What's happened to Free School Meals provision?

[Carpathian2]

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

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.

Well no they aren't usually. But a year ago we never would have said we'd be responsible for trying to home school our DC either. Its not 'usual times" at the moment or hadn't you noticed?

And surely we are allowed to have a moan about things whilst still being grateful for them !

@PodgeBod

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?

This has got to be wind up? 🤔

Seitanlove They've tagged in the company that provided it and the recipe card included so I don't think it is

[quote ElizabethP141]@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.[/quote]
Well quite. But a lot of people think we can't be trusted with vouchers and therefore get offered food parcels instead.

In my 27 years at the chalk face the only people who know which children are FSM are the children themselves,their parents and the business mangers who allocate the funds.
The brilliant thing about finger print ID at the tills is that know one knows.
Our FSM pupils also received san pro and personal hygiene products in their parcels this week.
The catering staff checked all dietary requirements and allergies to make bespoke parcels for every child.
We’re not a posh school. We are a traditional Community High School. We have slightly higher than average FSM.
The boxes were ready by Weds last week. All pick ups were arranged at the convenience of the relevant parent/carer. We closed at 9pm.
I am really sorry if the vast majority of you have had awful experiences and feel your children’s schools are letting you down.

Of course people don’t want food parcels. They want the money. But that’s not what it’s about. The parcels are for your child, for a meal a day, for five days. Which is what they would get if in school. Jeez.

@PodgeBod

Seitanlove They've tagged in the company that provided it and the recipe card included so I don't think it is

That’s bloody terrible then. The box the OP posted about looked good imo, but that’s a disgrace. Food in a money bag... how is that even allowed re basic food hygiene. Half a carrot and tomato... madness.

Looking on Twitter there seems to be some parcels made up by schools and some made up by private catering companies and the ones made by the schools seem to be miles better (unsurprisingly)

We are getting vouchers, £30 a fortnight (the ones that you take to the local shop and they give you cash so that everyone knows you are getting FSM). To be honest I prefer that to a food parcel as I can get better value from it than I would from a box from the school. I spent £17 of it in the shop getting quite a few bits on the sell by date and that will do all of us for lunch for at least a week, although we might still be eating mince pies at Easter! My ds isn’t at all fussy and would eat everything in OP’s box but I prefer to make big pans of soup with bread or rolls and a hot meal at night. It would also cost me in petrol to get to the school to collect a box. However I am grateful for whatever we get.

podgebod to be fair that's pretty poor for a lunch 'hamper'. I just looked on Twitter and there seems to be some disparity in what's on offer.

I agree that the better hampers are worth going into school for but some look pretty meagre.

It raises the question of who is taking advantage. The reason for not giving out the £15 voucher is because apparently the person needing FSM was taking advantage & buying stuff they didn't use for lunches. However it seems the catering suppliers are now taking the piss & offering about £4.95 of food while claiming £15 from the tax payer.

I think if the option is a 'hamper' then it needs to be a decent one. So proper cheese & milk rather than the longlife stuff in some of the Twitter posts.

Whilst it's possible to make a week of lunches from decent rolls/milk/eggs/chunk of cheese I don't think some of the 'hampers' are sufficient.

This is half decent

twitter.com/cateredplymouth/status/1347552785957609474/photo/1

This is not enough food for a week of lunches & looks pretty unappetising. I do think on reflection it's an insult to expect people to be grateful for this.

twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576

So this leads to the question of where the remaining £10.05 is going? Maybe BoJo has some mates who own catering companies who supply schools?

Also surely you need crisps for a school lunch?

If the go government aren’t giving out vouchers, where do you think the money will come from to provide them? Oh yes from other, educational things that benefit all children. The school has already got the budget to give to their caterers so they have to do their best with what they’ve got. There’s plenty of food there for one child’s lunch for 5 days.

I don't think they're ever going to be able to match the prices people could shop for and please everyone
This was a shielding box for a week which wasn't usually too bad but then some weeks a lot of the fruit and veg was rotten
Thankfully local businesses also helped out and sent me a food parcel. It wasn't that I couldn't afford it, I couldn't get a supermarket delivery

converseandjeans yes I agree with you, I can't see whats so objectionable about parents just being able to buy what their kids will actually eat. What annoyed me so much about the ingredients I posted was that its quite a lot of effort for a tiny meal for just one child. If I'm making a nice pasta meal from scratch, obviously I want enough to feed me, my preschooler and my baby as well as my school age child. I don't expect the government to pay for lunch for all of us, but it balances out over the week. It all goes into the family food fund. I just find it so insulting, the idea that people who are struggling need weighed out portions and recipe cards because we are obviously too thick to feed our children well.

