School dinner bosses are winning the fight for the hearts and stomachs of secondary pupils.Four years ago, the lure of burger vans parked outside playgrounds was placing a huge question mark over the future of meals in the region’s senior schools.Just 28 per cent of youngsters were sitting down to canteen dinners. At the time, the Scottish average was 39.6 per cent.But next week councillors will be told that a fresh approach to what has long been the butt of pupils’ jokes has seen a dramatic turn-around.The census of uptake for the past financial year revealed 47.5 per cent of pupils now have meals, either paid for or free, and that is almost certainly well ahead of the Scottish average.However, the education committee will be warned there can be no let-up in the recruitment campaign.Education and school meals service management teams are emphasising the need to continue to market secondary school meals, re-inforcing the message that free meals now include morning breaks as well as lunches. It is also important to keep parents of free meal pupils informed about eligibility changes.A report points out the free school meals uptake in secondaries averages 61 per cent, a long way behind the 83 per cent in primaries. A nine-point plan has been drawn up to try to keep the increase rolling forward.It includes training for catering managers, specific action plans for individual schools, piloting online school meals payment and increasing awareness of free school meal entitlement though continued general marketing.Members will be told the plan has been drawn up in the expectation that “2013/14 will see continued financial pressures associated with the economic climate and the potential impact of welfare reform”.School meal prices went up by 5p in April on the back of a 4.6 per cent rise in food costs over the past year along with a projected further rise of three per cent over the next 12 months.Read
