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Bolton youngsters to get £1 school dinners
27 Aug 2009

Reception and year one children in Bolton schools will be able to buy school dinners for £1 in an initiative aimed at promoting healthy eating.

According to the Bolton News, the meals were going to be free, but that particular scheme has been scrapped at the last minute.

Lasting until December, the programme is a repeat of a trial last year and will ensure children in these two year groups save 75p a day on their food.

A spokesman for the local authority said that the £1 pilot was being repeated for two school year groups because of the positive response last year and the principle is ideal for introducing youngsters to healthy eating early on in their school lives.

"This pilot also supports national and corporate objectives to improve dietary health generally, support reducing childhood obesity principles and also to support a long-term healthy lifestyle," he added.

Elsewhere in Bolton - as well as Dundee - parents are using sQuidcards to give their children pocket money. 

The cards, which can be topped up online, offer a secure way to prevent the loss of small change and if a registered card is lost, the balance can be transferred to a new card. 

They also teach children about budgeting as they can only spend what has been pre-loaded onto the card.