I thought I might hear from school today about ours but nothing yet. Another reason to be glad of the brexit cupboard I have that I've built up and maintained over about 2 years now. My dc would not be happy at the lack of crisps but I'm doing my best to get them out of they daily habit and concentrate on healthier additions or snacks. A o op a key of crisps is so easy though and doesn't start going soft or mouldy like fruit tends to. Tinned fruit is great but mine aren't fans and ds won't touch it at all. Dried mango is a firm favourite which is very expensive for what you get. If we get a good box then I'm going to have to get a good imagination to go with it and hope we can get a veggie one.

@HikeForward sorry late to catch up. Yes that was me. İt was a funny response. I don't write beautifully it is the truth. I visited my DHS home country and his village and I can honestly say most people on this thread wouldn't survive living there if they couldn't make use of that box for some lunches. Ok it could be better here but that's what we have got so we best make use of it until things improve. Considering it's a pandemic going on and that now even supermarkets are saying they are expecting shortages due to isolating staff in their stores and the produce warehouses we will just all have to make do with what we have got. I don't live lavishly. Never have done. I'm fortunate enough to not need the extra help but I was a child who grew up on FSM and benefits in a council house who would have starved without FSM so yes I am greatful to the system and I don't think it needs to be better. So many rely on it at the moment that I think they are trying their best to help. I showed my DH the box list someone listed and he said he would have been amazed if something like that was done in his home country and thinks I grew up quite richly compared to his child hood. And I don't care if people think I'm being patronising... That's life for a large percentage of the world. We have a lot of things good in the UK. Might not be the best but we are very lucky

A quick look on social media shows that some of the private firms this has been contacted out too are sending out about £7 worth of what looks like poor quality food and being £30. Yet again examples of Tory corruption but people should be humble for every morsel!

@PodgeBod it's not about your ability to feed your child. Things may be weighed out as they have to provide equally for each child who Is receiving. İt's for that child's lunch for 5 days like they would receive at school. Not for making a nice pasta dish for all of the family. İf you want to put some of the things towards doing that then do that but what they are providing is lunch for one child for 5 days.

@PodgeBod

converseandjeans yes I agree with you, I can't see whats so objectionable about parents just being able to buy what their kids will actually eat. What annoyed me so much about the ingredients I posted was that its quite a lot of effort for a tiny meal for just one child. If I'm making a nice pasta meal from scratch, obviously I want enough to feed me, my preschooler and my baby as well as my school age child. I don't expect the government to pay for lunch for all of us, but it balances out over the week. It all goes into the family food fund. I just find it so insulting, the idea that people who are struggling need weighed out portions and recipe cards because we are obviously too thick to feed our children well.

All goes to the family fund? That is not what it is for! Have you not read the boards of the uptake of school places for this month!

Did either of you read what I wrote? I said I dont expect the government to provide lunch for all of us but it seems pointless to have to go through all of the time and energy costs to make one fiddly tiny dish when I still have to feed everyone else. Yes, it is more practical to buy ingredients to feed the whole family rather then say "ok, I have this money to feed one child 5 lunches and this money to feed the rest of us". Buying a large bag of jacket potatoes is more economical then buying one. Buying several tomatoes is cheaper then buying one.

As for the uptake in school places, I cant work out how you think that is relevant to what I said at all

I can't be arsed reading all 27 pages but I have received one of these food boxes and was really grateful for it! It's so much better than the vouchers. Many families on FSM have only one adult in the house and no car, this makes shopping difficult especially during lockdown when supermarket delivery slots can be hard to get. I rely on one village shop and can only buy what I can carry home. I couldn't get to a supermarket to use the vouchers so they were useless.

I don't expect the government to pay for lunch for all of us

School uptake places are relevant because the KW kids need feeding too and the caters still need to be paid.

It’s not cost effective.

chel098 I think one of the issues is fuel poverty. So to heat an oven for one jacket potato or boil a pan for one tiny portion of pasta might seem expensive for some people.

So maybe things like pasta and potatoes could bs replaced with other items.

Chel098 so the FSM kids at home should get less support because the kids are school need feeding? They both need support, thats the governments failing

@converseandjeans

chel098 I think one of the issues is fuel poverty. So to heat an oven for one jacket potato or boil a pan for one tiny portion of pasta might seem expensive for some people.

So maybe things like pasta and potatoes could bs replaced with other items.

Like I said people want different things how can schools please everyone? You can see from this thread that some are happy with one things and others are not.

If that’s the case parents don’t have to have the food parcel. Someone else will make good use of it.

I’m sorry but it’s excuse after excuse and I find it quite selfish. Constant complaining it’s FREE.

There comes a point where it’s unreasonable people suggesting they don’t want to spend their fuel or bus fares. I’m sorry don’t you normally do the school run? Or leave the house and take transport at all?! To do your usual food shop

It’s beggars belief

@PodgeBod

Chel098 so the FSM kids at home should get less support because the kids are school need feeding? They both need support, thats the governments failing

The school have provided food. However your not happy because it doesn’t stretch for the WHOLE family..... there’s a difference. Charity begins at home I’m sorry it isn’t the governments SOLE responsibility to feed your children it’s yours.