HUNTINGTON — One of Gateway Regional School District’s biggest changes for the upcoming school year will be at Chester Elementary School, where there will be such a thing as a free lunch — and breakfast, too.

The school, which offers pre-kindergarten through fifth grade for the towns of Blandford, Chester and Middlefield, will be a universal breakfast and lunch school starting this year, said Wendy Long, the district’s community relations official.

The school has seen sustained poverty over the last several years, Long said, and many students were on free and reduced lunch programs already. Now, every student will get free breakfast and lunch each school day.

“We’re looking forward to making that switch,” Superintendent David Hopson said. “Once we got the recommendation to move forward to allow free meals for everyone, we decided that would make it a lot easier for both staff and students.”