No free school meals during Feb half term

[noblegiraffe]

The new guidance on free school meals says that schools should not provide food or vouchers during Feb half term.

This won’t be needed as some general funding is going to LAs and they will be expected to provide food/support for the week schools are off.

This is bonkers, right? They’ve only just sorted it so that kids get more than a manky banana, cheese and dry bread for lunch and they’re going to switch to a different system for a week?

Does this government just really hate feeding hungry kids?

YANBU: sticking with one system for feeding disadvantaged kids would be best

YABU: it’ll be fine, no one will fall through the cracks and the transition will be seamless.

For me regardless of how a chil is fed they need good food for their brains to work an develop.
We are in different times now children living below the poverty line. I certainly wouldn't begrudge someone a meal.

@fournonblondes

Message deleted by MNHQ.

Appears to whom, exactly?

Which certain type of immigrants, exactly?

What gets me is why everyone pushes for food during the holidays.
13 x 5 = 65. So they get 65 days worth of food.

Yet no one mentions or pushes for the weekends.
52 x 2 = 104. So there are roughly double the amount of days that the kids are going hungry but that seems ok. No one cares about this.

It is even more illogical when people claim the kids have been supported during half term and have only provided food for 5 out of the 9 days they are off - about half of the time.

It seems like no one cares about these kids the 104 days they go hungry because they've made a political statement on the other days.

@noblegiraffe

Food banks usually pick up the slack in the holidays but I am surprised to see people against feeding hungry children on a parenting site.

In the Tory party, yes. But they are notoriously selfish and heartless.

with the best will in the world and i say this as a single parent who stuggles for money its not the goverments job to feed hungry children ,but rather the job of the parents who chose to have them .

@noblegiraffe

I don't think anyone thinks children should go hungry, of course not

You really should have stopped your post there.

Who are you, the thread police?

I thought the free school meals was for over the pandemic, all these added expenses to council tax payer or the tax payer. Everyone is facing higher prices not just those on benefits if you listen to the government there are far more jobs and people are able to keep more of their earnings surely it’s time for people to start take some responsibility for themselves and stop expecting others to pay for them all the time.

Who are you, the thread police?

Doubt it. Just a helpful suggestion as to your odious views.

Jesus Christ, I can't believe some of the responses on here. No matter what the parents circumstances are it is not the fault of the children so let's fucking feed the children!

No wonder the Tories keep getting in. Apparently a lot of people are every bit as cold, cruel and callous to the most vulnerable of society as they are.

No wonder the Tories keep getting in. Apparently a lot of people are every bit as cold, cruel and callous to the most vulnerable of society as they are.

So are you pressing for providing free lunches at weekends too, Greebols - something no Labour government has ever has ever done.

I’m not sure the FSM children are the worse effected by the Pandemic either. When my son qualified for FSM ( because I went back to Uni ) I was 100% better off than in my school hours pro rata job I had before. The amount of extra money available was fantastic.

When I finished Uni and I worked anywhere whilst looking for a graduate wage that was far harder. It’s bills, rent and keeping a car to get to work that’s a killer.

Food is relatively very cheap and the expense of running the system over a half term holiday surely outweighs any benefit.

@edwinbear

Why should children be getting free meals in half term? They don’t when the schools are open do they?

I agree with this. Long stretches of home schooling, 6 week summer holidays, Christmas with all the additional expense, I understand. But parents really ought to be able to provide 5 extra lunches over the course of a solitary week for their DC, they really should.

Do you have any understanding of the concept of low income/poverty? Think of a minimum wage income, then halve it , then quarter it. You are nearly there. People are poor for all sorts of different reasons , not because they are too feckless to feed their children who may well have been born into different circumstances to where they are now. Uc for one person is £81 a week, for everything after some rent and Council tax. Think on that.

The parents this, the parents that. They are kids, feed them. And no ripping them from a loving home that has fallen on hard times and putting the child into care isn't the solution.

It proves benefits aren't enough to live on and the two child cap is a massive problem for some families. I also believe it takes a village to raise a child so whether or not the parents made a wrong choice the person born from that didn't make a choice and they should be supported where needed.

