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 The
term free school meal refers to a sum of money provided for individual
pupils in schools throughout the United Kingdom to purchase a lunch
time school meal, or to the meal itself. For a child to qualify
for a free school meal, their family or carers are considered by
the Local Education Authority to be unable to fund a lunch time
meal. The authority will then provide either a free meal, or a sum
of money considered acceptable to purchase a full meal in the school
canteen for that pupil. This often takes the form of tickets or
cards, to ensure that the money is only spent on food at school.
Periodical reviews are conducted to assess a child's qualification
for this scheme.Free school meals can be seen as stigmatising to those pupils involved; studies have shown that many of those entitled to free meals do not take them and it can have a negative effect on those that do. Another problem is that not all those children who could benefit from the scheme qualify for it. The Scottish Free School Meals Campaign calls for school meals to be made free for all pupils to tackle these and other problems. |