Universal free school meals improve attainment and diet

The Green Party has campaigned for universal provision of free school meals in the past and research published last week provides evidence for the efficacy of this policy.  Apart from the benefits to children outlined below the policy would end costly, cumbersome and bureaucratic administration of Free School Meals applications by local authorities, the collection of 'dinner money'  in schools and enable planning of a school meals service based on overall pupil numbers.

The findings should make the Our Lady of Grace Primary school, Dollis Hill, think again about its plans to do away with hot meals and provide sandwiches only to children entitled to free school meals.

From School Food Trust LINK

Research measuring the impact of offering free school meals to more children in specific areas of England found significant improvements in their attainment, as well as benefits for diet and take up of healthy school meals.

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Bryson Purdon Social Research looked at pilot schemes in Durham and Newham which offered free school meals to all children at primary school, and at a scheme in Wolverhampton to extend eligibility for free school meals to include families receiving working tax credits. Their findings include:

• The universal pilot had a significant positive impact on attainment for primary school pupils at Key Stages 1 and 2, with pupils in the pilot areas making between four and eight weeks’ more progress than similar pupils in comparison areas. These effects could have arisen either through the provision of free school meals directly or through the wider activities that accompanied the pilot (such as the promotion of school meals and healthy eating to pupils and parents) or both.
• The improvements in attainment tended to be strongest amongst pupils from less affluent families and amongst those with lower prior attainment, though It should be noted that the effects for different types of pupils are not always significantly different from one another.
• The impact of the universal entitlement pilot on the take-up of school meals amongst primary school pupils was generally large, positive and significant. Most pupils in the universal pilot areas took up the offer of free school meals. Around nine in ten primary school pupils were taking at least one school meal per week by the end of the pilot compared with around six in ten similar pupils in a set of similar comparison areas.
• Take-up of school meals increased for pupils who were not eligible (that is, entitled and registered) for free school meals before the pilot was introduced, but it also increased among pupils who were already eligible for free school meals.
• In the universal pilot areas, the increased take-up of school meals led to a shift in the types of food that pupils ate at lunchtime, away from foods typically associated with packed lunches towards those associated with hot meals.
• Children in the universal pilot areas were less likely to report eating crisps at least once a day than children in comparison areas. This suggests that the reduction in crisp consumption at lunchtime did not lead children to eat crisps in the afternoon.
• The universal pilot also had a positive impact on parents’ perceptions of children’s willingness to try new food. Two-thirds of parents in these areas agreed that their child was willing to try new food, compared with 57 per cent in comparison areas. This finding supports evidence from case studies that parents felt that taking school meals in the pilot had encouraged their child to try a wider range of foods.

Our Chief Executive, Judy Hargadon, said: “These findings are serious food for thought. Offering free school meals to every child in Newham and Durham helped to make them more likely to eat a better diet at school, do significantly better in class – with an average of two months more progress by pupils at key stages 1 and 2 – and less fussy about what they ate at home.

“The investment in the pilots is dwarfed by the spiralling costs of poor diet to the NHS and our national spend on efforts to close the attainment gap between children from poorer backgrounds and their peers. What’s particularly interesting is that researchers say the impact on attainment seemed be strongest among those from lower income backgrounds, and those who weren’t doing so well at school before.

“Feedback from parents taking part in the Wolverhampton pilot has also been very positive. That both Wolverhampton and Newham councils decided to continue their schemes beyond the pilot stage and that Durham is now offering school meals at a reduced price – at a time when demand for limited funding is so fierce – is testament to the value they see in good school food to support children, families and schools.

“These results show how important it is to ensure every child living in poverty gets a free school meal and – at the very least – that we keep good school meals affordable for everyone else. It’s a reminder for policymakers, head teachers, local authorities and parents that investing in good food for children at school pays back a big return for their diet and education.”

