Over 1,000 pupils at Eastbrook School get taste for free school dinners

10th November 2009, 9:48am

Every pupil at Eastbrook School, an inner city school in Dagenham, enjoyed a free healthy meal to mark the start of National School Meals Week yesterday.

National School Meals Week (9th – 13th November) is an annual event organised by the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), with the support of the School Food Trust, to promote the importance of healthy eating to young children and encourage more pupils to eat school meals. 

The free meals were provided to all 1,150 pupils at Eastbrook School by Pasta King, a foodservice supplier to schools. The provision of free meals aims to encourage students to opt for healthy options at lunchtime and prove that nutritious food can be popular with pupils.

Valerie Dennis, headteacher at Eastbrook School said: "Out of the school's 1,150 pupils 400 have school lunches and of these pupils 200 qualify for free school meals. We would like to see more students eating school lunches as we know that a nutritional balanced diet plays an important role in health, intellectual development and behaviour. Initiatives like this help the school, the students and their parents to think about this together."

Beverly Baker, chair of LACA, said: "We champion any initiative that encourages the uptake of hearty lunchtime meals in schools. The decision to give away free meals to youngsters in Dagenham is very much in keeping with the spirit of National School Meals Week. It gives youngsters the chance to see that school meals can be both tasty and healthy."  

Sue Davenport, managing director of Pasta King added: "Pupils in schools across the country will have been learning about the positive benefits of healthy eating in lessons. However, there is no substitute for actually getting to taste a healthy meal. 

"We were therefore pleased to be able to offer every single pupil at Eastbrook School a healthy, nutritious pasta meal. It was a great opportunity to demonstrate to young people that good quality food can be tasty and enjoyable." 

Related Articles:

• 18 Nov 2009 - Pasta King under new management following £13 million buy-out
• 04 Sep 2009 - Pupils can vote online for favourite school meal
• 09 Jul 2009 - Get involved in National School Meals Week
• 08 Oct 2007 - School food campaign targets teens

Click here to submit a comment!

Have your say!

To comment on this article, simply enter your name and email and send us your views. Please note that your comment will appear publicly below this article once it has been processed. For enquiries please email info@costsectorcatering.co.uk.