Teachers believe that pupils should access free meals

The majority of staff in teaching jobs believes that pupils should have access to free and healthy school meals, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has said.
 
According to the ATL survey, which polled 870 teachers, lecturers, support staff and heads in schools across the UK, 67 per cent of education staff feel that, budgets aside, primary pupils should be able to access free meals, with 53 per cent saying that the same should be applied to secondary pupils too.
 
ATL's general secretary, del comma Dr Mary Bousted said the organisation was "pleased" to see that the government has recognised the significance of free school meals "by backing plans to provide them to 600,000 school children from low-income families in England from September 2010- to September 2011, which should lift 50,000 children out of poverty".
 
In other news, the Food Standards Agency has launched a new interactive web-based education resource that could help primary teachers educate children about the benefits of healthy food.
 
Posted by Tim Colman




Published On 30/03/2010