Seconding Arsebucket that many boiler and similar things for homeowners are now going through councils and also energy companies - the Energy Company Obligation at least until next March? or so can help with these for homeowners. The council ones should link up with the energy company ones though.
I know some schools pass on that type of information in parent newsletters along with other locally relevant information on these sorts of things.
Abolish school catering completely is absolutely the way to go. I have no doubt. 95%of the vista goes on staffing and around 5% on the food. So once you have got rid of the staffing, and the kitchens and the machinery, schools have more space and 20x more money can be doesn’t on quality food
A school in my area does cooking club with vulnerable children (not how its advertised to them) where they cook meals for 4 to be able to take home. This gives them skills and food, they get siblings involved. The school also provides all the food for general food tech lessons as well, does general baking clubs too. I've seen the food, it's quite good, and I know this school has previously gotten donations from supermarkets to enable meal programmes (as well as for uniform and stationery supplies).
This is a school that gives admissions priority to those eligible for pupil premium because that's the best measure they can put in, but works hard to include other vulnerable children too. The school catering team was beyond reproach during lockdowns in how they ensured the school's most vulnerable got fed in the breakfast club. They worked additional unpaid hours for months to keep that going, that's sadly not uncommon in some areas.
Schools cannot charge for anything related to the curriculum, including cookery ingredients. Including school trips.
Yes they can. They shouldn't exclude a child for their parents not paying, schools typically have a hardship fund or similar to cover in those cases, but they can charge as part of figuring out how to pay for things. Finances are a big barrier to schools providing all the things that people say schools should be doing, followed & related to space issues.
I was responding to the poster complaining that teachers didn’t ‘pick up’ on stuff, but I think it’s unrealistic to expect teachers to do that. We only know what students tell us.
No one expects teachers to be psychic, but even as someone who works in a school trust in an entirely "hands-off" role, I've had safeguarding training that discusses ways to be vigilant and how many disclosures aren't direct just for the very rare occasion I might be on school grounds with pupils.
A far larger issue is how often pupils are open about their situations, but aren't taken seriously because of how they've said something or the area they're in, or other reasons - it's why it's drilled in that we're not to make judgements, we report, because there are way too many stories - maybe chaff to you - where a child has made a disclosure that was ignored. I'm not the only one I know who had unreliable access to food, was open about it, and then had staff talk about how I must have an eating disorder that I was trying to hide in large part because of my age, sex, and the area I lived in, but also the attitude that because I was a teenager, then I was old enough to be responsible for getting food (so I did, by eating other's leftovers and doing shite I really shouldn't have had to for food and safe shelter) and any complaints I made were 'covering bad choices'.
And really, even where a teenager is making active bad choices, that doesn't mean the adults in their community should be trying to support them better. Your remarks on teenagers OP come across as washing your hands of them for being limited human being.
Teachers do far more than teach. Literally everyone who works in education - and most who don't - knows that.