We’ve come a long way since the days of Jamie Oliver. Schools have worked hard to make sure meal times are nutritious, filling and have lots of fruit and vegetables. I’m proud of the time and effort my school puts into ensuring school food for our pupils is healthy and varied.

As educators, we’ve all seen the positive impact on our classroom when pupils have a good school dinner.

I’ve always believed that a proper midday meal is a cornerstone of a child’s education, which is why getting Free School Meals right is so important. As educators, we’ve all seen the positive impact on our classroom when pupils have a good school dinner. Children are more focused in lessons, parents are comforted knowing that their children have a nutritious meal at school.

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So I was pleased to see the new Government move forward with the Children's Well-Being Bill and its free school breakfast club plan for all children in primary school. We already offer a free hot breakfast baguette to children at All Saints, originally inspired by the charity Magic Breakfast, and with the right funding schools can do more.

The less good news is that the Government is still not making Free School Meals available for every primary school child in England, despite evidence of the value it brings - and growing calls from experts, schools and charities, led by the National Education Union’s No Child Left Behind campaign. 

We already do this for our very youngest children. For the first three years of school, every child in England gets a free hot school dinner — and no child under 7 wants food while they’re at school. But from year three on, the Government stops Free School Meals for All. 

This patchwork of different policies is illogical and self-defeating.

As a headteacher, it feels very odd that the Government would take such wildly different approaches for breakfast - and for lunch. It is even more confusing for parents. If their children are year three or above, they lose their Free School Meal unless they meet very strict eligibility requirements. If you’re a parent in London, every child in a primary state school gets free school dinners. If you’re in Wales rather than England, your primary school child will get it wherever you live and no matter their age, as do most primary-aged pupils in Scotland. 

This patchwork of different policies is illogical and self-defeating. We know as educators that Free School Meals for every child puts everyone on a level playing field, and boosts nutrition, energy levels in class and attainment for the whole school. Parents and children are passionate about it too - our school recently joined a national awareness raising tour with Coventry Foodbank, Coventry City FC and No Child Left Behind, with a delegation raising the issue with our local MP. 

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My school has found that what we can provide for hot school dinners is often more nutritious than many parents are able to offer in a cold lunchbox, given the cheaper cost of ultra processed food, vs fresh food, putting strain on parents finances. Talking to parents at the gate, we also know that children can be quite fussy at home but sitting down together around a table for school dinner means they are likely to be far more adventurous with what they eat, and try new foods.

Treating everyone equally in primary school is so important and a school meal at the middle of the day is the perfect moment to reinforce this principle. Children can sit with their friends, share a meal, and have a discussion. I’m also concerned that by means-testing school food, we'll always miss some children. 

So it is great to see the new Government move forward with breakfast for all – but let’s not stop at half measures. We’re still excluding millions of children in England at dinner time, for the main meal they’ll eat at school.  

That’s why it’s so important that every MP in our Parliament backs an amendment to the Children’s Well-Being Bill to extend universalism to school dinners too. If pupils are well fed from breakfast to lunchtime, they can stay engaged throughout the school day.

Dentists, school nurses and paediatricians are all recommending Free School Meals for All given the positive impacts a nutritious hot school dinner brings. The Government could use this opportunity to listen to health experts and school leaders to ensure every child is equipped to learn and thrive – and extend the legislation going through on breakfast to fund free school dinners for all as well. 

Most importantly, let's listen to our children, who in my schools and many others are becoming courageous advocates for better school dinners. 

I hope in 2025 we can finally do away with the Free School Meals divide that does not serve our school communities well, most of all the children we teach.