Minister yet to respond to students’ low-income school meals plea

Victoria College’s ‘Student Poverty Advocacy Group’ sent the letter urging the Deputy Scott Wickenden to commit to providing a free meal to all students with parents on Income Support by the next academic year, which had 548 signatures, on 30 November 2021.

The group was inspired by footballer Marcus Rashford who last year called on the UK Government to provide free food to children deserving of free school meals throughout the holidays.

Since then, they have collected food for the Grace Trust food bank and delivered assemblies to other year groups about good poverty, as well as petitioning the Government for change.

Caring Cooks has been providing a daily main meal and dessert to children at Janvrin, St. Luke’s and Samarès primary schools since 2019. In January, it was announced that the programme would be extended to St. Martin’s and St. Peter’s primary schools.

However, Victoria College students say that it should be available for any student whose family is in financial hardship.

Pictured: Education Minister Deputy Scott Wickenden was sent the letter in November.

In their letter to Deputy Wickenden, the group said it was “shameful that there are children in Jersey, who spend their days in school unable to concentrate on their learning simply because they are hungry. Data from the government’s publication Money Matters illustrates that 14% of households in Jersey are materially deprived; this is not significantly different to the U.K. (13%). However, children in Jersey do not benefit from the same initiatives to ensure they do not go without food.”

They concluded that the Government should make a “formal commitment… that all students with parents on income support, regardless of the school they attend, will be provided with free school meals by September 2022 (in time for the start of the next academic year).”

In a statement released yesterday, the group said it had been “watching the recent articles in the news intently, waiting to hear what action the Government of Jersey plans to take to ‘Put Children First’”, adding: “Whilst we are delighted to hear Caring Cooks’ pilot scheme has been extended, we still believe that there is more to be done to ensure that all children in Jersey have enough food to ensure they can succeed in school.”