To ask the Minister of Education to detail any provision that is made for pupils, entitled to free school meals, when their school reopens after summer, before Education Authority kitchens.

In line with my Department’s circular 2026/10, in the second term each year, the Education Authority (EA) provides schools with a list of non-operational days for the following academic year when school meals will not be available. For the current academic year, this included non-operational days between 1 July – 31 August.

Paragraph 12 of this circular states “Schools should make every effort to maintain their school calendars within the days when services are operational as this is particularly important for those pupils entitled to free school meals”.

Should schools choose to open outside of these operational days, they will be aware that free school meals will not be available on those days.