15 September 2025
"Feeling stressed and hungry is all consuming": Taking school food seriously in Wales
Over the last few months, the Welsh Government has been running a public consultation on “Healthy eating in schools”.
The consultation includes questions on what food and drinks should be provided, as well as what guidance is needed to promote healthy eating and drinking in schools. The core ambition is to help children:
- Develop healthy eating habits
- Access healthier food during school hours
- Make healthy food choices
At The Food Foundation, we were delighted to see the Welsh Government expand free school meals to all primary aged children and would love to see them go further and expand to secondary school children (according to a government spokesperson this is being kept under review).
This consultation provides an opportunity to increase the impact of the free school meal expansion by ensuring school food is nutritious and affordable.
We spoke to the Welsh young people we work with to hear their experiences of school food and discuss their views on the consultation. Their responses highlight how inequitable access to healthy school food impacts children and young people, and what changes need to be made.
Welsh college student Faye, 19, remembers feeling stigmatised by the poor-quality food offered to children like her on free school meals. She shared:
“Healthier options were always more expensive, and it was nearly impossible to buy enough to feel full on my free school meal allowance. My little sister is still at school and has to buy water as there is no free water available. This eats into her free school meal allowance and means she can only afford the less healthy, cheaper options for her lunch.
Students on free school meals are often thinking about what food they can buy or their empty bellies during the school morning (some might not have had breakfast or even a good dinner the night before) Feeling stressed and hungry is all consuming, distracting from learning and getting the most out of school.”
Welsh school student David, shared:
“Students only get 35 mins-45mins for lunch, which means by the time they have queued for lunch they have very little time to eat making “grab & go” options more popular. Unfortunately, these are much less nutritious.
Children on free school meals or with dietary requirements have much more limited options. At many schools, you don’t know what food will be on offer before getting to the front of the queue. This can be stressful for people on free school meals or with restricted diets, especially when labelling and pricing is not clear. You don’t want to have to ask as there is still a lot of feelings of shame and stigma around being different, causing anxiety for those students whose choices are limited.”
Welsh young person Jamie, 20, shared:
“I’ve heard different stories about students being served partially frozen, mouldy or spoiled food and from my own experience, junk food and highly processed food were more on display and made to look appetising, compared to healthy, which was rarely on display.”
However, the ambassadors were hopeful about the Welsh Governments actions on school food and look forward to a future where school is:
“A place where all students can access healthy and enjoyable food that is prepared to a high standard” - Jamie
Across the UK, we are seeing governments taking school food more seriously. In Scotland, Holyrood has committed to universal free school meals for P1-P5 (and expanded provisions for P6 and P7 children whose families receive the Scottish Child Payment), in Northern Ireland, Stormont recently did a consultation on free school meal expansion, and in England, Westminster are reviewing the School Food Standards.
We welcome these steps and will continue working with citizens to ensure their voices and insights inform policy changes.
How much junk food is served in schools? Listen to our Pod Bites with Danielle Glavin from Chefs in Schools, who also published The Future of School Food report with a foreword by Food Ambassador Emmanuela.
You can also hear Food Ambassadors Dev and Rushda talk more about school food quality in this podcast with headteacher Reema Reid, of Hollydale Primary School in London, and Sam Rushworth, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland.
To find out more about The Food Foundation’s citizen engagement work, check out the Food Ambassadors.
ENDS
