{"id":289662,"date":"2025-07-25T04:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T04:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/289662\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T04:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T04:30:10","slug":"50-million-free-school-meals-served-to-primary-pupils-in-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/289662\/","title":{"rendered":"50 million free school meals served to primary pupils in Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n                Wrexham.com &gt; News\n              <\/p>\n<p> <strong>Posted:<\/strong> Fri 25th Jul 2025 <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-07-20-at-18.15.44-840x541.jpg\" alt=\"Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Wales has served more than 50 million free school meals to primary pupils since the introduction of the Universal Primary Free School Meals scheme in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The scheme means that every child in every primary school across all local authorities in Wales can now receive a free school meal each day.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t           &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t         &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>This full roll-out marks a significant milestone in supporting families and children.<\/p>\n<p>Free school meals help reduce health inequalities, encourage healthy eating habits, and can boost social skills during mealtimes.<\/p>\n<p>They are also linked to improvements in behaviour and attainment among learners. Local authorities have been encouraged to source food locally where possible to support communities.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>First Minster, Eluned Morgan said: \u201cServing up school dinners to all our primary pupils for free provides vital support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA year on from introducing the scheme to everyone, Wales is still the only UK nation to provide a free healthy meal for every primary learner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt makes sure that no child feels hungry during the school day. It helps their concentration and wellbeing and enabling them to achieve their full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Welsh Government is currently consulting on new proposals to improve school meals further.<\/p>\n<p>These include helping more children get their five-a-day portions of fruit and vegetables and limiting sugary desserts and fried foods on menus. The consultation remains open until the end of July.<\/p>\n<p>Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle said: \u201cMore than 50 million meals have been served since the introduction of Universal Primary Free School Meals, it is a remarkable milestone \u201c<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is also a significant step in supporting Welsh families and tackling child poverty across our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are now building on the good work that is already happening to make sure that every child in Wales has access to healthy food.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are consulting on new proposals which would help more children get their five-a-day, limit sugary desserts, and fried foods as part of new school menus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is still time for people to have their say on the consultation until the end of July\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Spotted something? Got a story? Email <a href=\"https:\/\/wrexham.com\/news\/mailto:news@wrexham.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News@Wrexham.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Get notified about <br \/>news from across North Wales<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wrexham.com &gt; News Posted: Fri 25th Jul 2025 Wales has served more than 50 million free school meals&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-289662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114911999341252791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}