Adama – a 17-year-old campaigner and young food ambassador from Newcastle – has helped create an animated campaign film narrated by Dame Emma Thompson and three other young people from across the UK with lived experience of food insecurity.
Launched by The Food Foundation, The Lunch They Deserve seeks to focus the nation on the need for better school food standards.
There are currently 4.5million children growing up in poverty in the UK, and for many of them a healthy diet is unaffordable. School meals have the potential to ensure these young people have access to a nutritious, hot meal that will help to keep them healthy.
The film, created by multi-Bafta-winning animators The Tin Bear Project and funded by Trust for London and The National Lottery Community Fund, can be viewed here.
Actor and Food Foundation celebrity ambassador Dame Emma Thompson said: “School lunchtime is the golden opportunity for society to step up, to serve great food to our young people and by doing so support families, the NHS and our communities. Every child has the right to healthy food. Let’s get it right in all our schools. Let’s give all our kids the lunch they deserve so that they can thrive.”
Chef and school food campaigner Jamie Oliver said: “We’ve had the evidence for years – good school food transforms children’s health, learning, attendance and wellbeing. Yet we still have a system where some children eat well at school and others don’t. That’s outrageous. School meals are the UK’s biggest and most important restaurant chain, and it’s failing too many of its customers. It’s long past time for government to properly update 20-year-old standards and actually enforce them.”
Earlier this year the government announced that from September 2026 the provision of free school meals will be extended to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit. The government also pledged to improve school food standards, with Keir Starmer publicly affirming his commitment to quality school food at an event at 10 Downing Street in November.
The announcement of the expansion of free school meals was celebrated by Emma Thompson and the young food ambassadors who campaigned on this issue for a number of years. They are now joining The Food Foundation’s call for further bold action from government that will create a turning point in school food standards, and consequently in child health, in 2026 alongside the expansion of free school meals.
The young food ambassadors are a diverse group of young activists from around the UK, campaigning in their own communities and on a national level for the right of all people to be able to access healthy and affordable food. Many have lived or living experience of food insecurity. In The Lunch They Deserve, Emma Thompson narrates alongside Nausheen, 15, from Northern Ireland; Rylee, 15, from Somerset; Emmanuela, 17, from London; and Adama, 17, from Newcastle.
Adama said: “I am involved in campaigning for healthier options in school as healthy food is crucial for improving a child’s academic wellbeing and helping them with their concentration levels. I believe young individuals like me and my peers are deserving of a balanced nutrition meal, which is easily accessible as it acts as a stepping stool for success in our future.
“Food insecurity for me means sometimes avoiding healthy foods because they are more expensive and often going for the options which are processed and unhealthy due to a cheaper price. For my friends, it means often buying fast food whenever we hang out together because it’s more accessible than high-end restaurants which may provide healthier options.”
Mandatory school food standards do currently exist, but they do not take into account recent nutritional recommendations. Another key problem is that compliance with the standards is not monitored.
Anna Taylor – executive director at The Food Foundation – said: “September 2026 is a huge opportunity to mark a step change in both access to free school meals and the quality of the meals served. Monitoring has to go hand in hand with new standards so that schools which aren’t meeting standards can be given adequate support to improve. There are lots of wonderful examples of schools delivering fantastic food to children – that experience needs to be less of a postcode lottery and instead something which all children can benefit from. We’ve seen clear evidence that when school food standards have been updated in the past, the uptake of school meals has increased steadily over the following years. We now have the opportunity to make sure this goes further so that every child can enjoy a nutritious meal at lunchtime.”
Naomi Duncan, CEO of Chefs in Schools, said: “The Prime Minister’s recent commitment to ensuring children are not just fed in school, but fed well, matters. At Chefs in Schools, we see daily the impact that high-quality school food has on children and young people. As the scale of food-related ill health becomes clearer, ambition must be matched by action. Schools are a critical intervention point, but only if high standards for chefs and caterers are applied consistently and enforced properly.”
Young food ambassador Nausheen, from Northern Ireland, said: “Every child deserves access to healthy food and the necessities that help them reach their full potential. That’s why I’m committed to taking action to improve food standards for all children.”
Young food ambassador Rylee, from Somerset, said: “As a young person in an all boys secondary school, I feel it’s very important that we are able to eat healthy and nutritious meals that will support our growth and our academic achievements, especially in these last two years of GCSE exam preparation. The current offer is not sufficient and does not promote a healthy or active lifestyle.”
Young food ambassador Emmanuela, from London, said: “School food standards matter because what you feed students directly shapes their ability to focus, emotionally regulate, and actually learn. Low-quality, nutritionally poor meals hit disadvantaged students hardest because they’re often the only reliable meal of the day; when that food is inadequate, it deepens existing inequalities in wellbeing and attainment. If we’re serious about equity in education, improving school food is foundational.”
