What's happened to Free School Meals provision?

[Carpathian2]

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

Because UC doesn't 'top up' that, each week. If you need UC / FSM then you don't have a spare £34 per month for bus fares, yet alone the practicalities of doing this journey with possible kids in tow / disabilities etc

Schools are doing their best, it saddens me when so many people complain they’re not doing enough. The boxes take time and energy to pack.

Child benefit, UC, tax credits, food banks etc can all be used to top up the box contents it’s you feel it’s not enough. We are so lucky in this country.

^^Completely agree. I feel for schools immensely too. School staff are trying hard in a shit situation with govt just throwing things at them with no notice or funds. We are fortunate we have any support in this country be it food parcels, benefits, whatever.

Your right of course it isn't the school fault it wasn't a dig at them they have had everything thrown at them ,they are absolutely doing their best. I do have things in I can top up the lunches with but what if I didn't some people are struggling even more than me and don't have anything. The bananas I do plan to make banana bread with or muffins but again what if I didn't have the extra ingredients or know how to make them not everyone does. I don't mean to sound entitled I am fearful for what I got it just seemed a bit meagre for 2 kids mine are like garbage disposals at the minute.

Greatful not fearful auto correct

How do I collect mine when I live 19miles from school. My child gets a bus pass. I don't. So, I pay £8.50 to collect their FSM?

Do you have a friend with a car who can pick yours up once a week? A family member? A couple of school mums you know who also receive the boxes so you could take turns on the bus and split the cost?

Failing that you could phone the school and explain your situation with travel fares, they may have someone who can deliver.

£8:50 on the bus for a week’s worth of lunches to feed your kids, wouldn’t you spend more than £8:50 on their lunch food without the free food from school? By topping up I meant using child benefit, food banks, UC etc to buy extra food.

What if you had been given vouchers for a specific supermarket 20 miles away and you had to pay a bus fare to get there and back? Would you have returned the vouchers to school?

I’m sorry you feel FSM have a stigma at your kids’ school, but please understand this is not the same for all schools. Many staff will provide the boxes discreetly, out of sight of any keyworker kids. All parents collecting boxes will be in the same boat.

Out of interest, why choose a school 19 miles away? It sounds like you dislike the school too. Are there no schools closer to you?

@52andblue

For those that assure posters that there is no stigma to FSM 'these days' I am afraid that is NOT the case in my children's Schools. Kids are vile about FSM / benefits 'dole-ys' (as are quite a few parents) Surprising as it is a failing Academy in a rough area but there you are.

I can completely understand why a person might feel upset at the stigma which might be experienced by their child getting food parcels. How do I collect mine when I live 19miles from school. My child gets a bus pass. I don't. So, I pay £8.50 to collect their FSM?

If it’s just once a week can you not collect it before you do your usual shop? This is the problem with vouchers people will become too reliant on them... how do you usually do your food shop?

£8.50 is cheaper than a weekly shop for your child so yes I would say you should pay £8.50 to collect the free food you’re being offered.

it just seemed a bit meagre for 2 kids mine are like garbage disposals at the minute

If people don’t have extra ingredients or money for food to top up their box contents, there are food banks. Do you have one locally?

Most big supermarkets also have a set time when they wheel out any food that needs using by the next day (and it’s free). They have basics ranges and discounted items too.

What happens in the school holidays eg 6 weeks in summer, do schools continue to provide FSM or are parents expected to plan ahead and fund lunches?

Tweet about it here
https://mobile.twitter.com/BootstrapCook/status/1348698098139328513

The government are still paying for the school lunches, but only a small amount of the money is used on actual food. So a school meal costs £2 a day, but only 80p of that is spent on food. The rest is on staffing, cooking etc. So families are being given 80px5 worth of food instead of £2 per day.

@Carpathian2

To clarify, I'm not actually complaining about the contents of the box. It's the fact that you need to go to the school every week to pick it up and the embarrassment that causes.

So I will doff my cap and be humbly grateful for whatever is thrown at me.

Yes you are complaining about the contents of the box. You said:

I thought that the campaign by Marcus Rashford was supposed to help with low income families, but how is this meagre food parcel supposed to help?

I'm confused as to what your complaint actually is.

I think you’re being ungrateful, considering this is a freebie, unless the child is actually allergic to multiple ingredients. One of my DC would happily eat everything on the list and the other would eat almost anything (there is absolutely no way we would ever qualify for FSM but I would be pleased to accept that parcel if we did!).

Let’s just take a moment to remember that it is not a schools/teachers responsibility to feed anyone else’s children than their own.

