Will the free breakfast clubs mean the school start time is officially earlier ?

[breakfastTimes]

Or will the clubs be totally optional and 2 different start times for those who do take up the offer and those who don’t ?

I can't imagine it's going to be compulsory.
Many children won't need it (either the childcare side of it or the free food).

I’m assume schools will have a staggered start then for those who don’t go and those who do. Was just wondering because of traffic at certain points of the day and thinking will
schools change to a start time of 8am ?

No, breakfast club is optional childcare, school start time won't change,

As funding is really lowany trial schools have pulled out as it's taking money away from the real purpose of school....education not parenting.

If they start earlier then they have to finish earlier surely?
All it would do is turn the school day into 8 - 2 instead of 9 - 3 (with some free toast and cereal).
If this scheme is actually wanting to make sure children get food then surely it would be better to make sure parents actually have money to buy food (higher minimum wage etc).

I was under the impression it’s to lengthen the school day . I suspect there will be a similar scheme for after school care soon as well

I mean they might not be disclosing that now but I feel like it’s a way to make school hours in line with work hours ?

It is optional. The schools in trials were asked to submit numbers of how many they thought would attend. It is not to lengthen the school day.

As others state is so poorly funded that schools are pulling out of trial.
The funding is 60p per pupil so £18 for a class of 30 children for 30 mins (78p for ppg and more for EHCP). £500 for the school to set up, ie buy the crockery, £1000 for the summer term for admin costs. So the £18 has to pay for staffing costs, washing up, heating, milk and cereal (this may be provided for free by a company like Kelloggs) for 30 children. Don't expect this to happen nationwide soon!

They would have to completely change how much teachers and TAs get paid if they make the day longer.
That's completely unaffordable. It won't happen.

We don't use it, but my son's school offer breakfast club (not free at the moment). You can drop off anytime from 7.30-8.15 am to get breakfast/childcare, then the school gates/classrooms open at 8.45 for everyone else. I struggle to see how larger schools will manage if they have to offer free breakfast to everyone, my son's school is 3 form entry and they currently don't have space to offer everyone breakfast club, even if they pay.

Why would start time be earlier, it’s not supposed to replace a parents ability to ensure they give their kids breakfast or a reason to just drop them off earlier

Yes there is also a concern re how current b/f clubs and childminders would be impacted if they lose 30 mins of working time.

Breakfast club is free where I live. You just sign up on a monthly/weekly basis if your child is attending.
Breakfast club Starts at 8.15 but you can pop them in anytime up to 8.45
School starts at 9am.

my primary is part of the trial. Start time not changing

It won’t be compulsory, the government is only providing funding for the number of children that attend.

I’m not sure how exactly they are going to work that out. Schools self report numbers? Parents have to sign up through a portal? What if people say they are going to turn up but don’t?

The whole thing sounds like a logistical nightmare for schools. Who’d just be better off getting funding to open 30 minutes earlier with optional breakfast in the classrooms. Well established charity’s who offer this have said it’s the only way to access the children who actually need it.

DD's school are only going to to be offering it to working parents so it won't be an early start for everyone.

breakfast clubs are standard at many schools.
They have been around for years.

Only a percentage of the kids use them, they have paid staff who run them and currently parents pay to use them.
At the end of breakfast club the kids go out into the playground and line up for school at normal start time.

I cannot imagine why you think the paid for clubs will be any different?
Only a percentage of parents will use them, and for those that do it enables parents to work, as they can drop off at breakfast club at 8am instead of 8:40 (or whatever)
But many parents won't use them because they don't need to.

In my experience (teacher and then governor) breakfast clubs are hard to run as they tend to lose money. We had a heavily subsidised one to help parents and it was very, very underused and cost the school a lot of money. In the end they had to stop running it.

I think it is a gimmick to think that a breakfats club is going to suddenly get lots of people back to work. Unless the issue of childcare in the school holidays is addressed it isn't going to help much

I don’t think it’s so much about getting people back to work as it is about trying to remove some barriers to people having children, amid a falling birth rate.

It's also about trying to feed children who come into school hungry because they haven't had any breakfast. Hungry children find it more difficult to concentrate.

We’ve had free breakfast clubs in Wales for years.

A couple of teaching assistants and a kitchen assistant in the hall from 8:15am with some toast and cereal.

It’s not school.

School starts at 9am for all pupils.

The secondary school where I taught had a breakfast club. No difference to the start time - breakfast was served earlier.

What we found was that the children who needed it most were those who didn't turn up in time for the breakfast club. Nothing was ever put in place to deal with chaotic households, I'm afraid.

Why would it be any different to the current breakfast clubs in terms of timing? It's not like it's compulsory

Not totally sure that’s the main motivation of the government to be honest but you have more faith than me!

They wouldn't be able to lengthen the school day without adjusting teachers contracts.
The clubs will either need to be run by non teaching staff (paid) or volunteers.