Kerre McIvor: Kids need free school lunches, they can't learn when they're hungry 15 May, 2021 05:00 PM 4 minutes to read Some tips that might help encourage an empty lunchbox. OPINION: I have long been a supporter of children being fed at school. Perhaps it was because I grew up on a diet of books and television programmes set in England where school lunches were the norm. Or, more likely, it was because my mum, who was a school teacher, used to head off to work every morning with four or five sandwiches and a bag of fruit in her bag to give to the kids who came to school hungry.