to think the new free school meals for all KS1 children is a ridiculous idea?

[Flexibilityiskey]

I just don't see the rational behind it, when benefits are being cut to the bone, why give free school meals to people who don't need them? Yes it may benefit the odd family but there will be loads who just don't need free meals, and at what cost? My DS's school will have to build a new kitchen as they currently don't have the facility to provide hot meals. There must be loads of schools with similar issues. Add to that the cost of feeding all the children in KS1 for each school year, the cost must run into millions. Surely the money could be better spent being targeted at those who genuinely need it or am I missing something?

Most schools here now provide hot school meals anyway, where we live the schools are tiny and have not got room for school meals to be made on site so they are made by a catering company and brought in each day. I think the 'free school meals' will benefit a lot of people, there are more than 1 or 2 that struggle with the money side of things and it will save on the whole 'healthy lunch box' debate ( what they can and can't have ), I also think it's good for the children and will help with social skills and may encourage fussy eaters to try new things?

Why not? We give plenty of things for free that some can agfford; Winter fuel allowance got one..

If your cold you can stick on a jumpy hungry children cannot change what or how much they are fed.

The school that my mum works in is having to allocate 15 minutes per year. 15 minutes to queue, serve 60 children, eat and clear the hall for the next year group. Ridiculous.

Bloody phone

Yanbu. My ds will get free school meals come September, yes it will save on my food shopping bill, but seeing as I no longer qualify for child benefit......enough said!!

I dont understand how it can cause that many problems as surely the majority of these pupils would be having school meals anyway just paying for them so logistically surely it is a similar proposition to what would be happening anyway?

In one way I think it's good that they are looking after the kids of the working poor, who are not entitled to FSM.

But in another way, I just can't see how it's going to work in my DS's school. The lunch hall is tiny because it was built when the school only had one class in each year...now there are 4 classes in each year.

This is just about managed by the amount of kids who eat a packed lunch (in an empty classroom), but I think more of them will want school dinners from September onwards.

I think it is an excellent idea, I'm no fan of this government by far but for this I take my hat off to them on this decision. At least every child in the country regardless of their parent's financial circumstances will receive one full meal a day. I would also like to see it extended to every school running a breakfast club, but I realise there are huge cost implications, but it would be fabulous if we could also ensure every child also receives a substantial breakfast before their day begins.

It's going to benefit us a lot. DH earns just above minimum wage and gets about £17 p/w WTC which means that we don't qualify for Healthy Start vouchers, free prescription/dentist treatments, free school meals (under the old guidelines), nursery funding for under 3s, etc, etc. All of which adds up to a lot more than £17 p/w. Money is tight, and unfortunately we're in that 'trap' which seems to affect a lot of parents - childcare costs will wipe out any money I could hope to earn, plus probably a bit more, so I can't actually afford to return to work (unless someone wants to pay me £25+k a year..?) until our youngest at least gets the 15 hours of funded childcare. So we're getting by on what we have, and DS1 having FSM will save a bit each week because I won't have to buy as much poncey lunchbox stuff in order to get it past the 'lunchbox police'.

Yes, there will be families who get FSM who don't 'need' them, who can easily afford them, but there will also be far more (not just the 'odd family') for whom it will make a massive difference. There are children whose parents didn't qualify for FSM but who still live in poverty, so this will mean a huge amount to them.

surely the majority of these pupils would be having school meals anyway

Not in our school. It's about half and half packed lunches and school meals at the moment. More of the packed lunches are in the infant years presumably as they tend to be fussier.

It's nuts, I don't want or need free school meals for my son.
I would rather pay and get something edible and of decent quality than crap for free.
When it was announced I told DH that it would mean a reduction in quality, all the meals at the DC's school are made on the premises from scratch. He said he didn't think it would but we have just had a letter to say that due to the free school meals coming in there will need to be changes to the menu - doubt they means they will be getting even better!!!
Also, there isn't the space or time for all these extra children to eat a school dinner, it's going to be bloody pandemonium .
I might actually end up switching my son to packed lunches so I know what he has eaten
Nice idea in principle but not thought out properly

What ragga muffin said!

it's all through primary in my borough, not just KS1.

I think its wonderful, we are borderline but would not get FSM, this will be a big saving to us...and a welcome one....shame its only kst 1 though.

I'm part of the 'working poor' but I also think children need more that 15 minutes to eat lunch. Currently children on packed lunches eat in the classroom freeing up space in the lunch hall. If the majority of those switch to hot meals then the quality of the food will have to be reduced to stretch them further and the time allowed per year will be reduced.

I don't know how much warning schools have had about this but it clearly hasn't been long enough for adjustments to be made to accommodate for the rise in demand.

YANBU

Also the quality of the meals are likely to be reduced, my son (who is 9) has been on school dinners for 3 or 4 years has already said they aren't as good as they used to be. This will make them even worse imo.

I think it is a great idea purely because it will save us money.

The school dinners in her school are very good but I can make lunch for less than the £2.20 per day it costs.

I can't see it being a long lasting scheme though as it will cost a fortune!

Yabu. Ensuring every child gets one good meal a day regardless of circumstance can only be a good thing.

Yabu ever heard of the working poor?

I think it is total madness when cuts are being mad everywhere and there are far more things in education that should have this amount of money spent on instead - in some schools having decent buildings would be a better investment than this.

My DS starts school this year so will be entitled to have them and it is one of the very few free things we get. Even so I would rather the money was spent elsewhere. I don't need him to have free meals at school and it's not going to be good for anyone of the quality drops as a result of all KS1 kids getting them.

It would be better to up the threshold for free school meals rather than give them to everyone.

Yanbu I'd rather they did breakfast or tea as well as lunch for needy kids instead of wasting tax payers money on those that don't need it in order to buy votes.

Yanbu. Far better to expand the criteria instead so those that need them get them. And improving quality.

Needless to say dd2 won't be eating them when she starts. If I wanted to feed her over cooked , sat around on a van all morning, under seasoned slop I'd buy her ready meals.

Funny enough the company currently serving dds school can't cope with the extra demand. Doubt they are alone either.

If there are so many working poor ,surely it would still be better to increase the threshold for FSM to encompass more of them right through the age groups rather than an across the board effort for KS1 . It doesn't affect my family at all but it concerns me what happens to children who are eligible for FSM when it comes to school holidays ,surely there should be extra benefits paid then to cover the extra food requirements at home .