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Free school meals: removing the stigma 

Rosemary Molinari is the School Meals Strategy Adviser at Education Leeds. This is a summary of some of her excellent work.

Some Year 10 students have been working with Rosemary and The Life Channel to create a set of one-minute films. The films work towards:

  • education inclusion;
  • de-stigmatising poverty;
  • increasing the uptake of free school meals;
  • promoting healthy schools;
  • removing the stigma associated with free school meals and
  • tackling child and food poverty.

Research findings 

The films respond to two-year action research commissioned by Education Leeds to find out why pupils fail to take up their free school meal entitlement. The research findings identified a range of barriers applicable to all children. Significantly, 17% of pupils felt uncomfortable and were worried about being teased and 21% of parents said they did not feel comfortable about claiming (often because of their own experience at school).

By generating a subtle, positive attitudinal and cultural shift the films aim to normalise free school meals. It is hoped that this shift will be achieved by changing:

  • pupils' attitudes, through the PSHCE curriculum and
  • parental attitudes, by showing the films in more than five thousand UK GP surgeries via the national Life Channel network.

During the current economic climate this outcome will help families to ensure that children have a healthier diet, improving their health and education outcomes and "making sure that no child is left behind".

The films 

The four one-minute films are formatted to be played on your PC:

  • Twin students show how eating a healthy meal can improve concentration.
  • A lonely, weary guy discovers that eating a healthy school meal can increase his energy.
  • A fruit and vegetable animation discusses "why some kids feel weird about taking free school meals".
  • An animation of identical people illustrates how everyone is the same, but it’s OK to be different.

In order to give background for PSHCE and to inform discussions on this important and sensitive social phenomenon a fifth film provides the policy context about why and how the films were made.

To view the films and access the free school meal toolkit, go to the Education Leeds web portal.

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