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Specialist learning facilities completed at Leicester College campus


A £1.3M CENTRE has been completed at Leicester College for learners with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Designed by GSSArchitecture, the scheme has redeveloped and extended part of the former Action for Deafness


Unions push for universal free school meals for primaries


FOLLOWING the announcement that all children in infant schools are to receive free school lunches from September 2014, the teaching unions are continuing to press for universal free school meals for all primary school pupils. Primary free school meals will not only


bring about clear health and education benefits but will help support low income working parents and help to tackle child poverty, says Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT. “The health benefits of eating a nutritious lunchtime meal cannot be overestimated. Teachers are well aware of the impact on children’s concentration and behaviour and the long term benefits for their educational attainment.”


Pilots


Under the new plans, every child in reception, year 1 and year 2 in state- funded schools will receive a hot, nutritious meal at lunch time. The NUT is now calling for the Government to commit to the recommendations laid out in the School Food Plan. The independent review, published in July, proposed a phased roll-out of free school meals for


building, to include a series of general and specialist learning spaces. The design addresses the range of individual needs of the learners with high specification sensory rooms and an external sensory garden, whilst


integrating fully within Leicester College’s campus.


The scheme has also been designed to accommodate a future first floor extension for any new increases in learner numbers.


Where children had been given a free school dinner, students were academically months ahead of their peers


all children in all primary schools. It found, in pilots where all children had been given a free school dinner, students were academically months ahead of their peers elsewhere and more likely to eat vegetables at lunchtime instead of less healthy food like crisps. From next September, free school meals will also be extended to disadvantaged students in further education and sixth form colleges. In total, the new measures are expect to cost around £600m. Though supportive of the new


arrangements, Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, accused the coalition of political posturing at a time when other policies were impacting on


children, including child benefit, tuition fees and access to further education. She said: “Questions need to be asked about how much more cash is in the stash that they clearly have for pre- election giveaways at a time when ordinary families are suffering real hardship and more and more children each year are being plunged into poverty.”


Over the course of a year the average family spends £437 on school lunches per child.


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