GLOUCESTERSHIRE and South Gloucestershire councils have won praise from a national charity for signing up to a new project to help get more children eating school meals.

Following the launch of the School Food Plan in 2013, the Children’s Food Trust is working with a number of councils in the South West, including Gloucestershire County Council and South Gloucestershire Council – to help schools encourage junior and secondary pupils to opt for lunches in the canteen.

The scheme, which sits alongside the Government's funding of free school meals for infants, is designed to help junior and secondary schools get more children choosing the school dining room at lunchtime.

The CFT – commissioned by the Department for Education – is giving specialist training to local authority and academy trust teams so they can help schools get more children opting for school meals.

The charity is also offering these schools ready-made marketing programmes to get pupils excited about school meals, along with site visits and one-to-one support on operational issues.

Chief executive officer of the CFT Linda Cregan said: “Rightly, there’s been a heavy focus on supporting infant schools to make sure they were ready to deliver free school meals for all their pupils, but if we want that legacy to last throughout children’s school years, we have to make sure help gets to other schools, too.

“With Ofsted’s inspection framework including such an emphasis on food from September this year, there’s an even bigger incentive for schools to get this right.

“That’s why we’re so delighted to welcome these local authorities on board and why we’re keen to talk to more local authorities and schools in these regions to make sure they’re getting a share of this invaluable support.”

For more information on the support available across the country under the scheme visit www.schoolfoodplan.com/takeup