Free School Breakfast

My sons school charges 50p a day for breakfast club. 8 till 8:30.
previously it was a cooked breakfast but since January it has just been cereal, toast and fruit. This is due to budget cuts. I wonder if the funding will be enough for schools to sustain.
places are limited so I worry that with the funding coming in that parents who use the breakfast club to get to work on time will be able to get there or will schools increase the number of spaces available.

What are people feeding their children that’s not cereal, toast or fruit? That’s all my kids have

Who do you think should subsidise it? The taxpayer?

Why would you interpret things like this? No one has said children should go without.

I would rather pay for my child or send them with a packed breakfast, so the school can use the funding for the children who needs it and everyone can have a good breakfast.

I dontcwant my children being fed beige rubbish at school. The fees wraparound aspect of it is helpful for working families but it didn't need the food.

Good lord - the hand-wringing about 'bland' food when kids in poverty are arriving at school hungry! No sorry, kid, I don't think toast and cereal are good for you, so have nothing instead, while I feed my middle class dc on more nutritious food!

YANBU

Subsidized daycare should be FREE, for all kids. That'll even things out a bit.

And yes, food should be free in school too

Isn't the funding something ridiculous like 60p per head, to cover all costs?

I would never ever resent a child who needed it benefiting from this scheme, but it doesn't need to be universal. I would much rather my child wasn't eligible and someone who really needed it could have a sensible level of funding.

My experience is secondary schools but the ones I worked in offered it.
It helped get them in on time, got them socialising before lessons, lots of students could eat at home, but won’t, so encourages them to eat.
Our school started at 8.20am going straight into lessons and some students had to travel to get there. My own school in the 80s started at 8.50 and we didn’t have the first lesson until 9.20am and there were loads of school buses to get there. It’s much more full on.

But it helps a lot of parents (let’s be realistic, mothers) who are on minimum wage and don’t think it’s financially viable to spend money on breakfast club in order to work extra hours. Just look at the threads on here where women are working over minimum wage, but think going to work is pointless as they’re ’working for free’ (obviously this isn’t true as childcare should be a joint cost, but it’s the perception).

YANBU @Espresso25. It's mind boggling that anyone would resent feeding poor children and helping out working parents.🤷‍♀️

I have no clue where our first school got the funding at the time. But it was a proper saving one for us.
I do hope that the government has indeed thought about the financing bit. Because you are right it makes no sense if there is no money to do it. It used to be a given that they had sorted such a thing when they roll schemes out....
But on the overall, I think it would save the country money, get parents to work and keep the kids fed and arriving on time.

I do not mean that the school has to pay or the school staff has to sort it. But childcare provision in the School would be overall cheaper than in separate premises.
Mine went to an after school club nearby the school. They were picked up, taken there, till 6 pm. I obviously paid for that one. Ensuring, renting, heating and maintaining this other building costs money. It would be cheaper for the club's staff to keep the children in the schools. That is if we want to gather some control on overall childcare costs. I think it is an option to consider. Most schools run sports or other activities straight after school ( like football), which many children join a day per week. My suggestion is a proper after school club till 6 pm, run by a different team, but in the school grounds/ canteen/ kitchen.

Gosh we've had this is Wales for as long as my 9 year old has been in school! It's brilliant, and nothing but a good thing. It means that parents can get to a job with a 9.00 start without stress (although from 8 - 8.25 costs £1). My kid loves it, but he normally has breakfast number 1 at home first. We also have universal free school lunches at primary, which are also a good thing.

Only! A lot of schools do have paid afterschool clubs. They charge because it costs to provide the food and staff. My sons charges £4.50 for breakfast club. This scheme will only pay a tiny fraction of that. Where is the rest coming from? School budgets Again! We can't even afford the basics with our pathetic budgets yet we're expected to foot the cost for a hairbrained scheme. I think it's going to fail and not carry on after this pilot, we are certainly hoping so at our school as we can not afford any more loses in our budget. It would be lovely in an ideal world but it's not funded properly and the schools will suffer.

I think it’s a good idea, I’d pay more tax for this and I don’t have school age DC anymore. I grew up in a really deprived area and seeing what some of school friend’s living conditions were like was heartbreaking.

My DD had it years back, in her first school. That meant I could drop her before going to work. She was at Reception year. She absolutely loved the dinner lady that booked them in. I had not a penny. Me and her father were working staggered shifts to cope. He had just fallen asleep at that time. The club saved us for a few months, till we changed schools. Then we had to pay for a breakfast club, but we saved on commuting costs, so it compensated.
I am more than happy for others to have this help. I actually think all primaries should have both breakfast and after school clubs. The space is there, the building is safe. The building is already heated. They have playing space. They really only need to get the staff to run the clubs.

Yes, they should make sure these children are having eggs and smoked salmon, lovingly prepared by the gourmet chef on standby in every school.

I think the scheme irritates me as its not properly funded from what I can see and it is the easiest meal for parents to provide at home.

The free school lunches for pupil premium children are underfunded and are recognised to be a child main meal and ofteh their onky chance at a hot meal and increasing funding for those Would have been more my priority.

But I assume that cost to much so this is second best.

I heard a presenter on LBC a couple of nights ago who kept referring to the 'staff needed to cook these breakfasts'. I thought,so they're going to be getting a full English?' 😂

I think the wrap around funding approaxh is well intentioned but I'd actually like to see more funding for better quality, nutritious school dinners, especially for those who struggle to afford them. The cut off for a free school meal is so low that many children of parents that genuinely can't afford a hot dinner simply miss out.