When the First Minister visited a primary school on 7 September he announced the expansion of free school meals to more than 6,000 nursery-age children in schools. Nursery-age pupils attending a maintained school for at least two full sessions, on any one day per week, will be eligible for a free school meal.
New capital finding of £35m will be used to support the nursery rollout of the scheme. The funding will be provided to local authorities to invest in improvements to school catering facilities, including purchasing equipment, upgrading existing kitchen facilities and updating digital systems.
First Minister Mark Drakeford commented: “No child should go hungry. Families throughout Wales are under huge pressure because of the cost of living crisis and we are doing everything we can to support them. Extending free school meals to all primary schools is one of a number of measures we are taking to support families through this difficult time.
“I’m really pleased to see how our schools have embraced this and the speed at which they and our public services have worked together to begin providing free school meals. We know younger children are more likely to be living in relative income poverty, which is why the youngest of our learners will be the first to benefit.”
The first year will focus on building schools’ capacity and aims to ensure that, by the start of the summer term in 2023, most pupils from reception to Year 2 will be receiving free school meals. Most children in reception classes will start receiving school meals immediately.