The School Food Trust has given its response to a survey by Which? magazine, which looks at school meal prices ahead of the new term.
The charity’s Director of Programmes and Partnerships, David Edwards, said: “Keeping prices affordable is crucial if we want more families to try school meals, which are typically healthier than the average packed lunch and set children up to learn in the afternoons.
“At an average of around £1.93, school meals are still good value for money – there aren’t many places on the high street where you can get a nutritious, two-course meal for that price.
“Ultimately, increasing the number of children eating school meals will mean that schools can spread their costs, reducing the need for subsidy in the longer-term.
“That’s why we’re urging schools to continue investing in good food; helping them to make the lunch experience better so that pupils want to choose school meals, and supporting caterers to operate more efficiently.”
- The School Food Trust’s research has shown that the average meal price across all schools in the 2009-10 financial year was £1.93, a rise of 5p – less than 3% and below the current rate of food inflation – on the previous year. The same research also found that almost two thirds of local authorities who responded to the annual survey (65%) indicated that their catering services would continue to receive (unringfenced) School Lunch Grant funding this year, with fewer than I in 5 indicating that they would not.
- A report commissioned by the charity and published in 2010 found that take up of school meals is particularly sensitive to price changes.
- Affordability is one of the charity’s ‘six staples’ of good food at school