The full report can be viewed at https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-RR227#downloadableparts

Wembley Central station patched up in the nick of time

Wembley Central station in June

Signs of possible work last week

Wembley Central station on Wednesday

I have been recording how the condition of Wembley Central station has deteriorated over the last few years of regeneration and speculated about whether any  improvements to the station exterior would be ready by the time of the Olympics. Well I can report that a quick patch up job hiding the exposed joints was done by Wednesday but it is far from the smart station that we were promised in the regeneration publicity. See below:

Do your bit for the NHS this afternooon in Harlesden and Willesden

Campaigners will be giving out postcards about the threat to our local NHS and the closure of the Central Middlesex A&E and collecting signatures on petitions this afternoon at Harlesden Methodist Church and outside Sainsbury's on Willesden High Road. (3pm-5pm)

Please come and help publicise the campaign and the march due to take place on September 15th from Harlesden to Central Middlesex Hospital.

The Guardian publicises Willesden Bookshop's plight - still time for Council to act

The plight of the Willesden Bookshop, facing closure this month as its notice expires, is reported in today's Guardian LINK

Helen Sensi, who has worked at the shop since it opened, said:

We've been inundated with people saying 'Why are you closing down?' I think people will feel a tremendous sense of loss. Independent shops have had a hard time, but Steve (Adams) has kept the shop going where others have fallen. He's managed to be a community service, even if the council doesn't recognise it.

Sensi said that the end of the Willesden store was:

... disaster for children in terms of literacy. To see children engrossed on the floor, from tiny tots reading cloth books to older children running towards a cover they recognise, is a delight. For me, that's where it begins.

Surely it is not too late for Brent Council  leader  Muhammed Butt to meet with campaigners and the bookshop to sort something out.  The bookshop is something of tremendous value that Brent Council is in danger of needlessly throwing on the scrap heap.

Kids bored already - will this help?

A little  girl stopped me on the Chalkhill Estate yesterday and rather forlornly asked me when school started again. She was bored and missed her teachers and friends and wanted to go back to school This was only day 4 of the 6 week summer holiday!

Ten years or more again, many Brent primary schools hosted summer play schemes, usually lasting for 4 weeks with activities, outings, and inter-playscheme competitions. Since then funds have dried up and the subsequent costs are too much for many families. The schemes were also affected by the amount of building work going on in the summer holiday in many schools which made them unavailable for hire.

Events for older children are available but have to be booked on-line and again entail charges. Details on: http://www.bmyvoice.org.uk/brentinsummer

Luckily Chalkhill Community Action have secured funding for 12 days activities connected with the Olympic Games for Chalkhill children aged 8-18: The Chalkhill Games. Tonight there will be a viewing of the Opening Ceremony at the Chalkhill Community Centre (Welford Centre, 113 Chalkhill Road)  from 8.30pm and Chalkhill's Own Show tomorrow from 3-6pm in the Large Hall.

Subsequently, from Monday there will be activities from 2-5pm including quizzes, traditional games, making French skipping ropes and paper gliders, athletics and team games. Saturday 11th August will be for Under 5s only.

The activities are FREE but parents are asked to be responsible for their children outside the stated times and make arrangements to bring them and pick them up.

Further information from Kath-Fraser Jackson Phone 020 8904 0976  07931 842 158

Willesden woodland cut down - not quite in its prime

The carved  'woodland' installation of trees, animals and birds outside the Willesden Green Library and Willesden Bookshop was torn down today and disappeared on the back of a lorry.

Locals, already bemused by the installation which appeared as if by magic overnight some time ago, are perplexed about its removal and concerned about its fate.

Was it robbery, vandalism, an art 'happening' - will it be sold as firewood, donated to a nursery, put in storage for a return to the proposed Cultural Centre, or be the centre piece of the Civic Centre atrium?

Who knows.....

How much did it cost....?

Drop me an e-mail

GLA planners torpedoed Old Willesden Library demolition application

GLA planners, advising the Mayor,  have acted before the bulldozers move in, at least as regards the Old Willesden Library.

It can now be revealed that Strategic Planners at the GLA  met with the Galliford Try application team twice during the 6 week consultation period during which the they considered whether the Willesden Green Redevelopment application  complied with the London Plan Policy.

