Secondary schools receive extra £250k to tackle school hunger

Lewisham Council announced today that it has allocated phase four of the Household Support Fund to address the issues of school hunger with the majority of £250k being distributed to secondary schools and colleges across the borough.     

Primary schools have received a smaller allocation of the fund, mainly for nursery children, with children aged 5-11 covered by the universal free school meals initiative funded by the Mayor of London. 

As before, schools are free to allocate the money quickly to the children that need it the most, with the headteacher making final approval.  

Free school meal vouchers will continue to be funded during school holidays, and the money can be used in a variety of other ways including support such as free breakfasts; provision of break-time snacks; top-ups to packed lunches, food parcels and meals for children not currently eligible for free school meals. 

The allocation of amount for each school is dependent on the levels of need among the children that attend the school. 

Councillors Chris Barnham and Amanda De Ryk visited Forest Hill School, who have received £15k of funding this term.  They visited the kitchens and spoke to headteacher Michael Sullivan to find out how the extra funding is benefitting students.  

Cllr Chris Barnham, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People said, 

“Schools like Forest Hill are often the first point of contact for families in difficulty and they are seeing more students coming to school with no breakfast; students saying they didn’t eat the night before; packed lunches with small portions and poor nutritional value. 

Tackling this is too big a task for a local council; it needs national action. But we can’t stand by while children go hungry, so it’s good to know that we are able to help in a small way by funding schools directly.” 

Cllr Amanda De Ryk, Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategy, said,  

“We’ve listened to young people and they are telling us they are struggling to find the money for food. This cannot continue and we call on the government to continue the Household Support Fund, which has been essential in supporting Lewisham residents throughout the cost-of-living crisis.  

Not doing so represents a missed opportunity to provide certainty, both now and for the future, to local authorities and to their most vulnerable of residents who so heavily rely on this support.” 

Michael Sullivan, headteacher of Forest Hill School said,  

“This additional support with food costs for families in need is crucial for many of our students. Nutritious food is not only vital for child development and health, it is also essential for concentration and learning - it's hard to stay focused when you're hungry!

If students cannot obtain food at home, it is so important that the food poverty cycle is broken elsewhere and I am very glad that we can provide free porridge and fruit and healthy meals at Forest Hill School thanks to the household support fund."