AIBU to wonder why this isn't being rolled out to ALL children?

[CocacolaMum]

..and not just the under 7's! In reality I know it always comes down to cost but wouldn't it be a marvellous thing to know that all children are having 1 nutritious meal per day.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24132416?SThisFB

It's a bad idea. The UK is SKINT and can't afford paying for something that should be the parents responsibility or lots of other spurious things

FSM should be provided for children whose parents can't afford them.

So Tethers when our kids are sat in classrooms with rain dripping through the ceilings collecting in buckets, wind blowing through ill fitting windows, not having enough text books to go round, the science dept not having enough equipment etc which could really, really do with that £600million what should we think?

"So Tethers when our kids are sat in classrooms with rain dripping through the ceilings collecting in buckets, wind blowing through ill fitting windows, not having enough text books to go round, the science dept not having enough equipment etc which could really, really do with that £600million what should we think?"

We should wonder why the fuck this is happening in one of the richest countries in the world.

We should raise hell until our schools are properly funded.

We should not say that feeding young children is a bad idea.

The funding issue is a valid one, and I can see your point- I just don't believe that there's no money for education in this country. I think the decision to under-fund community schools is a political one, and I do not believe that this free meal policy will undo the damage this government has already done, and continues to do, to education.

However, all of the above does not make this a bad idea just because it was thought up by a bad government.

Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day.

Agree tethers

Where we live in the rural South West, the food , for many of the primary schools, is prepared at a central location, packed into insulated bags and then driven to the schools. It then has to be unpacked, plated and served. It is lukewarm at best, and I doubt it is that appetising. The logistics of extending the scheme will be mind boggling!!

An ill thought out pre election gesture. There are so many other priorities right now.

I disagree. I think there are far, far greater priorities in this country at present. People earning huge amounts of money are going to benefit from this whilst people in genuine hardship are suffering. It is wrong.

It is a vote buyer, nothing more and nothing less.

I haven't seen this but it sounds like a bad idea. I would much rather send my DC with a packed lunch. Extend the FSM criteria: yes. Roll out to everyone regardless of parental circumstances or wishes: no.

I would rather have the option to pay more council tax to save the faff of paying for school meals.

it's clearly not a vote winner though is it? No one has been clamouring for this have they? I truly don't get it... it smacks to me of crap politicking... the Lib dems couldn't/wouldn't support the marriage tax allowance so have agreed to 'abstain' the tories had to scrabble around to think of something to offer them and came up with this outstanding idea... Clegg gets (or at least he thinks he gets) to look 'family friendly' and in support of 'hard-working families' and the tories get their 'marriage is better' tax policy...Meanwhile everyone who actually has school age kids is left scratching their head and thinking what the fuck...

No don't agree with it at all, school dinners/packed lunch is a choice for many parents, I'll decide what my child eats. This country is in a state, perhaps put the money where it's needed?

Yes I have heard of some schools banning packed lunches....if this heralds the start of THAT little game they can all fuck off. All parents have the right to send their child in with their own food if they choose.

Rather than a blanket policy, I would prefer to see the rules for free school meals eligibility being expanded to include a wider range of parents and for the balance to be spent in supporting those parents in other ways.

I love the fact this is coming in ... one less thingb to worry aboutx

Perhaps with food inside them, less children will end up needing the services of the NHS. Just a thought.

hippo. If we lived in England, I would continue to send our ds's to school with packed lunches therefore we wouldn't be saving any money to send to school.

These free meals cannot be compulsory for dc to eat.

This sounds like a nice idea if we had endless amounts of money kicking around which, as far as I am aware, we don't.

School dinner for the under 7s in our primary work out at about £3300 per week. This would be far better spent elsewhere. Especially as this is a "nice" school in a "nice" area with low FSM.

Yes, extend the FSM criteria and make it easy to claim but a blanket free meal is utterly stupid and I am surprised anyone thinks it's a good idea when the country's finances are in a mess.

euph, we must live in the same area, thats the same school menu as my kids :) and yes, the teachers eat them too. We went in a few weeks ago to try them with the kids, and the steak pie was lovely!

It's just a blatant attempt to grab votes. We are a high income family and my kids don't have school dinners because I can feed them better food at home for less than the cost of a school meal ( £2.30 at our school). I won't be taking up the offer of a free hot dinner for my DD. My DS will not qualify anyway so I'll have to cook for him so may as well cook or DD at the same time.

We live in an affluent area with very low/almost non existent FSM at the school. One of the mums at school was saying how great this is for her. She lives in the biggest house in the poshest and most prestigious road in our area ,drives an expensive car and has fantastic holidays. She's lovely and very own to earth but I just can't see how she needs her children's meals paid for by the state!

I hope that if I and others who think like me don't make use of this benefit the money will somehow be saved and used to help those who are in greater need. Somehow I doubt it.

The only good thing is that our school kitchen may now be saved from the threat of closure. The low FSM take up and the fact that many kids have packed lunches has meant that the kitchen has operated on a loss for years.

Even tho I am a single parent on a low income (£13k) I don't qualify for fsm nor would I benefit from this proposal as my dd just moved up to year 3.

I wouldn't want to see cuts elsewhere to fund this. Where would the cuts be?? Extend the fsm criteria if possible, but without cuts elsewhere. That's what scares me.

Maybe they could reduce tax credits slightly and instead give all kids free school meals. That way they know it's being spent on something that is definitely for the child so children in families that come into school constantly starving would definitely get at least one hot meal per day and the responsibility is taken out of the hands of the parents.

But that's still taking money out of low income families. I am having to make choices about whether to have petrol, food, heating. Cut tax credits then those choices become harder.