Latest news with #freeschoolmeals
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Free summer swimming lessons for 6,000 children
More than 6,000 children across Wiltshire will be eligible for free swimming lessons this summer as part of a pilot scheme. The lessons have been made available to children who are part of Wiltshire Council's FUEL programme, as well as pupils in secondary schools who received free school meals. Up to 10 lessons will be provided at council-run leisure centres with a pool, such as Marlborough Leisure Centre and Calne Community Campus. Councillor Jon Hubbard, cabinet member for education at Wiltshire Council, said "a few pennies behind the sofa" helped pay for the scheme. More news stories for Wiltshire Listen to the latest news for Wiltshire Mr Hubbard told BBC Radio Wiltshire the extra money for the swimming lessons cost £45,000, and money had been used from Public Health England funding and the children's services budget. "For some of our young people who have six or seven weeks at home without school, having these positive and fun activities for them to go and take part in is a really important thing we offer", he said. "I want them to have fun. I want them to have positive activities to be able to look back on and say, 'that was a really cracking time we've had'. "And to have made new friendships, had a positive experience and something they can build happy memories." He said schools would have told parents whether they were eligible, and sent out an invitation for the FUEL programme. Parents of children eligible for free school meals needed to show proof of the entitlement at a pool. A full list of the swimming pools at which the lessons will be held can be found here: Bradford on Avon Calne Community Campus Devizes Leisure Centre Durrington Swimming and Fitness Centre Five Rivers Health and Wellbeing Centre Lime Kiln Leisure Centre, Royal Wootton Bassett Marlborough Leisure Centre Melksham Community Campus Olympiad Leisure Centre, Chippenham Springfield Community Campus, Corsham The Activity Zone, Malmesbury The Vale Community Campus, Pewsey Tidworth Leisure Centre Trowbridge Sports Centre Warminster Sports Centre Westbury Pool Wiltshire Council said the scheme would be reviewed in autumn after it finished. Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. More on this story Health Hydro pool work is almost completed Soldiers beat choppy waters in Channel swim Nature reserve to be 'transformed' with £100k boost Related Internet Links Wiltshire Council
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Free summer swimming lessons for 6,000 Wiltshire children
More than 6,000 children across Wiltshire will be eligible for free swimming lessons this summer as part of a pilot lessons have been made available to children who are part of Wiltshire Council's FUEL programme, as well as pupils in secondary schools who received free school to 10 lessons will be provided at council-run leisure centres with a pool, such as Marlborough Leisure Centre and Calne Community Jon Hubbard, cabinet member for education at Wiltshire Council, said "a few pennies behind the sofa" helped pay for the scheme. Mr Hubbard told BBC Radio Wiltshire the extra money for the swimming lessons cost £45,000, and money had been used from Public Health England funding and the children's services budget."For some of our young people who have six or seven weeks at home without school, having these positive and fun activities for them to go and take part in is a really important thing we offer", he said."I want them to have fun. I want them to have positive activities to be able to look back on and say, 'that was a really cracking time we've had'. "And to have made new friendships, had a positive experience and something they can build happy memories."He said schools would have told parents whether they were eligible, and sent out an invitation for the FUEL of children eligible for free school meals needed to show proof of the entitlement at a pool.A full list of the swimming pools at which the lessons will be held can be found here:Bradford on AvonCalne Community CampusDevizes Leisure CentreDurrington Swimming and Fitness CentreFive Rivers Health and Wellbeing CentreLime Kiln Leisure Centre, Royal Wootton BassettMarlborough Leisure CentreMelksham Community CampusOlympiad Leisure Centre, ChippenhamSpringfield Community Campus, CorshamThe Activity Zone, MalmesburyThe Vale Community Campus, PewseyTidworth Leisure CentreTrowbridge Sports CentreWarminster Sports CentreWestbury Pool Wiltshire Council said the scheme would be reviewed in autumn after it finished.
