Education

Up to 1,000 children in Wokingham are missing out on free school meals according to a report from the Children's Society
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1,000 Wokingham children missing free school meals

March 15, 2013

Up to 1,000 children in Wokingham are missing out on free school meals, according to a new report.

The Children’s Society claims 54 per cent of children living in poverty in the borough are not getting a free hot meal at school every day.

The charity’s Fair and Square petition aims to force the Government to make free schools meals available to all children in poverty, not just those on benefits. Data published last month by End Child Poverty revealed nine per cent of children in the borough lived in poverty.

However, John Ferguson, manager of Wokingham’s Citizen’s Advice Bureau, said the survey did not give a true picture of the levels of deprivation in some pockets of town.

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While something needs to be done to help the children who are missing out there is a bigger issue that needs to be addressed. Wokingham has such a low unemployment rate that there are many unskilled jobs thatcannot be filled. There is also a lack of apprenticeships and other moves in the area to ensure that more of our youngsters become skilled.

We need more initiatives that attack the pockets where children live below the poverty line. This needs to go beyond providing benefits and help to correcting the basic causes of the poverty.