Hot meals to be available at every Jersey primary school by next year

Hot meals will be available at every primary school in Jersey by September 2024, according to the government.

They are currently provided in five schools - Janvrin, St Luke's, Samarés, St Peter's and St Martin's - where parents can pay £2.50 for a main meal and dessert.

The programme will be expanded to eight schools by this September, and 13 by April 2024.

It is planned that the remaining schools will be offering meals by September next year.

Schools who have pupils that need the meals the most, as well as those sites which will require the most building work, will be prioritised as the scheme is rolled out.

The hot meals programme was first estalished in 2019 in partnership with a local charity, Caring Cooks.

It was set up to ensure pupils have the option of a nutritious meal every day, and to reduce the risk of them becoming unhealthy.

Assistant Minister for Children and Education, Connétable Richard Vibert, said: “We have always been very open about the challenge that we face in making sure that all primary school children can access a hot school meal.

“To achieve this ambition, we will need to increase the number of meals we produce tenfold. We’ll need to recruit and train more staff. We also need to make sure each school has the facilities it needs.

“But meeting this challenge will have huge benefits. We know that more and more families are struggling to provide healthy lunchbox meals on a regular basis.

"We also know that children benefit throughout their life when they have regular access to nutritious food: they’re better able to learn and develop and are more likely to have better health throughout their life."

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