School offers pupils 'full roast dinners' in the morning to tackle hunger

Pupils at a secondary school are being offered a "full roast dinner" in the morning because of the number of children arriving hungry.

Whitmore High School in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, said it moved lunchtime forward to help children who are not fed enough at home.

"They're eating a full roast dinner at 11 o'clock", said Innes Robinson, the executive head teacher, who said the shifted meal time had helped pupils to concentrate better in class.

It comes as the Welsh government announces an extra £15m to help more secondary school pupils access free school meals, by removing the current income threshold on families receiving Universal Credit.

All primary pupils in Wales already receive free school meals, a policy rolled out under the last Welsh government.

But secondary school pupils only qualify if their families receive Universal Credit and their household income is below £7,400 a year.

The new policy would scrap that threshold, making all secondary pupils whose families receive Universal Credit eligible for the meals.

The education minister said the change would be introduced gradually from September, starting with Years 7 and 8.

But one teaching union called the phased introduction "disappointing", as it would mean "many existing secondary pupils from disadvantaged homes will continue to miss out on this lifeline".

At Whitmore High, Robinson said, before the earlier lunch time, pupils "weren't quite as on it".

"Our youngest children in the school have their dinner at 10:55 - we've found it's had an enormous impact," he said.

"We were noticing that by 10:55 they were so hungry they needed to have their dinner at that point."

Innes, who is also the executive head teacher at Pencoedtre High, said pupil hunger was "an issue everywhere".

"We all know it, when you feel hungry you're not going to be able to learn as well."

He said pupils had told him they would be "hungry every single day" but just not say anything, adding that this expanded Welsh government offer would mean "more pupils get that benefit".

The additional money is part of the Welsh government's supplementary budget for 2026-27.

Much of it, about £10m, will be spent on upgrading school kitchens and dining areas.

Hayley Prosser, head of Welsh at Whitmore High, said the difference in pupils who have eaten is stark.

"Some of our children come to school maybe without breakfast - it has a huge impact on their concentration. We know they make more progress once they've got full bellies," she said.

Wales' Education Minister Anna Brychan said the policy was linked to a wider range of measures "to tackle child poverty".

But the government has not said how many more pupils would be helped by the scheme, how many schools would benefit from improved kitchens, or when the policy would be fully implemented.

"We'll need to work with local authorities to understand what the demands are - we're looking to graduate the introductions to focus first on years seven and eight in secondary schools," she added.

Nicola Fitzpatrick, Wales Secretary for the National Education Union Cymru, said she would like to see every pupil in secondary education receive free meals but called this "an important step".

"The [income] threshold has been too low for too long, excluding children from a critical meal at lunch time," she added.

Claire Armitstead, director of the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru, said she was "pleased the Welsh government is taking action over a clear inequity".

But she said it was "disappointing to see the extended entitlement will only be phased in as children move into secondary school rather than it being applied across all secondary year groups from September".

"This means that many existing secondary pupils from disadvantaged homes will continue to miss out on this lifeline."