Falkirk school pupils have been assured that a new award scheme for school meals will raise standards but won’t increase the cost.
Falkirk hopes to get a bronze award from Food For Life Scotland, which aims to put more locally sourced, seasonable Scottish food on the table in nurseries and schools across the country.
Members of Falkirk Council ‘s executive heard on Thursday that they hope take-up of meals in primary schools alone will go up by around 350 every day as a result.
Read more: Falkirk education boss insists ‘no pupils punished for not wearing blazer’
Council officials met last month with the Soil Association Scotland to discuss what would be needed to get a bronze award.
Resources manager Kenny McNeill said: “I am really pleased to say we’re not far off meeting the standards that are required for the bronze award.”
The next stage, he said, would be bringing the staff on board to make the project work.
He said: “Ultimately, this will be delivered by the people who cook the meals and serve them to the children”.
Mr McNeill told members that it would be easy to measure the success of the scheme – firstly by making sure that costs don’t increase and secondly by watching to see if the meal uptake increases.
Pupil representative Roisin Kirk, of Braes High School, asked if the scheme would mean an increase in price for pupils.
“I know it’s already a bit expensive without this new plan,” she said.
She was told that the council reviews its prices every year but was assured that it wants to hear more from young people about what goes on the menu.
Mr McNeill said: “Be assured, we are not using this to increase prices, we’re using this to increase the quality of the offer.”
If, as hoped, they serve an extra 350 meals a day this would offset any increase in the cost of the ingredients, while using technology to keep an eye on what pupils are ordering will help reduce waste.
Mr McNeill said selling more meals would inevitably include more children from lower income households who will “get the benefit of being well fed and ready for learning”.
For more Falkirk stories, sign up to our newsletter here.