When free lunches were introduced for all children between the ages of four and seven, many predicted disaster. However, as Jeremy Sutcliffe found, the experiment has gone surprisingly smoothly Last month saw the beginning of an experiment in social engineering in England’s schools on a truly breathtaking scale. Under the Government’s new universal infant free school meals plan, all children in England are now entitled to a free daily school lunch throughout the first three years of their compulsory education.The introduction of free school meals has gone remarkably smoothly. Head teachers have proved to be well up to the logistical task of adapting facilities, taking on new staff and, where necessary, pooling resources with neighbouring schools.A good example is the collabor