I’ve cooked lunch for hungry school kids – their stories are heartbreaking

While many in the nation are suffering, the most vulnerable children and families in our communities are facing the very sharpest edge of this cost of living crisis.

Ahead of the autumn spending review, I and many others in the food industry, including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver and the Chefs in Schools organisation, as well as food charities and community leaders, are urging Liz Truss and our government to review and extend free school meals to all children living in poverty.

To make change happen, please sign the petition by clicking here

I’ve cooked lunch for school kids in north London while volunteering with food redistribution charity The Felix Project, and some of these children have shared heartbreaking stories with me. Sometimes their school lunch is their main – or their only – meal of their day. These are not easy stories to tell – I truly admire these brave children who face not only feelings of hunger, but also of shame. Children should just be able to be children – and not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

Children are in school around 39 weeks a year. That’s 190 days annually, so school meals count for around half of their yearly lunches. Currently, a household must earn less than £7,400 – excluding benefits – to be eligible for free school meals for their children. That’s 800,000 children a year in England who are living in poverty and urgently need free lunches, but aren’t getting them. That’s 800,000 children in need who are going without one of their three meals a day because they don’t qualify for them.

As an example, a family with two children, living in poverty but not eligible for free school meals, currently has to pay around £450 a year if they’re buying a school lunch each school day. At this critical time, with a “heat or eat” winter approaching, guaranteeing children a hot nutritious meal at school relieves a huge burden from families who are already facing so many other pressures.

With both childhood obesity and mental health challenges on the rise and when the NHS is trying to get back on its feet post-Covid, it is critical that we invest in our future generation’s mental and physical health.

Teachers (and parents) tell us that children who receive a nutritious midday meal tend to be happier, healthier and more productive. They are more alert, concentration improves and they get much more from their school day. They can actually learn in the afternoon after they eat their lunch as they’ve fuelled their brains. As nutritionist and chartered psychologist Kimberley Wilson says: “The brain is hungry. In fact it is the hungriest organ in your body.”

At its most basic, we know that eating well will support children’s education and that going hungry will leave children tired, unfocused and unable to retain information. It’s a no-brainer.

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Our government must prioritise and invest in our most disadvantaged children’s health and diets. The Independent and the Food Foundation’s #FeedTheFuture campaign has proved that investing in free school meals will provide significant economic benefits to our country. New analysis undertaken by PwC shows that, for every £1 invested in this policy, there will be a £1.38 return. Investing in children now will help them become the citizens of tomorrow.

No child should be hungry. No child should be scared, sad or ashamed to go without when they sit down at the table with their friends at lunchtime. No child should be forgotten. Every child counts, and every one of their school meals counts, too.

Children deserve to be fed so they can flourish both at school and in their future. Please support our nation’s children, and sign the #FeedTheFuture petition

Melissa Hemsley is a chef, food writer and campaigner. She regularly volunteers for the food redistribution charity The Felix Project, is an Ambassador for Mental Health Mates and hosted The Food Foundation’s Veg Summit in 2020