Sep01School meals uptake rises

The number of children eating school lunches in England every day has risen by almost 321,000, according to new figures.

The annual survey of school lunch take-up for the 2009-10 year, carried out by the School Food Trust and the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), showed that take-up of healthy school lunches increased in both primary and secondary schools.

In primary schools, the proportion of children eating a school lunch rose from 39.3% in 2008-09 to 41.4% in 2009-10, a rise of 2.1 percentage points. Secondary schools saw a 0.8-point increase, from 35% in 2008-09 to 35.8% in 2009-10.