Is Nick Clegg"s free school meals idea turning into a dog"s dinner?

Eighteen months ago, Sean O’Sullivan, headteacher at Frank Smart unique college in Banbury, Oxfordshire, created the selection to invest in a new kitchen. The college had spent many years locating the appropriate caterer, and now he needed the greatest equipment to make sure every person in the college could appreciate consuming a meal with their peers. “For numerous kids, that is a existence ability,” O’Sullivan explains.

But, despite his foresight, subsequent September, when the coalition government’s strategy to provide a free lunch to all infants comes into force, O’Sullivan will nevertheless be behind the curve. His kitchen enables the school to serve foods provided by caterers, but not to cook it on web site. He fears his catering providers – so carefully picked – will be unable to meet the identical nutritional requirements at a cost the college can afford. “We have created a particular kitchen that is acquired warming and refrigeration but not truly the facility to cook. It truly is a servery, fundamentally,” he says. “I am fearful this could push items to the lowest widespread denominator. Our suppliers merely can not manage the quality that they do at the moment for higher numbers.”

Like several other headteachers, O’Sullivan has carried out minor to put together so far for the introduction of the coalition’s new policy. He says he won’t uncover time to strategy till he’s clear about specifically what he is anticipated to do. “These type of things get announced at a political conference and, as a head, you’re definitely bombarded. With the amount of stuff that comes by way of to you, you have to prioritise.”

He is not alone. “I have to say that our preparations have not really passed past the ‘thinking about it’ stage at current,” says Michael Dix, headteacher at Glebelands major school in Leicester. He’s one particular of a expanding variety who are sceptical whether or not the idea will ever turn into a actuality.

Pete Mountstephen, headteacher at St Stephen’s college in Bath and chair of National Major Headteachers, a lobbying group, also agrees: “We’re not about to go spending any cash on anything which they may possibly effectively get cold feet about. We will not want to purchase Betamax.”

The announcement about the policy final September by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, followed publication of the School Foods Program, written for the Division for Training by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, which cited analysis displaying that cost-free college meals had educational positive aspects as nicely as health advantages for children.

Final week, Whitehall sources explained that the need to construct further kitchens had not been foreseen at the time of Clegg’s £600m announcement. And amidst a flurry of political wrangling and apparent bickering, the government announced the hasty addition of an further £150m to fund new kitchens and dining rooms. But many are even now pointing out the logistical difficulties involved in getting the policy off the ground by September 2014.

Meanwhile, across the country, main college headteachers have been refusing to prepare to place the cost-free meals policy into action simply because they are sceptical that it will ever turn into reality. College leaders are convinced the government will have to perform another U-turn after the practicalities are laid out in front of them.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has met with the DfE and warned it of the increasing unease among its members. Right up until final week’s announcement – uncovered just 10 months before the policy has to be implemented – colleges had been provided with no details.

“It was both denial, or [colleges] totally can not think how they are going to do this,” says Valentine Mulholland, policy adviser to the NAHT. “We consider some schools did not realise this was happening because they hadn’t heard something.”

Individuals who have tried to begin preparing have identified it extremely hard due to the fact they do not know how several families will get up the offer you of a cost-free lunch.

In addition, heads are pointing out that if every person is entitled to a free of charge meal, and disadvantaged households no longer need to have to apply, this puts the pupil premium – arguably the flagship Liberal Democrat coalition policy – at risk. The pupil premium gives schools with an further £900 per disadvantaged little one in government grant, and it is calculated based on the amount of pupils eligible for free of charge school meals. And no matter what pupil premium funding infant colleges nevertheless deal with to declare could end up currently being diverted to fund college dinners, due to the intense fiscal pressure that schools are under. “National legislation seems to be all about unintended consequences,” O’Sullivan says.

The NAHT is anticipating some crucial rollbacks in the policy prior to September 2014. When Clegg initial made his announcement three months in the past, he committed the government to giving schoolchildren a scorching meal. A statement on the DfE internet site even now reads: “The government will fund colleges in England to provide every kid in reception, yr one and yr two with a hot, nutritious meal at lunchtime.”

This dedication, nevertheless, was not reiterated final week, when Clegg unveiled the government was supplying £1bn in total “to guarantee children get a healthful meal in the middle of the day”.

Headteachers and governors nevertheless feel that it will merely be impractical for most colleges – and completely not possible for some – to offer a hot meal by September 2014. An audit by the DfE of amenities and capabilities is below way, but the outcomes are not available to the public. Lack of funding is not the only dilemma schools face. Some are in buildings in which a new kitchen merely are not able to be additional on. Other individuals face a sheer lack of space, both for kitchens and storage, or for dining, or both.

Numerous colleges currently run a double lunch shift from 11.30am to 1.30pm since all pupils cannot be accommodated, even before the stress of extra mouths to feed. And with a shortage of primary spots, several schools are enlarging to accommodate increasing numbers. Extending any shift system would indicate shifting academic timetables or even using classrooms to feed pupils.

“[My] college was developed in the 1990s at a time when room expense income, so we never have any,” says Dix. “The hall is not only utilized for dinner times, it is our only internal PE space. We will almost certainly have to stagger our lunchtimes to allow for the added serving-up time that will be inevitable if numbers rise. This would indicate a reduction in the volume of PE we are in a position to give.”

Having lunch in shifts generates staffing and supervision difficulties. “It produces sensible problems, with some courses being back in the classroom although other individuals are out taking part in,” explains Barry Read, headteacher of RJ Mitchell main school in Hornchurch, Essex. Read through, who is struggling to determine how a lot of families would get up the alternative, believes it would be less difficult to “go the whole hog” and need that all pupils took school dinners .

The policy will also result in procurement difficulties for councils and schools. A document sent by Dorset county council to all neighborhood main colleges and to the DfE, observed by Education Guardian, illustrates how extended-term relationships with contractors support to safe greatest value for funds. “Early negotiations with contracted suppliers may enable added help alternatives … If the contracts are not confirmed early, this either might not be negotiable or might be at a grossly increased cost,” the document states.

“It is going to be quite tough to get a excellent deal if they know that you have to have it carried out by September,” explains one particular governor for a 500-pupil principal college on the south coast. And there are very useful considerations: “If all schools need to have to get an oven, are there that numerous ovens available? After they do the audit, they will realise that for numerous colleges it is not possible.”

A lot of headteachers believe there will have to be a U-flip above the “scorching” element of the meal. The NAHT now favours compromising with a free packed lunch. “We have pointed out the crucial problems for schools, especially if they’re going to insist on a sizzling school meal. There is tons a lot more versatility if it truly is a packed lunch to the dietary requirements,” Mulholland says.

Commenting on the issues, a spokesperson for the DfE did not refer to sizzling meals. “We know that routinely consuming a nutritious college meal can help to improve a child’s educational attainment,” explained the spokesperson. “Free of charge school meals for all infant school pupils will save parents an typical of £400 a yr, and make certain each and every little one can get the healthy lunch that will assist them do nicely at school.”

But a spokesman for Clegg explained last week: “The expectation is for the bulk of meals to be scorching.”

Schools are expecting to get far more details about implementation of the policy this week, now the autumn statement is out of the way. For some headteachers, like Mountstephen, nevertheless, the cost-free meals scheme will be provided with a hefty heart. “I serve a reasonably affluent component of a fairly affluent city in a pretty affluent component of the country. We don’t need to have it. This is a prodigious sum of funds, it truly is a biblical sum in a money-strapped service. Frankly, it really is a bizarre thing to be carrying out.”

Is Nick Clegg"s free school meals idea turning into a dog"s dinner?