Drop in primary school meal uptake since new menu

A number of changes to primary school meal menus were introduced in September

The number of primary school children opting for school meals has fallen by 7% since September when a new menu was introduced, figures have shown.

The numbers also showed the number of pupils taking up the lunchtime meals had fallen by 10% at the start of the new terms when compared the previous January.

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture (Desc) overhauled school menus for the 2025-26 academic year to reduce processed foods and increase local produce use.

Desc Minister Daphne Caine said the numbers were "approximate" and did not account for circumstances such as students going home for lunch or children leaving early for appointments and team sports events.

The figures, revealed in a written answer to a Tynwald question, showed 67% of primary school children were signed up for school meals in January last year while 33% relied on packed lunches.

School meal recipients dropped to 57% at the start of the new school year in September, falling again to 50% the following month.

Daphne Caine said the recording of the numbers receiving the meals could vary at schools

Caine said the numbers opting for the school-prepared meals would "fluctuate throughout a school year for a variety of reasons".

That included the way schools logged information, especially accounting for absences or appointments.

She said: "Some schools log all children that are not having school lunch as a packed lunch, which increases the packed lunch number, even if the child is going home for lunch."

There were also a number of other variables, the minister said, which meant children could change from school dinners to packed lunches "without any notice".

Other changes could arise from the use of the "ParentPay" system, which is a cashless way parents can pay for school services online.

Caine said the use of that system "varies across schools", which meant some meals provided for "may not have been logged on the reports used to extract this data".

That could include "lunches provided for children that arrive late, do not have a ParentPay account, or do not have funds on their account", she said.

Work was ongoing to improve the accuracy of the figures, she added.