Hundreds of school children are going without school dinners because they are too ashamed to claim free food, it has been claimed.

Figures show that up to 670 youngsters each day do not claim the free meals they are entitled to in Oxford schools.

The majority of them are secondary school pupils, the city council's anti-poverty working party heard.

Cllr Ken Tiwari said: "These children have pride and that is what stops them claiming their meals.

"They would rather go without than have to admit they are entitled to free food." Cllr Les Town said he had heard of children facing a choice between catching a bus or buying their dinner.

He said: "They simply don't eat and rely on getting titbits from their mates to see them through the day.

"They don't want to claim free school meals in front of their friends. Some of them use the money they are given by their parents for the bus to school to pay for their dinner instead.

"Children should not have to make the choice between travel and eating."

About 20 per cent of pupils in Oxford are entitled to free school meals. But Cllr Xanthe Bevis said there might be other reasons why such a high proportion of meals were not being claimed.

She said: "Many of the children who do not claim are aged 12 or 13 and are at the age when they don't see it as trendy to have school meals.

"They will not use the canteen because they did that when they were seven."

The meeting heard that some youngsters entitled to free meals were likely to be having packed lunches.

Story date: Wednesday 08 December

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