What's happened to Free School Meals provision?

[Carpathian2]

I've just had this from my child's school

people on benefits have not idea how people lives in other countries with not benefits

I think we are extremely privileged in the west, to have things like universal credit, housing benefit, FSM, food boxes during a pandemic, food banks, free healthcare etc.

Some of my friends grew up in countries with none of these safety nets, if you couldn’t afford to feed your kids they went hungry. There were no FSM or food boxes, no help with housing or electricity costs or access to schooling.

Sadly this is still the case in many countries. Children starving due to lack of food or dying of dehydration due to lack of clean water. There are children living in war zones and refugee camps, who rely on charity to give them sufficient food, clothing and shelter to survive.

I think many people in the U.K. have no idea about poverty in other countries.

@HikeForward exactly the point I made a few pages ago. But conveniently people ignored that!

@SendHelp30 - I would be quite happy for taxes to rise to improve funding of essential services. People whose DC get FSM are not one homogenous group! We don't all think and act the same. I'm a nurse who had a mental breakdown. I certainly won't be complaining about funding DC to have lunch 5 days a week - I know how important it is for their health.

For those who are really struggling it’s a shame they can’t receive some sort of meals on wheels type service where the child gets a hot meal delivered, with maybe a choice of veggie or meat like at school. This would probably be useful for vulnerable older people too

Meals on Wheels still exists (along with various other meal delivery services) but you have to pay for it.
Your idea is good in theory, but in reality would need catering staff to prepare the daily meal, and numerous staff to deliver to numerous families, putting both staff and families at risk of transmission.

With all this talk i had a jacket potato with beans and cheese for lunch. Its a perfectly good lunch for some.....myself included!

Personally I feel the government could have stopped the spread of the virus from the outset by using more of a wartime strategy and giving us all a foodbox or rations so there would be no need to interact. I can see for some in this group nothing they would have done would have been good enough.

I understand having pride but I also understand that as a working person who has lost their job due to covid you should definitely take what you are entitled to!

Pupil premium can most certainly be used in other ways.

Our schools provided a £125 voucher per child for uniform with the explanation that it would have been spent on trips and excursions that year which didnt happen due to the school closures. An excellent idea.

Fsm make much more sense than food parcels. Both logistically, practically and avoiding unnecessary travelling.

@HercwasanEnemyofEducation - I'm pretty sure there is no 1 hour limit. My teen DS is doing more than an 1 hour of exercise a day - he's very keen as it is a chance to get outside and meet a friend.

There isn’t an hour limit.

We’ve been playing football on a field for 4
Hours today

I am confused as to how the food parcels are supposed to arrive with the children who need them if it is sufficiently mortifying to go fetch them that folk would rather let their child go hungry...

Is the school supposed to deliver to every pupil, or do you want them to pop into your kitchen by magic with a sprinkle of glitter, or be born upon the shiny horn of a magical shimmering unicorn?

Surely if those who actually don't need FSM parcels go around publically pontificating on how UTTERLY EMBARRASSING it is to collect a parcel from school, you do actually risk some kids going without meals they really need when those who really DO need them also feel pressurised into not collecting because of the embarrassment factor?!

@WiddlinDiddlin

I am confused as to how the food parcels are supposed to arrive with the children who need them if it is sufficiently mortifying to go fetch them that folk would rather let their child go hungry...

Is the school supposed to deliver to every pupil, or do you want them to pop into your kitchen by magic with a sprinkle of glitter, or be born upon the shiny horn of a magical shimmering unicorn?

Surely if those who actually don't need FSM parcels go around publically pontificating on how UTTERLY EMBARRASSING it is to collect a parcel from school, you do actually risk some kids going without meals they really need when those who really DO need them also feel pressurised into not collecting because of the embarrassment factor?!

I wasn't really assuming that the parents would generally be collecting the meals. It will probably be the children a lot of the time and I do think is quite embarrassing for them.

I wasn't really assuming that the parents would generally be collecting the meals. It will probably be the children a lot of the time and I do think is quite embarrassing for them.

I've also wondered how (especially at secondary where even your 'local school' can be 30mins plus travel away) children are meant to do a full day's online learning and go to pick up their food.

I really wish there was a simple solution. :(

In our local
Authority the parcels are delivered to the registered home address by the catering company.

I got a £20 voucher on Tuesday of this week and another £15 voucher yesterday. So I'm not sure what's going on and I'm guessing the £15 is for the coming week. I get to choose where I spend it.

Parents have to collect their parcels once a week from our schools.

I would hate to have to collect them from school as I don't drive and I'd have to go to two schools that are in the opposite direction of over a mile and just under a mile. Plus shielding so it's contact I don't want and it would be a pita to carry home. Vouchers are better for me but some might find the food parcel delivery easier.

We have to collect them from the schools too. As a pp said in the last lockdown we had vouchers for the holidays that could be used in various supermarkets, either online or in store. We won't be getting the food parcels as rightly or wrong feel embarrassed about having to go to get them. I also don't drive and as 2 of our children have to travel 40 mins to get to school we won't be able to them anyway. Luckily with the voucher we got over the holidays, I managed to get lots of smart price tins etc, flour so we have enough to carry us through for the foreseeable. Its not a situation that we would have forseen a year ago.

