Sitting down to a healthy meal should be commonplace in a child’s daily routine.

Sadly though, many children throughout the UK don’t get that opportunity.

Breakfast, said to be the most important meal of the day, is often skipped or substituted with snacks and convenience foods.

Educationalists have a strong argument that this isn’t a diet conducive to studying. The ability to learn is often linked to diet and nutrition, so the announcement of free school meals for under eights is viewed by many as a positive way of ensuring that youngsters get a cooked, nutritious meal, as part of their daily diet.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, announced the £600 million school meals scheme under a deal with the Conservatives to allow them to press ahead with a tax break for married couples, widely expected to cost around £500 million.

Councillor Ralph Berry, Bradford Council’s executive member for children’s services, asks the question “Why stop at eight?” and believes the ultimate objective should be for all primary schools to benefit from the scheme.

“I understand it is part of the deal on the marriage tax, but the levels of poverty we have been finding would make a big impact on many of those children, particularly in those earlier years,” he said.

It is Bradford where school meals were originally introduced by educationalist Margaret McMillan.

Kevin Holland, headteacher at Green Lane Primary School – which has a heritage deep-rooted in bringing school meals to Bradford after Margaret McMillan and MP Fred Jowett lobbied Parliament to introduce the service in 1907 – says free school dinners for under-eights is “good news”.

“Most of our children stay for a school meal already, and I think it is something we should be proud of in Bradford,” he says. “To have a good lunchtime meal is proven to have an effect on raising standards in schools and it may help to improve children’s diets, lowering incidents of obesity and diabetes.

“Free school meal numbers are going down because many people are not eligible, so the eligibility for free meals is reducing generally in Bradford. This will ensure all children are treated equally.”

Soraya Overend, project manager of Jamie’s Ministry of Food in John Street, Bradford, says: “I think it will be a really good idea if children can start the day off with a good nutritious meal at lunchtime. It is going to aid their learning, too, in the long run.

“It is all down to getting a nutritious meal inside them, and some children may not have that at home, so I think it is a really good idea and, hopefully, they can extend it to all school years.”

The school meals scheme will save parents about £437 a year for each child and was the key announcement of the Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference in Glasgow.

The plan will ensure that a hot lunch is available to all children in reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils – pupils aged between five and seven – and follows a study produced earlier this year for the Department for Education, which showed the move produced considerable benefits, including significant academic improvements.

The Lib Dems estimate that 1.5 million more children will now receive free school meals when the scheme takes effect in September 2014, on top of the 400,000 who are already entitled to them.

There are currently 20,837 children benefiting from free meals in schools within the Bradford district.

But Bradford East MP, David Ward, expressed his “surprise” at the announcement and expresses his concern that it isn’t targeting those most in need.

“If we are extending free school meals to those currently not eligible for it, we are not targeting those most in need. To get free school meals you have to be on low incomes – if you extend it to everyone then you are extending it to people who are above,” he says.

He suggests the scheme be extended to those who are just above eligibility and who may still be struggling.

“If it was my choice I would clearly target it at supporting people from deprived communities and low income families,” says Mr Ward, adding that he would like to see the money put into the pupil premium.

“That is designed to support those who are already getting free school meals – it supports their educational development,” he says.