Free school breakfast for every child

Speaking as someone who ran themselves ragged, was always chasing deadlines to get to and from school, did without in order to put food on the table - yes.

Just get organised. Feed your kids. Reduce working hours if necessary. I fed mine before school.sent packed lunch if necessary. Paid for school lunches if necessary. Gave afternoon snacks after school - which is a time when kids are hungry. Put decent meal on the table in the evening. Milk was always available. Kids need milk.
Most of the mums at school were the same. We took it for granted that we had a responsibility to look after our kids.

Im now awaiting all the bile and vitriol from mumsnet.

When my daughter started school she had a form home to sign up for milk for £16. She had never had a glass of milk in her life - refused it since she was a baby. So I said ‘well we don’t need to pay for that as you won’t drink it anyway’. She told her teacher that I said we couldn’t pay for it and I got a lovely phone call from the school to check in with us. They were being so kind and non judgmental it took me ages to work out what they were worried about 😂

indeed. Not sure who this poster doesn’t judge!

my kids were in wraparound 3 days a week. They liked it. I liked paying the mortgage. Everyone wins!

At my childs school its 2 pounds between 7.45am till 8am then it's free from 8am till 8.30am also from 8.30am till 9.50am theres a grab and go breakfast.

For my ds its a bit if a mix sometimes they want toast at home or fruit. Sometimes we grab a Croissant or fruit pot from co op on the way. Other times they want to go to the free breakfast club sometimes they have the grab and go breakfast.

At school the breakfast club depending on the day. Porridge, pancakes, toast, cereal, fruit. The grab and go can be cereal bar, croissant, smoothie in a cartons. Theres a few other but i forget what they are.

I do think its a good idea. But I also get that it may not reach vulnerable. Only thing i can think of is the staff style it out a bit with how they approach it . Like oh no you missed your cereal bar let me grab it for you. In a way that makes it sound like most children have a cereal bar. Not that they are being singled out they were just a bit late thats all.

My ds went to school in either reception or year 1 telling his teacher he didn't have breakfast. When he had. Apprently he had been saying it for about half a term. And they were giving him a snack. He also told them daddy was taken away in a police car. That also wasn't true 🤦‍♀️

So you have an issue with “feckless” parents who don’t feed their kids but also with working parents who use wraparound care so they can work and pay taxes?

CB is a great idea but it’s such a minimal amount, I don’t think it’s plausible to suggest anyone can feed a child for a week on it. I’ll also return to previous point about the free breakfast clubs helping working parents who currently pay for it daily. It isn’t about feeding their kids, it’s just to help them get to work.

I am generally not in favour of school breakfasts. I think if people have kids they should feed them. It's a basic parental responsibility to feed and clothe your kids. I honestly don't understand why people have kids. Why? Why?

Also, school dinners are absolutely rubbish. They are not nutritious. My offspring chose to take packed lunches. Then complained sandwiches were boring. Schools also employed lunch box stasi, although school meals were rubbish. My offspring would have school lunches for a while then demanded packed lunches again.

I believe it is not the responsibility of the tax payers to feed the kids of the feckless. Im talking about the feckless who have the latest phone and shiny nails, but don't feed their kids.

I do agree with other posters that maybe breakfast is not the best meal. I once visited a school where kids had a slice of toast at morning break. They absolutely loved it. I think they paid for it. Also, a small bottle of milk would be easy to consume and much more nutritious.

If kids have to be fed at school, I'd rather they have toast and milk mid morning. Most kids will eat 50/50 bread.

And don't get me started on wraparound care. Adults have restricted working hours. Yet, it's ok for kids to be dumped in school from 8.00 am until 6.00pm. 10 hours a day.
No it's not ok. It's really not. They are exhausted.

Our school has a lot of children who need additional support. Im in Scotland so they get free school lunch for the first few years at least. I’d actually prefer them to have a school snack available. Agree that a lot of the children who most need the help won’t show up to school early, so if we fed everyone a decent snack at 930/10 that would help them more than something at 8.

My kids went to breakfast club as my husband and I both work full time. They had breakfast at home with us, then second breakfast at school. They are extremely lucky children but there were plenty at the club who relied on the breakfast there. It was something like £10 a week (free if you’re on benefits) and they had various healthy cereals, toast with whatever on top and raisins - they couldn’t have fresh fruit as everything had to be shelf stable (long life milk for the cereal). We don’t have a kitchen. Am sure the raisins were mostly ignored but at least they had something to start the day.