Surely if those who actually don't need FSM parcels go around publically pontificating on how UTTERLY EMBARRASSING it is to collect a parcel from school, you do actually risk some kids going without meals they really need when those who really DO need them also feel pressurised into not collecting because of the embarrassment factor?!

Unfortunately having spoken to a number of people during the last half term when we were doing free school meals actually a large number would let their children go hungry rather than be embarrassed by going somewhere to pick up. That was direct feedback from parents whose dc had fsm.

We started by doing a cooked hot meal for all at the start of the week, and due to feedback changed to a food parcel delivered by the end.

Embarrassment at the potential of being seen (and we had a very quiet entrance round the back that they'd only really be seen by others using the same service) was the top reason for not coming.

The second reason was not being able to get there-or the bus fare being prohibitively expensive (which it is in our area-children pay 2/3 of adult price which isn't cheap either. It would cost me over £10 to get into town and back with 3 children, when it's a 5 minute drive) but that was very much the second reason.

Once we had said we'd deliver foodboxes, although we were basically giving the stuff we would have cooked we got over 20x the take up.

I got a voucher for the Christmas period and we don't get free school meals. There was a letter in it from our council leader saying no child to be hungry in the school holidays. Still don't understand why?
I went to Morrisons and used it to buy some pre-bagged food bank items

Surely if those who actually don't need FSM parcels go around publically pontificating on how UTTERLY EMBARRASSING it is to collect a parcel from school, you do actually risk some kids going without meals they really need when those who really DO need them also feel pressurised into not collecting because of the embarrassment factor?!

This exactly! The more people saying they are ashamed/embarrassed to pick up the parcel but ‘can do without it so it doesn’t matter’ only add to the stigma for people who DO need the boxes. And if you don’t need the box you shouldn’t be claiming vouchers.

Picking up boxes should be no more embarrassing than using vouchers in a supermarket. The only parents who’ll see you collecting it will be there to collect their own box!

Unfortunately having spoken to a number of people during the last half term when we were doing free school meals actually a large number would let their children go hungry rather than be embarrassed by going somewhere to pick up

Letting their children go hungry to save their own pride?
Should those children not be classed as vulnerable?
A parent who cannot afford to feed their children yet refuses to pick up free food boxes for their children because they’re embarrassed... isn’t that neglect?

Or a sign their children were not really going hungry and parents were lying because they wanted vouchers?

@HikeForward exactly the point I made a few pages ago. But conveniently people ignored that!

Are you the poster who described a ‘dusty little town with no electricity’ and someone said ‘nice writing’ in response? I noticed that and thought what an odd response! I think they thought you were describing a town in the U.K.?

Yes people often conveniently ignore the living conditions of those in other countries. They don’t want to think about children in war zones and refugee camps, whose parents are grateful for any help they can get to keep their families alive.

Or the millions of children living in extreme poverty worldwide, who can’t even access clean water and medical supplies let alone adequate food.

I’ve lived in countries that suffer extreme poverty. And IME parents genuinely in need never turn down a gift of food and clothing for their children. Even if they have to walk miles to get it. I remember a mother who used to walk her children miles through the desert twice a day to get them on the school bus, so they could attend a charity-funded school. Their children’s well-being, futures and survival came before their own pride.

I think the issue is a lot of people in the U.K. are not well travelled (or they stayed in 4* hotels on their travels and didn’t see how people actually have to live). If you’ve never observed extreme poverty or known people who’ve lived through it, I guess it’s hard to imagine a world without benefits and tax credits and FSM and free healthcare (and all the other free support systems we have in the U.K.).

@MonktonMonkey

When my son is at school he has a hot meal every lunchtime - roasts, curries, bolognese, sausages, etc. This food parcel is nothing like that.

They can hardly deliver a hot meal to every child on FSM, can they?

I think it's very reasonable, tbh. There's a piece of fruit and a bit of salad for every day, beans, eggs and cheese for protein, 2 potatoes and 6 rolls for carbs... I could make myself 5 lunches out of that lot without any trouble.

However, I concede that teenage boys are like bottomless pits when it comes to food, and it might not be enough for your son. Unfortunately, it's not possible to offset larger meals for some children against the food not eaten by others when delivering individual packs, so it's averaged out. When something's averaged out, those that are larger consumers get less of their normal needs met, relative to others.

@Woodenhearted

Also i find it ridiculous that healthy start vouchers Can’t be used online but that’s a separate issue

I agree with that. It's particularly tough on families in rural areas where the nearest supermarket is a £6.50 bus ride away.

HikeForward You're being patronising, of course everybody understands that child poverty in the UK isn't as extreme as in some parts of the world. We're allowed to want a decent standard of living for poor kids in the UK even if we aren't having to scour a rubbish pile for edible food. And for your information, you don't claim the vouchers, you automatically recieve them if you are entitled to FSM. Mine are sent through text, there is no option to decline. Holiday hunger isn't an issue for everybody on FSM so for some people no, it isnt worth collecting food parcels and for others it absolutely is. Accusing parents of lying about not being able to afford food is a really low blow that isn't supported by the facts.

Posters saying they could get MORE for £15, surely that should raise questions about the catering companies providing food to schools and why can a mum buy more for £15 than schools with planned menus and more buying power?

Because the catering companies make a profit, and have overheads, both of which take up a chunk of that £15 per head. Families don't.