PUPILS are to be encouraged to take up school meals with the introduction of a card scheme.
The school meal card scheme will be launched in June at Pennywell School, in Sunderland, after £22,000 was secured from the Government's Single Regeneration Budget (SRB).
Cards will be issued to every pupil, and to prevent them being swapped or sold, will carry individual photographs.
Pupils will be able to charge them by putting money into a machine. Those pupils who are entitled to free meals will have their cards charged automatically.
The scheme has already been introduced in other Wearside schools, including Farringdon and Houghton Kepier, where it has significantly increased the take-up of school meals.
As well as making life easier for pupils, the cards also provide parents with information about what their children had for lunch and how much they spent.
The information will be used to encourage healthy eating among young people.
Karon Purvis, SRB co-ordinator, said: "By choosing the school lunch option, youngsters are eating more nutritional food and becoming educated about healthy eating."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article