Young activists and TCC join forces to eradicate school dinner debt

Young activists and a Wrexham-based community organisation have teamed up to eradicate school dinner debt.

Throughout 2023 teenagers at St Joseph’s Catholic & Anglican School and charity TCC (Trefnu Cymunedol Cymru / Together Creating Communities) have been working together on #NoHungryLearners.

The campaign aims to alleviate the burden of school meal debt and promote equal opportunities for all children to thrive academically.

Wrexham high schools use a pre-pay system – also known as “parent pay” – to top up school dinner money for a child to be able to buy food from the canteen.

If a parent has been unable to top up, council policy is that they are offered a meal of the day or a sandwich.

This ‘meal of the day’ creates a debt on the pre-paid account.

If all sandwiches or the ‘meal of the day’ have been used some students are left with no or limited options.

Many students rely on school meals as a crucial source of nutrition, but unfortunately, not all families can afford to pay for these meals.

The Young Leaders carried out a survey to measure the impact this has on students and discovered that the stress of school dinner debt had a profound impact on their well-being and left some with feelings of humiliation and worry.

The Young Leaders said that the campaign is focused on “the people that don’t get noticed, those not empowered to do anything about their situation. We want to get rid of this problem that is happening right now.

This campaign isn’t just about children going hungry, but also the mentally damaging stigma that surrounds such situations”.

St Joseph’s Headteacher Mr Christopher Wilkinson “absolutely supports the campaign”, and is “extremely proud of his pupils”.

Mr Wilkinson said: “I would hate that any child would be ashamed and embarrassed due to lack or shortage of food.”

Reverend Lara, Chaplain of St Joseph’s School says that she is “proud of the hard work pupils have undertaken in order to look after their fellow schoolmates”.

To support their work, the group have also discussed issues regarding school dinner debt and child poverty with Lesley Griffiths MS, Ken Skates MS, Councillor Phil Wynn, Lead Member for Education, and Rocio Cifuentes, Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

Recently, TCC and the Young Leaders presented their campaign video at the National Child Poverty Summit in Swansea, which featured numerous charity and community organisations from across Wales, key speakers including the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, and Jane Hutt MS – Minister for Social Justice.

The aim of the #NoHungryLearners campaign is to eliminate the financial burden of school dinner debt – #NoHungryLearners aims to create a nurturing environment where every child can focus on their education and reach their full potential.

To learn more about the #NoHungryLearners campaign or TCC, contact Ruth Marshall at [email protected]