Free School Breakfast

Most schools have not started this and won't. There is not enough funding to pay for it so it will be cancelled soon enough. Some schools like my own already have free breakfast clubs but they are for pupil premium children, Greggs do a scheme where they fund the food that's provided to the children. It still needs to be staffed. Schools can not cover costs to staff free breakfast clubs for ALL children it's not feasible and this is a non starter.

Oh I thought it was more like 15%! Must have been an outdated stat. 30% is huge to my mind. I don’t see how people can be against the indicative even more now, unless it’s just the practical aspects

I feel like most people are missing the point. The free breakfast clubs are aimed at working families to enable working parents to save approx £500 a year and 95 hours in which they can be potentially a work or enroute to work for. Some working families can not afford wrap around care especially if there's more than one child. The extra added benefit to this scheme is that children who are coming to school without breakfast can eat for free. This has the potential to help more than just working families. This will also hopefully ultimately put more money into the economy and help boost it.

Personally my dc have been in wrap around care and breakfast clubs since they started school. Dc refuse thee food on offer.they don't like it. So have breakfast at home before school. On the off occasion they like something they may have a bit. Otherwise, it's just childcare for us.

the number of children living in poverty is small? it was estimated at around 30% last year I wouldn't say that's small and as col keeps increasing so will that %

I think it’s a good idea in theory. I could never feel bad about a child getting a free meal, especially as part of a scheme designed for the poorest kids in society. The number of children living in poverty is small but not zero and this shouldn’t be happening in 2025.

My question is who is going to make this happen. Teachers already do unpaid work after school and have to take summer jobs to up their salaries. Now will they have to go to work earlier to oversee breakfast too? I do a hobby with lots of teachers and the majority of them seem so burnt out

It's populist, headline-grabbing nonsense. Nobody wants kids to go hungry and everyone understands that a good education is fundamental. But how are schools going to fund this (staffing etc), are school buses going to get kids to school for breakfast time or school for the start of the school day? Why is it universal when the winter fuel payment is means tested? Schools are cutting teachers and teaching time due to the pressure they are under, I cannot see this being implemented in the right way

It's just another government gimmick. They're absolutely obsessed with every child being in school for the first eighteen years of their lives, forcing them into a box that doesn't fit everyone, and destroying every possible opportunity of alternatives being available.

As an early years provider, I was already at what I thought was the end of my tether with that woman, after the funding fiascos and slamming us in the media ... but then they showed the actual breakfast club and it was all white bread, beans and juice - three things that were released in new guidelines for PVIs this very week as not being allowed.

Most of the time the kids who come to schools hungry aren't on benefits. It tends to be a working / middle class problem in most state schools which I imagine is why the government wants to fix it - because they're the ones who'll show rapid improvements in their grades as a result.

My experience is that then kids will get themselves there in time to have the food, in the most chaotic families, after about 8yo. Which makes these clubs a good way of getting those children into school.

It’s free childcare not free breakfast. If there was an intent to help nutritionally then a free after school meal - say at 4.30pm - meat and 3 veg would actually help children nutritionally, not some cheap toast or cereal. The feckless parents who aren’t up to feed their kids breakfast aren’t going to get their kids to school in time for this free food, and free cereal and UHT milk is a food bank staple.
It is VAT on private schools which is funding this “free” breakfast / childcare . A tax on schools like my DD where almost every child is there because they have SEN and their needs weren’t being met in mainstream but they can cope in their school which is set up for their needs, the parents are already paying fees for what their child should be receiving for free in state - an education that meets their needs - and are now being taxed an extra 20% for this as it’s a “luxury”. My DD is in a class of 8 - they all have SEN but don’t qualify for EHCPs as our county won’t diagnose or treat dyslexia, won’t assess for autism unless you are violent and waits for an ADHD assessment is years

Teachers like you are worth your weight in gold. Thank you!!!!

In their day, was the cost of living so out of control?

I’m really not sure it’s the right use of resources and providing food for your dc should be parents responsibility, it’s literally what benefits are for.

Unfortunately poor budgeting, debts (often from borrowing without understanding compound interest) and delays in the benefits system mean that some children are going hungry so for them this is necessary, not for the majority. Same for school dinners, should only be free to those in need.

Having worked in quite a few schools, many of them were already doing this (I don't know how it was funded). Yes, mostly carb based. But I agree with others who have said, this is better than nothing.

I think Greggs fund some school breakfast clubs? Or maybe they just provide food for them? Not sure on this.

Its better than no breakfsst.

I already use the school breakfast club to get to work on time. My children both insist on having breakfast before they go!

This hasn't been rolled out to our area yet, so my colleagues and I will continue to buy fruit and snacks with our own money for the kids who turn up to school hungry. Many of us are in school from 7.30 anyway so staffing a breakfast club on a rota wouldn't be a problem, we just need it to be funded.

Not really, part of them bringing it in was to make it easier for more parents to get into work because lots of jobs are 9-5 and if you have a school run at 9am you can’t apply for those jobs, it supposedly will give the average family back 95 hours and save something close to £500 a year.

We are not doing it at one school. We can not bear the cost.

The other primary is limited to 14 children again because it is not fully funded.

Free School meals are not free to schools and these cost us thousands each year. Next year there are no providers for one school.

If this helps just one child in a class of 30 have a meal and be ready to learn (as opposed to hungry and lethargic ) then it’s worth it in my book. It’s not intended to be free childcare although that is an added bonus for some, but making sure no child starts their day without a meal as many many do. And yes, oats & flaxseeds with fresh fruit would be ideal, but let’s be honest, toast and cereal is a significant improvement on nothing.

I'm not a labour fan, but i do think this is one policy they’ve implemented for the right reasons and is a sensible move.

Don’t understand the comments about “ah working parents will use it”… yeah, that’s part of what it has actually been set up for? Starmer himself has been out saying the breakfast clubs enable parents to drop their kids off and get into work, it’s not a dirty secret it was quite literally the point to make it easier for parents to work!

It’s a good thing if it helps good parents who are just struggling with childcare and financially with saving breakfast costs, but I do worry that it masks when children are not being looked after properly in some cases. I feel the same about the free sanitary items.

Years ago, one of my children was at primary school with a child who displayed signs of neglect and the school gave her a free place at breakfast club, gave her a school dinner most days as her mum ‘forgot’ her lunchbox, but the other signs of neglect remained.

If it's Weetabix, bran flakes and wholemeal bread yes. Aldi cornflakes and white sliced, not so much. I mean yes, better than nothing but it's smoke and mirrors..as ever, the headline is great but they won't fund it properly.