Breakfast, breaktimes and lunch
Margaret Johnstone, the Support Services Coordinator at Balwearie High School in Fife, feels that making sure that everyone has eaten is a key part of the school's responsibility for its young people.
“We started breakfast clubs straight away and they’ve grown. We’ve now included a breaktime club and encouraged any young person to go to the breakfast club, it’s not just for those able to claim free school meals."
Making sure everyone has eaten is a priority for Margaret and her team and they've tackled this in various ways. Breakfast clubs, funded in part with help from local businesses and with a proportion of the school’s PEF allocation, break-time clubs, free fruit Fridays, breakfast bars available throughout the day and cash available for young people who don’t have money for lunch.
“All the pupils know now that they don’t go hungry at lunchtime. If they’ve spent the two pounds forty they come to my office or they come to guidance and we’ve got petty cash and they get money. We are the corporate parent from 8:30 in the morning until four o’clock in the afternoon, 39 weeks a year. So we are legally responsible for the health and wellbeing of that young person, so we have to be able to be involved in all of their health and wellbeing.”