More than 17,000 pupils from almost 200 high schools completed the survey, which was drawn up by the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research unit at Glasgow Caledonian University.
The proportion of pupils in schools who reported that they typically had a school meals at lunchtime ranged from 9% to 75%. Catering staff came out on top with the majority of pupils rating their efforts as ‘good’ or ‘really good’ in 97% of schools.
Professor John McKendrick, of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit at GCU, said: “Most pupils reported that this was the first time that they had been asked to share their opinion on school meals. There’s no doubt these findings demonstrate the need for school-level analysis, as there was much variation in opinion and experience across schools at a local and regional level.
“We hope these school-specific reports help everyone in these schools better understand what works and what could work better to ensure that Scotland’s secondary school pupils have a first-class school meals service in the years ahead.”
The proportion of pupils in schools who reported that waiting times were the reason for not taking school meals ranged from 3% to 68%, while the proportion who ate breakfast before class ranged from 13% to 61%. The briefings will be used as a basis for a national report to be published on International School Meals Day on March 10.
Jayne Jones, national chair of local authority group ASSIST FM, added: “As we begin to emerge from two years of the pandemic, caterers across Scotland were keen to hear from our secondary school pupils what their thoughts and concerns were about school food.
“The school-specific reports give these schools an excellent starting point for developing pupil-led improvements, and are a good way of helping to build lunch services for the future in partnership with the catering teams.
On International School Meals Day (10 March 2022) SPIRU/ASSIST FM will be holding a webinar to discuss their secondary school pupil survey results. This event will take place from 4pm – 4.30pm, with Professor John McKendrick presenting his headline findings and there will also be ten minutes for questions and answers.