Head of school food exemplar site admits having to subsidise meals
The Department for Education named The Grove School in Devon when it announced plans recently to reset school food standards. The DfE quoted Hilary Priest, The Grove’s headteacher, as saying she was ‘incredibly proud’ of her school’s meals.
She claimed that a partnership with the charity Chefs in Schools meant meals were freshly prepared on site, with a daily choice of main or alternative, a varied salad bar, fresh fruit and water always available.
Now she has told Schools Week that current funding levels for free school meals alone were not enough to achieve this and that she had ‘had to find £16,652 extra’ to help cover the shortfall last financial year. The school serves 230 meals a day, with about 50 pupils eligible for free school meals.
Brad Pearce, chair of The School Food People (formerly LACA), responded: “This is the reality: even schools praised for excellence say funding isn’t sufficient. At £2.61 per meal, the system is under strain - and schools are picking up the shortfall. Ambition on standards must be backed by proper investment.”
“Schools are now clearly telling Government that not only are they charging more than the funded rate, but they are also subsidising the statutory school meals service by thousands of pounds per year from teaching and learning budgets."
He said caterers were already leaving the schools sector because funding did not match costs.