The Feeding of School ChildrenBulkley, M. E. (Mildred Emily)
History
The Feeding of School Children
Bulkley, M. E. (Mildred Emily)
School children -- Food
But as a rule no definite arrangement is made. A few Care Committees
refuse to feed children whose parents are receiving relief, but in the
great majority of schools cases are to be found where children are being
fed by the Care Committee, while their parents are being relieved by the
Guardians.[455] Frequently no official communication passes between the
two authorities concerned. The Guardians may learn indirectly through
the Relieving Officer, or perhaps through some member of their Board who
happens also to be a member of the Care Committee, that the latter are
feeding the children. Where a system of mutual registration has been
established, each authority will, theoretically, be informed of what the
other is doing. How far all cases are actually notified will depend on
the secretary of each individual Care Committee. And this system of
mutual registration does not prevent overlapping in many cases where the
children are on the feeding-list for a short time only, since cases are
often notified only once a month, by which time the necessity for
feeding may have ceased. Occasionally the Guardians ask the Care
Committee to inform them if they discover any cases where the relief
appears inadequate, so that they may increase it, if necessary. In other
Unions the Guardians deliberately count on the provision of school meals
to supplement the relief given; they tell the parents to apply for
dinners and grant less relief in consequence, thereafter priding
themselves on keeping down the rates.
Footnote 455:
Most of the cases of overlapping are, of course, cases in which the
Guardians are granting out-relief. There are also the cases where the
Guardians are relieving a widow by maintaining some of her children in
Poor Law schools, but the mother has not sufficient income adequately
to maintain the remaining child or children.
APPENDIX
EXAMPLES OF FEEDING CENTRES IN LONDON
(a)--School, visited October, 1913.
Here the dinner is served in the Infants' School in a room at the top of
the building. Some sixty infants, all attending the school, were being
fed. They entered the room two by two and sat down together at low
tables on specially small chairs. Two teachers were present throughout
the meal; they served the food, and four of the children handed it
round. Perfect order was kept, and at the end of the meal all the
children rose together, and, after saying grace, marched out quietly.
The food is cooked on the premises, the menu being drawn up by one of
the teachers and varied every day. The whole meal was served in as
attractive a manner as possible, and testified eloquently to the care
and thought which must have been spent on its organisation.
(b)--School, visited June, 1913.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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