Nursery World - Free school meals feed minds as well as bodies

A two-year pilot that made free school meals available for all primary pupils significantly improved children's attainment, with children making between four and eight weeks more progress than is generally the case.

The findings suggest that making free school meals universal would boost children's educational attainment as well as having nutritional benefits.

The Department for Education and Department of Health report, which evaluated the effect of the free school meals (FSM) two-year pilot in three local authorities, found that in Newham and Durham, where all primary pupils were offered FSM, children at Key Stage 1 and 2, showed improved attainment.

Here, the improvements tended to be strongest among pupils from less affluent families and those with lower attainment.However, in Wolverhampton, where the FSM entitlement was extended only to primary and secondary pupils whose families were on Working Tax Credit and whose annual income did not exceed £16,040 in 2009-10 and £16,190 in 2010-11, there was no change in children's attainment.

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