that don’t have enough money on their lunch cards.
Beyond the surface of empty crisp packets and littered lollipop wrappers, the youth are all surrounded by questions and worries of their next proper meal - whether they admit it or not. Instead, it’s shoved down with countless snacks that are commonly and incorrectly classed as food.
“If no one questions it, biscuits for lunch must be okay.”
“If no one asks, then I can not eat at school without suspicion.”
“If no one challenges it, my dinner could be my only meal today. “
A recent survey by Food Foundation of 1469 children aged 11-18 years, found that 23% of them that didn’t receive free school meals had gone without lunch because they couldn’t afford it. To tackle this ever increasing issue of this suffering in adolescence, I want to address the meal problem: not all teens receive proper nutritional meals a day, specifically children that do not receive free school meals. Instead it’s supplemented with daily biscuits, chocolate and sweets.
Is that enough to nourish young minds?
Now there could be a magnitude of reasons why that is: whether no money on their lunch card, parents forget to top it up, or the lack of awareness to even apply for universal credit. Whatever the reason is - there surely is a solution for this so that our young teens do not pay the price for their cards not being able to pay the lunch price.
So why not join the movement to empower young minds by filling their stomachs with the right fuel?
One signature at a time, is one step to fulfilment for a lifetime.
Beyond the surface of empty crisp packets and littered lollipop wrappers, the youth are all surrounded by questions and worries of their next proper meal - whether they admit it or not. Instead, it’s shoved down with countless snacks that are commonly and incorrectly classed as food.
“If no one questions it, biscuits for lunch must be okay.”
“If no one asks, then I can not eat at school without suspicion.”
“If no one challenges it, my dinner could be my only meal today. “
A recent survey by Food Foundation of 1469 children aged 11-18 years, found that 23% of them that didn’t receive free school meals had gone without lunch because they couldn’t afford it. To tackle this ever increasing issue of this suffering in adolescence, I want to address the meal problem: not all teens receive proper nutritional meals a day, specifically children that do not receive free school meals. Instead it’s supplemented with daily biscuits, chocolate and sweets.
Is that enough to nourish young minds?
Now there could be a magnitude of reasons why that is: whether no money on their lunch card, parents forget to top it up, or the lack of awareness to even apply for universal credit. Whatever the reason is - there surely is a solution for this so that our young teens do not pay the price for their cards not being able to pay the lunch price.
So why not join the movement to empower young minds by filling their stomachs with the right fuel?
One signature at a time, is one step to fulfilment for a lifetime.
