Students at Paschal Baylon Catholic Primary School in Liverpool have been meat-free on a Monday since May – and loving it, at these pictures make clear.
The campaign has been given wholehearted support from headteacher Claire Knowles, and this month the school will receive a Bronze Award from the Soil Association’s Food for Life programme.
Delicious and healthy meals are served up to the children at the start of week by not-for-profit school meal provider Food for Thought, which works with 17 schools in Merseyside, including two Surestart centres.
“It wasn’t too hard to get all the schools on board as we’ve been having partly meat-free days for a good few years on our menu cycles, offering alternative vegetarian main meals,” said Food for Thought’s Anne Rimmer.
The company only uses farm-assured meat, locally sourced vegetables and free-range eggs, and almost a third of all its food is organic. It serves 380,000 meals annually, meaning approximately 76,000 meat-free meals a year.
The schools are now beginning to teach cookery to their children and some parents, which will include meat-free dishes.
A number of schools in Manchester, London and the Home Counties are also taking part in the Meat Free Monday campaign.