New East Lancs free breakfast clubs begin

Thirteen new East Lancashire free breakfast clubs are among 116 which have opened this week across the North-West as the government overhauls school dinners nationwide.

They aim to deliver a healthy start to the day for thousands more children in deprived areas.

The were announced as high-sugar and deep-fried food is taken off the school menu in new plans to overhaul school dinners amid health crisis facing children.

The government has revealed the first new standards in over a decade to tackle childhood obesity crisis, with a robust new enforcement mechanism.

The schools in Blackburn with Darwen with the new breakfast clubs are the St Thomas’s Centre, Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy, St Luke and St Philips Church of England Primary School, and Audley Infant School.

Those across the rest of East Lancashire are Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School, Church; Bradley Primary School, Nelson; Accrington St Mary Magdalen’s Church of England Primary School; Sharneyford Primary School; Earby Springfield Primary School; Rawtenstall Balladen Community Primary School; St Mary’s CofE Primary School Rawtenstall; Balderstone St Leonard’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School; and Pendle Primary Academy.

The new free clubs will offer places for up to 28,000 more North-West children, taking the total number of those able to benefit following the 114 early adopter schools that launched last year to 52,000.

The rollout offers immediate help to working parents juggling childcare costs by saving them up to £450.

The government today also set out its plans to overhaul the official School Food Standards for the first time in over a decade.

Schools will no longer be able to offer unhealthy ‘grab and go’ options like sausage rolls and pizza every day, while deep fried food will be banned completely under the plans.

Fruit will also need to be served instead of sugar-laden treats for the majority of the school week.

The move comes after parent polling revealed three quarters are concerned by the food their children are eating.

To make sure the new standards get the balance right between science-backed nutrition and being practical for schools and appetising for kids, the government has launched a nine-week consultation with parents and children invited to have their say on the healthier options developed with nutritionists and public health experts

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Today we are launching the most ambitious overhaul of school food in a generation, and it is long overdue.

“Every child deserves to have delicious, nutritious food at school that gives them the energy to concentrate, learn and thrive – meals that children will actually recognise and enjoy, backed by robust compliance so that good standards on paper become good food on the plate.

“From our Free Breakfast Clubs to extending Free School Meals to over half a million more children, this means good-quality food from the moment children arrive at school to the end of the day.”

Dame Emma Thompson, actor and Food Foundation celebrity ambassador said: “I am absolutely thrilled that the government is changing the School Food Standards to make sure that every child has delicious, nutritious school food that they deserve.”