According to Gemma Kendall, Case Officer,  in the meetings before the July 4th deadline, the planning officers:

...expressed serious concerns that the proposed scheme would not comply with the London Plan Policy 7.8 and 7.9 regarding heritage assets and heritage-led regeneration. The applicant subsequently chose to withdraw the application before it was reported to the Mayor on 4th July 2012.

Galliford Try, in what appeared to be a surprise move, withdrew their planning application for the Willesden Green Cultural Centre on July 4th.

It now appears that the combination of unprecedented local campaigning, massive public rejection of the plans,  the views of the GLA planning team and not least the Town Square application combined to force withdrawal.

Meanwhile, appearing to have learnt little, the application team have arranged a consultation day on the revised application in the middle of the August holidays!

And now for something completely different...Counter Olympics on Saturday

Whose Games? Whose City?
NO LIMOS! NO LOGOS! NO LAUNCHERS!
 
12 noon, Saturday 28 July
Assemble Mile End Park, East London.
March to Wennington Green (next to Victoria Park) for People's Games for All
A family-friendly protest. 

 Supported by London Green Party, Waltham Forest and Redbridge Green Party, Tower Hamlets Green Party.
 

The Counter Olympics Network (CON)announces a march and rally in London’s East End on Saturday 28 July, assembling in Mile End Park (near Mile End tube station) at 12 noon, and marching to Wennington Green (next to Victoria Park) for a family friendly People’s Games for All which will include speeches, entertainment, “alternative games”, and children’s events.

Already more than 30 organisations officially support the event, with more coming on board all the time. They include anti corporate campaigns, civil liberties groups, local trades councils, green groups, anti militarists, community groups, other anti Olympics campaigns, disability activists, and others. It will be an event which symbolically “reclaims” the Games, a party to which everyone is invited. It will present a truer and more optimistic vision of Britain than the officially promoted one of a militarised and austerity ridden country that is content to be hijacked by millionaire politicians and their corporate friends.

 The Counter Olympics Network links people and organisations critical of some or many aspects of the 2012 Games. Issues of concern include:
 * the corporate takeover of the Games (with sponsors that profit from sweatshops, poison local people, pollute the planet, and so much more);
 * the eviction of local people from their homes and businesses to make way for the Olympic sites, and prioritising the interests of global corporations at the expense of small businesses;
 * the privatisation of public space;
 * the introduction of repressive policing and surveillance in conjunction with the Games, and the use of the Games to promote acceptance of the militarisation of society (in particular – siting missile launchers on domestic roofs in East London, employing 42,000 private security staff on top of the vast police and military presence, increasing stop and search powers which target and alienate local young people, placing warships on the Thames and at Weymouth, and introducing preventive detention and ASBOs to intimidate peaceful anti-Olympics protesters);
 * the threat to both the lives and livelihoods of Londoners caused by the VIP Lanes for dignitaries on London roads;
 * the encouragement of nationalism, in contradiction to the supposed spirit of the Olympics;
 * the sanctioning of gender apartheid in Olympic teams;
 * the “body fascism” mentality in elite sport;
 * the hypocrisy of a Paralympics sponsor, ATOS, which is also responsible for wrongly removing welfare payments from tens of thousands of people with disabilities;
 * the multi-billion-pound expenditure, much of it on temporary facilities, and most of it unnecessary at a time of supposed austerity.

 CON helps to provide a co-ordinated voice for a wide range of groups which share the desire to provide a counterbalance to the overblown mainstream pro Olympics propaganda. CON is also concerned that the Orwellian security apparatus and regressive legislation put in place to protect brands, privilege, and privatised public space won’t all disappear after the Games.

 CON supporter Julian Cheyne said today, “The 2012 Olympics have turned into a corporate festival of world security, consuming billions of our money to increase private profits, while the elderly, disabled, sick, unemployed, young people and other groups are punished for a crisis caused by the finance industry. To stand by silently would imply we consent to this; and we do not. If you are as fed up with all of this as we are, come and join our Counter Olympics gathering on 28th July.”