To wonder what will happen about the government's 'free' breakfast club proposal?!

In reality, I think they are better off focusing on making sure the funding for 3-4 year olds won’t lead to mass issues in private nurseries and make sure there are enough primaries with attached preschools for 3-4 year olds. So those kids are school ready. That seems to be the current most urgent bottleneck in the system.

I saw an article today in the local paper. They're trialling it at some local schools (not ours unfortunately) so guess we'll see.

I think finding space is red herring, you can have different classes eating at different times

Not really.

The time allocated is not long enough to allow breakfast to be done in shifts. The children will need to come in, get food, eat, clear up and be ready for learning time.

It takes us the best part of an hour to get children through lunch.

We already do morning jobs. I wouldn't want to replace that with listening to music and reading books - both of which are in the curriculum at other regular times anyway.

Those morning jobs are well thought out, provide review time opportunities and also a chance for teaching staff to see how a child is recalling previously taught information.

In our school we would need to do the Breakfast Club in classrooms, if even 50% of the school took part. That means a toaster in most rooms, plus staff to supervise. That isn't a free cost. It also needs someone to go out and purchase the food, and a fridge to store things like butter.

I think some people forget that not all schools are swimming with room. We are an old Victorian building. Space is something we do not have!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg1p0zv541o

The image the BBC have chosen is showing a cooked breakfast! For 60p? With staff and a fully cooked breakfast…
23000 for 50% attendance is stated. That is what half a teacher?

Our local MP is boasting about the "free" breakfast clubs at DDs ex-primary school. They have been running a free one for years + only have <7% FSM kids. But yeh what a triumph 🙄

I've been working in a primary school free-at-the-point-of-use breakfast club for 15 years. It's long been a thing in Wales.

At the moment my sons breakfast club is fully booked. There are 45 spaces for 460 children. There is one childminder that will drop off at school. Bookings are made half a term in advance and the spaces are booked within minutes. The school only has a small school hall which serves as the cafeteria as well. So I am not sure where they would put the extra children. School was built as a 1.5 form entry but is now a 2 form entry so we have huts on the playing fields to accommodate the extra classes needed.

I welcome the idea of free breakfast clubs for children, but I think it needs to be thought out better. At a nearby school almost 50% of children are on FSM and they have year six pupils handing out bagels to children from a hut in the car park. It is very popular.

Yep and Labour are taking credit for those as well don't worry!

Our school has a free breakfast club already, funded by Greggs. It's only 20 minutes or so though and is run by volunteers as far as I'm aware.

This. Parents should feed their own children 🙄🤷‍♀️

Surely current school breakfast clubs will continue to run as they do now but parents won't be charged less the 'free' 30 mins. Schools will need to work out how this will work with outside providers but that's why only a number of schools are trialing it to work this out!

Problem is if it's mandatory for all schools to eventually have a club and they don't currently run one is the staffing...it's hard enough recruiting in a school as it is.

I don't think all the parents in a school are going to suddenly rush to use the club because of the 'free' 30 mins, you may get a slight increase as the 'free' element makes it more affordable for some but at the end of the day a school only has limited space to run and therefore can only accept those for whom they have space.

If the Government want to provide 30 minutes of free morning childcare to all children, they should hand over the 60p per primary aged child to the head teacher in each primary school and let them take the money and choose what is best for their cohort. For example, for some it may be a free morning running and dance club and fund a couple of PE teachers to do it on a field. Some others may not have the space and may have kids who do not eat breakfast at home - they can use it on food, although as I said, I think the amount for food needs topping up. It is not enough to feed healthily. And if we are talking about Government intervention, it should at least be healthy! That is a basic.

No @AquaPeer - I was not. with 60p per child you cannot provide a nutritionally balanced breakfast. It will be ultra processed at best.
So for parents who can afford to pair the weetabix with nuts, fruits and natural yoghurt to make it more balanced, why would you send them in to eat crap for nothing. It is common sense. Actually our breakfast club is pretty good but costs £4.50 currently and runs from 7.30-8.55 and provides fruit as well as natural yoghurt etc. and they do crafts and dancing and all sorts with the DC.
I am not interested in Labour feeding the nation with UPFs, no thanks. That is not what our children need. They deserve better. Especially kids on FSM. At least provide enough money to feed them properly. We know UPF leads to obesity, diabetes, cancer etc.

@Araminta1003 This is literally 2005 Gillian McKeith stuff, it’s not new or unusual knowledge and It’s not relevant at all to the conversation about breakfast clubs. You were just trying to make parents feel shit about themselves and bash schools/ the government for providing kids with food for energy. It’s so distasteful and basic

It is going ahead... selected schools in certain areas all over Britain. I personally think it is a bit ambitious and can see it being whittled out pretty quickly .. it should be offered for anyone who qualifies for free school meals or maybe anyone on universal credit as the free schools meal criteria is ridiculously low now.. that way any children on low incomes will be caught and helped.

@AquaPeer https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_food

supermarket bread is typically UPF.
My homemade bread is not, and if it is sour dough which I make 1x per week, sometimes twice because it does take an effort, that will feed gut bacteria and immunity. Especially important at this time of year.
Small healthy choices like natural yoghurt plus fruits (real) vs supermarket bought “fruit” yoghurt. These things do make a difference. The more healthy choices you can make, the better. It is plain common sense and no need to pathologies what countless generations before as did. Before the advent of advertising and companies selling us crap packed up as “healthy” choices.

Obviously you realise that bread is processed whether or not you make it yourself?

people often don’t recognise their own orthorexia as it’s so insidious in our society and often disguised as being good/ clever/ knowledgeable/ health focused.

I would much rather see improved school lunches and free lunches for all?
My DD is in Yr1 so qualifies for the free school meals but the food is dire so she takes a packed lunch 🙃

What if a parents situation has changed and they're no longer able to afford breakfast at home? This is where breakfast clubs or a piece of bagel can mean that child being able to concentrate that day and not have feelings of hunger or not.

“Orthorexic”? None of my older DCs have any food issues and have great mental health, thanks very much. Part of the problem in this country has been normalising an unhealthy lifestyle for children, feeding them crap, not exercising them enough and the most recent trend of plonking in front of screens.

I really do not know what you are on about. We have had a bread maker for years and a sour dough and kefir culture. Even my British Granny used to make her own stuff. It is much better to make your own bread than buy processed toast bread and that is what they are likely to get in a breakfast club funded at 60p per child.

Yeah kids in France manage to find all that unprocessed bread growing in their gardens 🙄

that sound bite totally misses the point. It’s perfectly standard to eat processed foods and still be healthy, and demonising foods and using orthorexic language is a dangerous way to bring up children. Their minds need to be healthy too you know.