Free school dinners for all primary school children in Tower Hamlets

Every primary school pupil in Tower Hamlets will be given free school meals, it has been announced.
Tower Hamlets Council is providing funding so that every primary school pupil – all 25,271 children from Reception through to Year 6 – will receive a free meal each day from the start of the next academic year in September.
Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman said: “This is great news for parents and children in Tower Hamlets.
“We know that happy, healthy children make better learners and this measure will only help drive through further improvements in the borough’s education performance.”
The scheme was approved by the full council last night (Wednesday, March 26). It will cost an estimated £2.675million per academic year.
Cllr Oliur Rahman, cabinet member for children, schools and families, said: “Residents of this borough are always the focus of this council’s activities, and we know what a huge difference free school meals will make to families in Tower Hamlets.”
Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of changes to the free school meals policy in Tower Hamlets.
At the start of the current academic year in September last year, the council became one of the first local authorities to introduce free school meals for its youngest primary school pupils – those in Reception and Year 1.
This was quickly followed by a Government announcement that it would be rolling out the scheme nationally, and also including Year 2 pupils in the initiative.
Tower Hamlets’ new policy will ensure that the borough’s 15,233 primary school pupils not provided for by the Government’s scheme will now benefit.