|
Councillor Peter Grant, Leader of Fife Council, has welcomed the SNP Government's announcement that free school meals will be made available for all primary 1-3 children, whereby from August 2010, all primary one to three children in Fife will now get a free school meal every day. The announcement follows the publication of a report into the success of a pilot programme in five council areas - one of which was Fife. The report found that uptake of school meals among P1s to P3s rose from 53 per cent to 75 per cent. Within the target group of P1-P3 pupils not registered for free school meals, uptake increased from 41 per cent to 69 per cent. Councillor Grant said: "This is excellent news from the SNP Government and I am sure parents in Fife will be as happy as I am to hear about this. I'm also very happy that Fife has played a significant part in bringing about this groundbreaking change after being one of the councils involved in the pilot scheme. "In the areas where this pilot was run many children have benefited from the provision of free healthy and nutritious school meals. "And at a time of rising living costs this also helps many families who may be just over the current income level for free school meals but would have found the cost of school lunches every day difficult to meet. "Whether we are addressing health or poverty issues free school meals ensure all our young children receive at least one good, healthy meal a day. "With the number of children taking free school meals increasing by over 30% in some of the pilot areas and increases even amongst those children already entitled to free school meals across the pilot areas this is excellent news. "Improved educational attainment is one of Fife Council's big priorities and making sure young children are well fed in the middle of the day is one of the steps that can help deliver that aim." |