To read that people are willing to complain about what’s in a good parcel/can’t be arsed to go into school to collect it really is despicable.

Not in my case because I am disabled so my shopping is delivered.
I physically couldn't travel 20 miles each way on a bus and carry the food home. Think of that as 'ungrateful' if you wish. I'll tell that to my legs and magically not need my crutches anymore, shall I?

The reason I posted is to make the point that not everyone's circumstances are the same, not to have a lecture 'can't be arsed to collect it'. Horrible.

@52andblue I’m sure the school would be more willing to deliver to you.

Expecting the schools to cater to each and everyone’s individual needs is absolutely ridiculous though.

To read that people are willing to complain about what’s in a good parcel/can’t be arsed to go into school to collect it really is despicable.

Is it that they "can't be arsed" or is it more a case of "not worth the effort"?

I could go to DS1s school to collect a food parcel, it would take 2 buses each way and cost me £4 for an all day ticket. It could take up to 1.5hrs each way depending on bus times and how busy they are.
I could buy the same ingredients that were in the parcel from ds2s school (which I assume would be similar) for £5.98.
Why would I spend £5 going to collect £6 worth of food when I could just as easily add the £6 worth of food (which would actually be less as I don't buy branded, but costed up the exact items) to my online order.

About the poster who didn't like carrying the food parcels in a box as together it was too visible as being a free school meal parcel I just found out we are doing ours in Waitrose shopping bags which seems better for this issue.

Perhaps I’m just not understanding or perhaps I am utterly dumbfounded that people are expecting (or if not expecting, moaning about collecting) schools to deliver these parcels.

1. Schools are NOT and never have been responsible for feeding children whilst they are not in the building. Schools have enough of their plate without being guilt tripped about this too.
2. Who do you people propose deliver these parcels? Between home learning and keyworker provision there aren’t enough hours in the day anyway for school staff anyway without having this to do too.
3. When do you people propose schools deliver these parcels? Because it will be in teachers/TAs unpaid time.
4. Who is going to cover the cost of delivery? I know who, the teacher or TA because schools will claim they didn’t need to do it therefore can’t claim it back.

Basically, again perhaps I’m not understanding but what I’m inferring is people are expecting teachers/TAs to use their own fuel and time to deliver free food to people that are happy to bitch online about these “meagre” parcels. And that, in my opinion, is disgraceful.

Our children get £15 a week as a Tesco voucher. Only issue anyone has had is that it has to be spent in store rather than for delivery

I havent read the whole thread, because it would take me all night to read

But from what i have read, that is enough for 1 child and that is from someone who receives FSM.
I wouldn't turn my nose up at it.
The voucher were useful - yes
But the food parcel is for ONE child, not to feed the whole family.

Schools are NOT and never have been responsible for feeding children whilst they are not in the building. Schools have enough of their plate without being guilt tripped about this too.

I guess the whole Marcus Rashford shaming the government thing passed you by?

Most big supermarkets also have a set time when they wheel out any food that needs using by the next day (and it’s free). They have basics ranges and discounted items too.

What? No they don't. They have a time when they wheel out discounted food, and you should see the way that trolley is mobbed in my local supermarket. I would love to know what supermarket is doing this

[quote user1471462428]@HikeForward it won’t prove anything. I’ll just not eat my lunch so my daughter can eat hers. I did it for years while their dad was financially abusing us and I’ll do it again to ensure her friends do not see us in the queue for the box. I will do anything to protect her from the bullying I saw at school for being the free school meals kids. Oh and her school is packed with “key worker” so we would be seen.[/quote]
I find this really sad to read. Please collect the food parcel if you need it. No one will think less of you for it. I doubt anyone will even notice you going to the school to collect a parcel once a week; won’t the key worker children be in class anyway? I doubt they even know or care why you’re there tbh. I was on fsm my entire school life and had to pay for my school uniform in instalments. I can’t remember receiving any bullying because of it, no one knew about the uniform and nobody seemed to care if you were on fsm. Although the school was in quite a deprived area so a lot of the kids were probably on fsm anyway. I don’t know if that made a difference. I’m sorry it was different for you, bullying because of something like fsm is really nasty and I would be massively ashamed if my dd did that.

An example from Twitter of the food somebody was given. There is food in coin bags. A third of a carrot. Do people really think that this isn't humiliating?

@MistleTOEboughski

No, I’m all for the government pulling their finger out and providing meals for children. Isn’t that surely the right this to do?

What I’m categorically not for is this being used as another stick to beat schools with, yet another thing for education staff to be criticised for. It should not be the responsibility of schools to organise and distribute on top of their already large workload without extra funding.