BBC News
21-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Coventry food charity user says missing meals to feed kids is the norm
Parents using a social supermarket in Coventry have said they would struggle to feed their children without it, with one recipient of free school meals describing the lack of them during summer holidays as "horrendous".Claire said regularly going without meals so her children could eat had "become the norm".The Grub Hub on Wyken Road has been helping people in the community deal with the cost of living crisis, offering discounted food mum, who has two school-age children with special needs, said the facility was a "lifeline", adding: "It's so difficult, I don't know what we'd do without it". Another mum, Precious, explained she was initially embarrassed about using the charity to feed her three children, "but it has become a chance to meet others and share life's issues".She lives with her partner who has a full-time job but, she added: "He carries a lot but it's not always a light burden to carry"."I can't tell you how much this place helps." Alainea Stark is a carer for her nine-year-old daughter and volunteers at the centre. She said it could be "incredibly daunting" the first time people came but "you get to know other people and it's a good sense of community".Users pay a membership fee in return for discounted weekly groceries."When people pay they feel they are contributing," she Williams, chief executive of Moathouse Community Trust, which runs the Grub Hub, said recent food cost increases had left people "really struggling".Over the summer the charity will plans to provide activities and hot lunches for children at its Winston Avenue centre. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
School meals smaller and have less meat due to cost, caterers say
School children are getting less meat, cheaper ingredients and smaller portions in their lunches as caterers battle rising costs, the new chair of a school food organisation has Hales, incoming chair of LACA, said schools were increasingly having to bridge the gap between government funding for free school meals and the rising cost of delivering dinner for all of their comes after the government said it would expand free school meals, which Mr Hales said was "welcome", but added that more funding would be "essential".The Department for Education (DfE) said the "fully funded" expansion of free school meals was a "historic step to tackle the stain of child poverty". A spokesperson added the government would keep the meal rates paid to schools, which fund free school meals, under review. In April, the government said those rates would rise by 3p in the next academic year, from £2.58 to £2.61 per meal - a rise which Mr Hales said was "inadequate" and "almost considered an insult".He said it meant caterers who were part of LACA and provided about three million school dinners a day, were having to make "really difficult decisions" over portion sizes, and the quality of ingredients they could said it was becoming an "ever increasing challenge" to meet the government's school food standards, which officials said they were looking to "revise" with input from sector Stoke-on-Trent, head teacher Clare Morton said she was spending £45,000 per year topping up the money she received from the government to pay for free school money could be spent on another member of staff at St Mary's Primary School, she said, but added it was vitally important all the children were well fed."For a lot of our children, this is the only hot meal that they will get during the day," she said."Without healthy food, without a full tummy, these children won't be able to learn." In England, the government will pay primary schools £2.61 per meal in 2025-26 to deliver its universal infant free school meals scheme, which makes all children from reception up to Year 2, regardless of household income, eligible for a free school Year 2, primary and secondary schools also get additional pupil premium funding from government for each of their pupils who gets a free school meal. Currently, children qualify for a free school meal if their family is on Universal Credit and earns under £7,400 a June, the government announced that it would be changing that eligibility criteria to make all children whose families are on Universal Credit, regardless of household income, eligible for a free school meal from September change would mean 500,000 more children qualify for a free school meal, the government Morton said it was "fantastic" more children would be eligible, but added the government "needs to acknowledge that there's a gap between what the school are actually getting and how much it costs to feed the children". Currently, the money her school needs to fund that gap is supported by 72 parents who pay for their child's school meal. As the free school meals scheme expands and more children become eligible, that income will be "wiped out", she government's 3p meal rate increase "really isn't enough" to make up any of the school's £45,000 food deficit, she Hales said a recent survey of its members suggested the real cost of delivering a meal was actually more like £3.45 - roughly 80p more than the £2.61 given to schools to fund free school meals in said it sent its annual cost of living survey to 500 members. The 67 who responded said they catered for a total of 5,689 schools with a total pupil population of roughly 1.3 million. Overall, England has approximately 24,000 state schools with an overall pupil population of just over nine million. Of the 67 schools, councils and private catering firms who responded to the LACA survey:17 said they had decreased some portion sizes35 said they had cut some menu options38 said they had reduced some meats with cheaper protein sources56 said they had adjusted their recipesLACA said its survey also suggested that, since March 2020, the amount paid for school dinners by parents whose children were not eligible for free school meals had increased by 20%.Mr Hales said that could continue to rise if schools were unable to meet rising costs with increased government Mandy Mazliah, from Cambridgeshire, said she had concerns about the nutritional value of her children's school 45-year-old, who runs a food blog and is a parent ambassador for a children's food campaign, said her children, aged between 10 and 15, have a mix of packed lunches and dinners provided for them at said the school food could vary between healthy, balanced meals and pizzas, cookies and donuts, and in some cases portion sizes had been getting smaller."What we need is proper investment from the government in healthy school meals, and in fact a whole school food approach to make it more affordable for schools to provide nutritious, appealing, healthy food for all of our children," she added. Provision of free school meals varies significantly across the London and Wales, the offer of a universal free school meal has been extended to all primary school children up to Year the funding rate for most of England is £2.61, in London schools get a higher rate of £3. In Wales, the rate is £ Scotland, all children in the first five years of primary school are eligible for free school meals, as well as all children from families receiving the Scottish Child Payment in Northern Ireland can apply if they receive certain benefits and are below an income threshold of £15, reporting by Rahib Khan
BBC News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Almost 40,000 children in East Yorkshire to get free school meals
Almost 40,000 children in Hull and East Yorkshire will receive free school meals after the government expanded the September 2026, families receiving Universal Credit will be eligible regardless of their income. Currently, they need to earn less than £7,400 a year to to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the change means that an extra 10,390 children in the Hull East constituency will get the area's Labour MP Karl Turner described it as a "huge step forward". In a social media post, Turner added it was "making life more affordable for struggling families and ensuring kids have the nutrition they need to thrive".Elsewhere in the city, in the Hull North and Cottingham constituency, 8,920 children will be able to claim and in Hull West and Haltemprice, 7,150 will be able to eat for free during the school the East Riding parliamentary constituencies, Beverley and Holderness will see 3,560 extra recipients, Bridlington and The Wolds 4,860 and Goole and Pocklington 4,020 the change would mean an additional 500,000 children will become Department for Education has set aside £1bn to fund the change up to to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
