The Tamar School started its summer school during the coronavirus pandemic and has continued ever since. The Youth Education Fund gave the school the opportunity to offer breakfast during the summer as well, and principal Jan Boer seized that opportunity. “We thought: let’s just give it a try, because we encounter quite a few children for whom it is sometimes difficult to fill their lunchbox with healthy food every day. And the nice thing is that you can immediately talk to the children about it too. What do you actually like, what is healthy and what is good food?”
Budget requested for the summer holidays
According to Mirella Bhagwandin of the Youth Education Fund, around one thousand schools in the Netherlands now receive help with meals at school. “Approximately one-third of them have also requested a budget for the summer holidays.”
At the Tamar School, the summer school pupils also receive lessons about food and, for example, go to the supermarket to see what is available. “Apart from simply offering a meal, which is really wonderful to be able to do, it also has many other effects. Sometimes, for example, the children say that they don’t like something to eat. But then you can talk about it with them again.”
“Not extra strict about food”
The fact that the school makes use of the opportunity to give the pupils breakfast does not mean that they are now extra strict about food, says principal Boer. “We also want to make sure that food is simply fun and enjoyable. So if you give out treats once in a while, it doesn’t always have to be cucumber; it can also be something unhealthy now and then: something sweet or something fatty. Above all, let it be fun.”
Source: Omroep West, NOS Jeugdjournaal.