People should watch the dispatches programme about 3 kids in the same class. Heartbreaking.

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

Jesus Christ, I can't believe some of the responses on here. No matter what the parents circumstances are it is not the fault of the children so let's fucking feed the children!

No wonder the Tories keep getting in. Apparently a lot of people are every bit as cold, cruel and callous to the most vulnerable of society as they are.

Absolutely. Are people forgetting that energy bills have almost fucking doubled for many people recently?

It just blows my mind that people are so damn bitter that they resent kids getting fed, regardless of the parents situation this is about CHILDREN GETTING FED who might not otherwise!

@edwinbear

Why should children be getting free meals in half term? They don’t when the schools are open do they?

I agree with this. Long stretches of home schooling, 6 week summer holidays, Christmas with all the additional expense, I understand. But parents really ought to be able to provide 5 extra lunches over the course of a solitary week for their DC, they really should.

And if they can't?

Even if the parents are not budgeting right it is not the kids fault they go without so any extra help is good for the child.

@me4real

I know there are exceptions but in general, people are supposed to make sure they can afford the relatively small amount of money to feed a child before having it.

They are also given money by the state towards their food.

And often rent is much higher than the housing allowance given to them by the government so they have to use that food money towards the rent.

It’s not a matter of being cold or cruel it’s a matter of being realistic i for one are all for feeding the children but everyone has to be considered when decisions are made. The whole country is facing a rising cost of living, many having to choose between heating or eating so rather than sticking a plaster over things the whole welfare system needs to overhauled, so no one has to decide between heating and eating. A lot of people donate to food banks so I am sure if people didn’t need to use them they wouldn’t object to a rise in tax.

@CecilyP

No wonder the Tories keep getting in. Apparently a lot of people are every bit as cold, cruel and callous to the most vulnerable of society as they are.

So are you pressing for providing free lunches at weekends too, Greebols - something no Labour government has ever has ever done.

If kids are going hungry, feed them. I'd prefer that to be because employment levels and wages are high enough, and benefits generous enough to those who need them, that they don't go hungry in the first place - and that's not likely to happen under any Tory government.

But basically, just fucking well feed the hungry kids.

@Lightisnotwhite

I’m not sure the FSM children are the worse effected by the Pandemic either. When my son qualified for FSM ( because I went back to Uni ) I was 100% better off than in my school hours pro rata job I had before. The amount of extra money available was fantastic.

When I finished Uni and I worked anywhere whilst looking for a graduate wage that was far harder. It’s bills, rent and keeping a car to get to work that’s a killer.

Food is relatively very cheap and the expense of running the system over a half term holiday surely outweighs any benefit.

Not everyone is at uni though. Single parents at uni get a lot of help in the form of loans and grants. It's not the same as being on JSA.

When I says budgeting properly I dont mean the parents that try their best and literally cant get the money to stretch I mean certain people that put fags, drugs etc first before feeding their kids but as I said it's not the kids fault so any help is good.

I imagine that half term could create some extra problems with low income families who are on zero hours contracts, who have to stay home to look after the kids during holidays, thus reducing their income, possibly hitting penalties for not working etc etc and having even less money to feed everyone than they would during term time.

It's not unreasonable to assume that parents who can't afford to feed their children during term-time will also have difficulties feeding them during holidays.

I think it is a good thing for society to help families by providing meals. I would like to see kids, maybe, go into school to eat lunch, or ready-made lunches provided in containers.

Due to the economies of scale, I think it is much more efficient and cheap for big organisations to provide the veg, the fruit and the salad, than it is for families to do this. I think that low-income families depend on school to supply that balance and nutritional richness. Perhaps, during term time some families will eat a cheaper evening meal, like noodles and chopped inexpensive sausage, and knowing that six different types of vegetable and grain variety have been consumed at school.

Plenty of posters explain and have explained before what kind of expenses can squeeze a family on a low budget. Giving free school meals just is an effective way to keep the nation healthy.