City Hall’s ‘love your lunch’ challenge asked primary schoolchildren across the capital to create a piece of work in any medium along the theme ‘The best thing about school lunches is...'. Year 5 pupil Ishall’s poem championing the benefits of free school meals ‘wowed’ the judges and scooped the top prize – lunch for the whole class.
More than 17m free school meals have been funded for state primary schoolchildren in the capital this school term, thanks to historic £135m funding from the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
He commented: “I know from personal experience how important these meals are and what a difference receiving a free nutritious meal can make to young lives, which is why I stepped forward with this unprecedented funding to help families during the cost-of-living crisis.
“The fantastic poem written by Ishall at Mandeville Primary School truly sums up the importance of these meals and I’m delighted that her class has enjoyed a special meal that they have helped to prepare too. I will continue to do all I can to support families as build a better London for all.”
An estimated 1.4m meals each week are being funded after the Mayor stepped in to help support families as they struggle with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Families in every borough in the capital are saving upwards of £440 per child across the school year.
Henry Firth & Ian Theasby from BOSH!, added: “We’re incredibly proud to be supporting the Mayor’s programme to provide free school meals for primary school children in London. At a time when so many families are struggling, it’s an amazing initiative that will ensure hundreds of thousands of children receive nutritious meals.”
The winning poem:
School lunch is the best I’ve had,
Sometimes jerk chicken, it is never bland,
Talking to my friends while eating,
It's like having a very fun meeting,
Making sure everyone eats,
Helps us be strong and to compete!
Teachers sitting with us at lunch,
Laughing, talking, they're a great bunch!
The Chefs are great, they cook from scratch,
Fresh ingredients from our vegetable patch.
Healthy, happy, I love coming to school, this feeling should be a number one rule!
School lunch should be free for all,
Thank you, Mayor, for making that call!