Child Benefit should be reduced to fund it. We already give people child benefit to help feed their children. This feels like double dipping.

I agree with this. Nurseries and pre schools have a lot to answer for. Im certain they are responsible for a lot of kids not being toilet trained and having poor table manners.

A child may be making progress with potty training at home, then goes backwards on the days in nursery. It definitely slows progress.

Children whose parents can't feed them breakfast are not even on the same playing field as other children. It isn't a situation that occurs in isolation. It is an absolute basic
responsibility of parenting. Most parents are capable of doing this and the money should be spent on the ones that aren't.

This

In Scotland after school clubs are rarely run by the schools.
Its usually a separate organisation who operate off site or if they do operate from the school building, the money for the let goes to the council not the school.

But I do agree it will be poor quality food, like the lunches.

My kids are past the age of primary but I think free breakfasts lunch fruit and milk should be the norm. Many saying parents responsibility but schools also owe a duty of care. My SM is a social worker some of the stories she’s told me about child neglect or parents who have no money made the hairs stand up on my neck. If as a tax payer part of my money is going toward a child having a meal then that sits easily with me. I have been in the unfortunate position many years ago of being a single parent with not a pot to pi$$ in. I was depressed and angry and felt the weight trying to get my kids out the door each day with a packed lunch and a full tum so I could get to work. I was able to claim free school meals but I didn’t out of pride. There’s no shame in taking help but there’s pride for me in giving it.

I don't think it works.
My school don't currently do it anyway, but the children most in need of a free breakfast are often the ones late to school. If they have difficulty getting to school for 9am, bringing them in at 8.30 will be even harder for the parents.
There are often multiple reasons for that lateness including sen. And many of these sen children will have issues with food and what they eat too, so it again becomes complicated as do they then get the chocolate pancakes while everyone else only has cereal.

Also there isn't this wonderful buffet or array of breakfast options that seem to be what the government portray when discussing this. At the paid breakfast club at my school one of my own children would never eat the included breakfast as it was only cereal. No toast or bagels, or even something hot like porridge. So I had to feed her beforehand anyway!

Nurseries are causing a lot of issues. There aren’t many good ones unfortunately. I’ve worked in schools a long time and now see more children than ever - who have been to nursery - starting reception not toilet trained. When we speak to parents they say they tried when the dc were younger but nursery kept putting pull-ups back on them. It’s a common theme and seems to be down to understaffed nurseries not able to spare staff to take dc to the toilet often when learning / change wet clothes so they opt for convenience.

being a taxpayer and helping the economy isn’t the most important thing.

It’s a great idea but as usual, will not be funded adequately and schools won’t be able to staff it if every child turns up. Lots of schools are in deficit and the only thing keeping them vaguely afloat is the money coming in from before and after school clubs.

A lot of the food is poor quality. My kid always opted for the cheese or ham sandwich.

That’s better.

If you’re talking about the free breakfast clubs, it’s less about feeding the kids and more about providing universal childcare to help working parents (for once). It’s actually the only labour policy so far we will benefit from, though our DC’s school isn’t free yet.

We both work FT so currently pay around £5 per day for breakfast club for 2 DC then a further £10 per day for after school club. Saving the £25 a week would help us. We don’t get UC so not eligible for the free school dinners.

Schools already feed children who come in hungry, but by making it a universal offer there isn’t the barrier of embarrassment at accessing it which has to help.

I have had cases where a younger child has told me they have had no breakfast and when I check (discreetly!) with siblings they haven’t either but being older they are that bit more embarrassed to admit it.

So many holier than thou "I feed my own child before school" mums here.

My child loves breakfast club with her friends and isn't forced to eat at a stupidly early time to accommodate my shifts. But to the parents that "lay the table the night before" crack on 😂

that is not available to all jobs

Nope, sorry. I was in the exactly same situation as you. I got up ten minutes earlier, had porridge ready, yoghurt, fruit, poached eggs take the same time to cook as a slice of toast. Went to work as a teacher, picked up kids at 5.30. I know every situation is different but we have to stop expecting other people to make our life choices easier...by which I mean having kids, not being a SP. I didn't plan that!

Absolutely not. A working parent is at least contrbuting something in tax and productivity, even if most or even all of that is taken by childcare costs and subsidies. Nurseries employ people who are then also paying tax and gaining valuable skills. If you want to be a SAHP you cannot expect everypne else to fund it.