‘Ill-thought-out’ school snack slammed by city food bank
ACOUNCIL initiative that looks to feed hungry schoolkids at break times has been blasted as “illthought” by a crisis support centre. Organisers from The Gowanbank Hub have slammed a free snack provision introduced earlier this month for all primary and secondary pupils in Glasgow.
The Pollok facility says that the snack – a singular piece of fruit – “is not nearly enough for a child who may not have even eaten breakfast”.
The charity has stepped in to distribute 800 break-time bites to three local schools in a bid to bridge the gap.
Billy Coull, co-director, said: “We have found some schools haven’t received the snacks at all.
“Glasgow City Council has also used the terminology ‘mid-morning snack’ but if you look at what they are providing, it is literally just one piece of fruit. To our organisation, a snack means something filling that will keep you going until lunchtime. A singular piece of fruit is not enough for a child who may not have even received breakfast.”
Last month, we exclusively told how deprived parents were keeping their children off school due to food insecurity.
Two mothers, who both reside in Pollok, admitted they had been keeping their children at home to the fact they could not afford to provide them with a play piece.
Concerns prompted education bosses to introduce the provision in an effort to boost health and to help struggling families cut down on household bills.
While the move was brought in with good intentions, the Gowanbank Hub fears some children could be snubbing the snacks provided.
Billy said: “As we all know children can be particularly fussy eaters and some will refuse to eat fruit or vegetables. Due to this, we think that some children are still going without at break times.
“I think that the council has really rushed into giving the pupils something to eat without really taking the time to go through the steps, it has been really ill-thought. They haven’t consulted with parents, teachers or pupils themselves to see what the children want. Although the snack itself is highly nutritional and healthy, it is not nearly enough for a child who may not have even eaten breakfast. “A mid-morning snack is a packet of crisps or a breakfast bar with a bottle of juice.”
Running until next March, the scheme will give fruit to all primary children and a hot snack to secondary pupils who are eligible for free school meals.
It was introduced after the Gowanbank Hub ran a survey among 760 parents, of which 190 told how they were keeping their children off school due to “play piece poverty” with an average of four days of education lost every month per child.
A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “The additional mid-morning snack is serving more than 53,000 children and young people in our schools.
“This programme is the ideal way to offer fresh fruit to all primary pupils and a hot and healthy option mid-morning to young people in our secondary schools during the autumn and winter months when we all need a bit extra to get us through the day’s work.
“This is a great help to our families and potentially frees up some money towards other household bills. We’ve long since advocated the benefits of healthy school meals to our families and what we are now looking at is how this can fit with the Glasgow City Food Plan goals to provide locally produced provisions in our schools. It might be that we can look at community food growing initiatives to provide the fruit for primary schools which will help our carbon footprint.”