Food cost increases challenge for Calderdale head teachers as healthy school meals scheme gets off ground

While healthy food is the aim, getting a hot meal inside children is the most important factor in the current situation, headteachers and public health officers told councillors.

Although some Calderdale schools have some space to grow some of their own food, helping with cost, others do not have the environment to do this and funding meals is a real issue.

Todmorden C of E School headteacher Alice Leadbitter said rising costs have meant the primary school offers meals to those not eligible for free meals at a loss at the moment and after cost breakdown more expensive choices have had to be cut.

“My school has the cheapest school meals in Calderdale at £1.90 a day but I am going to have to put up my prices,” she said.

Ideal goals of all locally-sourced food, for example, had to be tempered with offering meals that were affordable and which children would eat.

“Some of our children, we know it’s the only hot meal they will get that day,” she said.

Ms Leadbitter said her school had budgeted £60,000 for school meals this year but increased prices meant it had spent £90,000.

Lorraine Bamforth, headteacher at Ripponden J and I, said her school was in a more affluent area but similar issues had arisen.

“We’re 29 per cent over on food budget,” she said.

Her school had also had to increase meal prices as a result and it was a difficult balancing act – increased prices might lead some parents to send their children to school with packed lunches instead.

Public Health officer Ben Leaman agreed that with the impact cost of living increases were having on many families it was important schools offered meals children would eat even if that meant some compromises while aiming for long term healthy eating goals.

“The most important thing at the moment in the context of cost of living is getting a hot meal in kids.

“From a public health perspective I’d love everybody to be having the healthiest meals they possibly could.

“Actually, from a cost of living perspective, some of these kids if they don’t eat their salad that they’re given, they won’t get a meal at all,” he said.

After a successful pilot, Calderdale Council is now rolling out a Healthy Schools Award scheme across the borough, aiming to help improve children’s physical and mental wellbeing.

Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Board heard five schools involved in the pilot scheme had achieved Healthy Schools status – it has gold, silver and bronze awards and two were working towards gold, with the scheme now fully being rolled out across the borough.

Other issues members commented on included children’s online and social media access.

In particular, parents needed to better control access their children had and be more aware of what they were viewing, members and speakers agreed.

Issues ranged from children being tired from stopping up late online to viewing inappropriate content.

A key factor overall was getting the whole school community engaged with the awards scheme, board members, officers and education representatives agreed, the children a “must” but also their parents or guardians.