...to ask you to ditch school milk?

[TurquoiseTranquility]

Just received the milk letter from school. Not sure if milk prices vary by area/school, but I'm being asked to pay £18.25 for the Autumn term. That's for a 189ml carton of semi-skimmed for 8 weeks, which works out at a whopping £2.42 per litre (£1.37 per pint) of supposedly EU-subsidised milk
Beyond the maths, though, I can't even begin to explain just how much school milk goes to waste. I'm a TA and in my KS2 class, only three children are on the milk list... yet they never EVER drink it, and even though we do offer it to the rest of the class, there are rarely any takers. In Reception, where more than half the class are on the milk list, they are regularly chucking whole packs of it. And that's not just the milk, it's all the packaging and the plastic straws, makes my heart sink
The odd thing is, I've always asked my kids whether they want milk before renewing. And they'd always said yes. But having seen all that waste, I thought I'd go a bit further and ask it they drink all of it or just take a sip and put the rest in the bin. Guess what the answer was.

So last term, I bought them a small thermos flask each and started sending milk in with them. This lasted all of 2 weeks, in which time they were coming home with the flasks still full. Lesson learnt

I guess what I'm trying to say, grill your kids before you pay! And if you don't think they actually drink much of it, save your money and the planet. They'll drink some at home if they want to.

You have to pay for school milk?

My school provides milk, fruit and toast free of charge to our children during break times! And if our kids fancy milk during lessons they can get them from the milk fridge in each classroom! (KS1)

I honestly though paying for milk was a thing of the past!!!

Sorry, just came back, working my way through the replies
BarbaraWarpecker I think a bit of honest information for parents at payment time would be in order
My kids' school are told by the Council to use the following quote: "Milk is provided at reduced prices as a result of EU subsidy and milk is good for you" Hardly honest!

I wonder who the EU is subsidising in this instance, because I doubt it's the milk farmer...

asisspartacus Our school puts spare milk in a box by the nursery exit at the end of thr day the kids from the other years flock over and help themselves it never goes to waste

My kids' school and the one where I work do that too, but hardly any gets taken which is sad, because I know there are a lot of families who could do with some spare food. Perhaps people are too proud.

Timeisslipingaway no, ours is just for the milk. FS and KS1 get a free snack (of which some goes to waste, too, but not as much), KS2 have to bring in their own. Some don't. Somehow when left over snack gets shared around, kids to tend to take it, but milk - not so much

kids do tend to take leftover snack

PrincessCuntsuelaVaginaHammock a brilliantly argued point, thank you

I do often think wouldn't it be better if we ordered milk in bottles not cartons. Sadly at my school they still use disposable plastic cups for water (for those kids who haven't brought in their water bottles). In my class, we've switched to reusable. It's finding the time to wash them up though. If someone drinks water from a named reusable cup and rinses it out, you could get away with only washing it properly once every few days. If there's milk residue left in it, really it must be washed every day. Also, there are no fridges in classrooms, and some staff may feel less happy about keeping an opened bottle at room temperature than lots of individual sealed cartons. Still, with a bit of effort it could be done much better, I agree. A discussion in the staff room is due :)

I wonder who the EU is subsidising in this instance, because I doubt it's the milk farmer...

It isn't getting subsidised anywhere else along the way. Schools pay market value for milk and then claim a reimbursement for the cost of what they provide to under fives.

Thank you OP.

We have it in Wales unihorn and it's free.

I would expect that the children were supervised to drink it and not allowed to throw it away. Not forced obviously but if I think my child has had milk I expect them to have had milk and for someone to mention if they are refusing it.

I'm amazed how much school milk and free fruit ends up in the staff room.

I work in Early Years in a primary school and the children get fruit and milk. They love this time as it teaches them to sit together as a group whilst they eat and drink. It's a good exercise on social skills. In some cases this is the only time children are encouraged to drink.milk and eat fruit. On the downside to this though, there is quite a lot of milk wasted as they don't always want to drink it all. This is the same with the fruit. Sadly we have to dispose of the milk, which kills me as I hate waste in my own home.

Also the price you are paying is really high. Ours is about £8/term.

If the school you work in is chucking that amount of milk that is absolutely appalling and should be addressed.
If children aren’t drinking it then you have a responsibility to let their parents know that they don’t want it.
You also should just order less if you’re chucking it.
I work in a school and this would never happen...we are a very eco school but...we just wouldn’t let parents waste their money.

to the people asking why chikdrdnars drinking milk !
because they need the vitamins and calcium because they are growing and it should be full fat as the fat helps the brain development and they should have one pint a day

Ask most kids if they want their milk - they answer "Yes"
My granddaughter looks forward to her milk - she's not a breakfast girl but enjoys that break mid morning - it's cool and creamy she says. The school she goes to obviously have ways of keeping the milk cool - while others maybe leave the cartons out in the heat. That's a whole different experience. There are kids who are under privileged to whom this milk will be given free - it is a part of their daily nutrition. This is one of the reasons that it was re-introduced.
Please don't think locally that extra help to children's nutrition isn't relevant to where you live - even your child could be nutritionally deficient outside your knowledge.
This isn't always about you!! Help other people live and be helped without advertising, media or social media involvement!

My dc are at a primary academy in W Yorks. Milk is £10/term (was £8.50 when DS started 5 years
Ago). Litre per litre it’s about the same cost as the milk we get delivered from a local farm (we are surrounded by dairy farms).

My sons school doesn’t offer milk at break times. They get free fruit and veg at break time via funding in infants but they have never bothered with the milk even for the under 5s.

Some schools send the carton home at end of day if not already drunk so parents can use at home or can see if not being consumed at school. Less waste. The reason it's pricey as in individual packaging, we just used to have a bit of milk in a cup, I think companies supplying take a cut of the money.

I think OP needs to check what the school means by "Autumn Term". In most places the academic year is split into 3 terms - Autumn, Spring and Summer. In 2018/19 the Autumn Term runs Monday 3rd September to Friday 21st December with one week half-term holiday. That is 15 weeks or 75 days at school and your child would consume 25 pints of milk for £18.25 - that's 73p/pint or £1.22/week or £1.28/litre.

My DDs school give the kids free milk. I thought this was for all school. They get milk and a healthy snack. Anything left over its put outside at the end if the day for anybody to take home.

I loathe drinking milk, surely if children want to drink milk they can at home for less money.

Sorry if I'm being thick, but why would anyone want to drink warm milk, as that was what I got at school and I've hated milk ever since.

Dh enjoys a glass of milk. He needs it. Sadly i cant drink milk or else id join him. I miss milk. Yabu op.

I would prefer my school milk in the form of pink, chocolate or 'proper' custard (the real stuff from the 60's before this political correctness nonsense).

I would love to know what ‘politically correct ‘ (or incorrect) custard is.

I think companies supplying take a cut of the money.

The companies supplying the milk charge for doing so and are entitled to make a profit.

It does cost considerably more to provide it in individual cartons. It would be more cost effective and environmentally friendly to provide it in cups so the children only get as much as they're likely to drink.

However, with the government paying for under-fives and the parents usually paying for over-fives, the schools are more likely to provide cartons as they take less staff time to manage. Not saying that's unreasonable given the current pressures on school staff.