school milk

British  

noun

1. social welfare (formerly, in Britain) a third of a pint of milk, originally provided free by the local education authority to all young pupils, then later given only to children who passed a needs or means test

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Example Sentences

Hundreds of parents have signed a petition calling for plant-based options in UK nursery and school milk schemes to "help promote inclusivity and ensure all children can benefit".

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026

The shortage is affecting the company’s ability to “fully supply some school milk orders,” according to Matt Herrick, spokesperson for the International Dairy Foods Association.

From Washington Times • Nov. 3, 2023

He told the Guardian newspaper that a Dutch school milk program was thought to be one reason the population had grown so tall in recent decades.

From Washington Post • Sep. 19, 2021

It's a nostalgia Capaldi himself embraces, putting it in a bracket with "the Beatles and Sunday Night At The London Palladium, and school milk and bronchitis, and smog and little S-buckled belts".

From The Guardian • Aug. 16, 2014

Rafik added, sighing in a melodramatic way, “But we do miss the school milk in little red cartons,” which made his mother put her thumb and first finger together like an alligator closing its mouth.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye