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.

15:34noblegiraffe
No!!
I don't understand how these parents can't provide he basic cheapest foods for their kids.
I understand the concept far better than you - at least me and my community feed the poor.
What have you done?
Look at your community!

BY the way if there are any people people that can't feed themselves or their children go to your nearest Sikh temple, you don't have to be a Sikh, or an Indian, or believe in God, you can be raging racist BNP voter and you will still be welcome - hunger doesn't see race or religion.
Just take your shoes and socks off, wash your hands and cover your heads, you will be welcome.

My point was - why can't these parents starve themselves to feed their kids? How can even a very little benefit money not be able to provide them with cold food at the least. Cheap brand rice costs £1 and last a week.

FSM in school holidays have never been a thing so why are people so expectant now?

Because thanks to Covid (and Brexit) unemployment is climbing, prices are climbing, more and more families who were just about managing are being pushed into not at all managing, people who were doing alright are now furloughed or laid off and their income has drastically reduced but their bills haven't.

tin hat firmly on, if you can't feed the children you have already, stop having any more.

So what should happen to these children then? Should we shove them back up their mother's vaginas or line them up and shoot them?

My oldest is a FSM child. Feeding them has never been an issue. The vouchers over Christmas (and potentaly feb) have actually helped more off-setting the cost of the massively increased use of electric. Usually we would spend a couple of days at my grandparents house (can't do that due to covid), visit libraries etc all stuff that had us out the house more. Being stuck in has risen my electric bill from £25 a week to £50.

I will always feed my children as priority and they will never go hungry but its definitely helped prevent a food vs heating decision.

[quote booboomoo]@MeringueCloud
Do children not get hungry in the holidays? A light has been shone on this issue and maybe this is something the government should do moving forward as there is very clearly a big issue. [/quote]
Hmm I think you know that I know that they do. But the main function of s hools is to, provide education. To help "hungry children" learn they get free lunches during the school day. Parents who can't afford to feed their children during the holidays and before and after school (because children need more food in a day than the free school lunch) should be entitled to a different kind of benefit/vouchers/food boxes or similar.

We've had no vouchers or parcel for two weeks now. And no info from the school as to what's happening.
This news comes as no great surprise, all the "talking heads" pay lip service but don't actually care. Like the much touted "extra money on universal credit during the pandemic" we haven't had that either. It's all smoke and mirrors to make the concerned voters think the government are trying to help the most vulnerable people.

I should also add my youngest wouldn't be a FSM child but we are now in that horrible middle ground which I think is actually worse.

@PrankedByLife

By the way, I'm a Sikh and we provide free meals in our Gurdwaras, I'm not against feeding the poor, it's a privilege and service. I just don't understand the parents involved in this situation.

So you’re there giving out meals to the deserving poor by your standards and judging the rest Maybe you could find a food bank to volunteer at too and you know, take out the branded items that might be too good for certain people 🤷‍♀️

@warmandtoasty2day

tin hat firmly on, if you can't feed the children you have already, stop having any more.

Helpful advice. Perhaps you could tell that to the father of my children who has 2 Step children and 3 more bio children whilst refusing to pay for our 2. I could put them back, but as they are both 6+inches taller than me it would be painful!

Better that the kids learn a lesson while going hungry?

Better still that some parents think a little more about their responsibilities, which is all too easy to avoid while someone else is paying

I understand the concept far better than you - at least me and my community feed the poor. What have you done? Look at your community!

Pompous, patronising, incorrect. Amazing.

And I'm arguing in favour of feeding them.

I don’t think a lot of people realise that rent is high , gas and electric is expensive and if you’re only just getting by it doesn’t take much to plunge into poverty

Cheap brand rice costs £1 and last a week.

But thats the privilege of A, having access to a shop that sells cheap brand rice B, knowing how to cook it and/or a few basic recipes for it and C, having the fuel and the facilities needed to cook it.

Not everyone has gas and electricity on tap, not everyone has access to proper cooking facilities, not everyone has skills or knowledge - some people really do come from homes so chaotic that it hinders their life skills.

I will always feed my children as priority and they will never go hungry but its definitely helped prevent a food vs heating decision.

I imagine this is the case for many people and that the vouchers are filling in that gap to prevent them having to make decisions like that.

That’s when fsm come in and now more than ever they can make such a difference

@edwinbear

I don't think anyone thinks children should go hungry, of course not, but the primary responsibility to ensure children aren't going hungry is with the parents, not the state. The cost of 5 lunches over half term is minimal, especially compared to the admin needed to provide those. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect parents to provide lunch for their children for 5 says, no.

Of course the parents should ensure that their children are fed, but if they can’t or don’t for whatever reason, we should be there to pick up the slack. People are struggling and as a civilised society we should help where we can.

There is a great deal of rhetoric regarding irresponsible parents wasting money on drugs, cigs and booze while their dc go hungry. I don’t think for a moment that is true in the vast majority of cases. But even if it was, what kind of heartless people would we be to allow children to suffer as a result of their parents mistakes.

As you say, the costs of this are minimal. Particularly when you look at the amounts of money pissed away on PPE and non-existent ventilators. All children should be fed.

@FoxyTheFox

Cheap brand rice costs £1 and last a week.

But thats the privilege of A, having access to a shop that sells cheap brand rice B, knowing how to cook it and/or a few basic recipes for it and C, having the fuel and the facilities needed to cook it.

Not everyone has gas and electricity on tap, not everyone has access to proper cooking facilities, not everyone has skills or knowledge - some people really do come from homes so chaotic that it hinders their life skills.

I will always feed my children as priority and they will never go hungry but its definitely helped prevent a food vs heating decision.

I imagine this is the case for many people and that the vouchers are filling in that gap to prevent them having to make decisions like that.

This thread will go the way of the other one. Mention heating and I expect parents of children on fsm should ‘think warm thoughts and jog on the spot’ whilst getting an inner glow from all the gratitude they must feel for half a carrot in a money bag

In reply to the poster that said that bus fares cost a lot to get to the big supermarkets.
Presumably these parents don't work, they can walk there and back and take breaks if it's a long walk.
A small task to undertake if it means feeding your kids.
How come African girls of age 8 can walk miles for dirty water, but adults in this country can't walk to a supermarket for affordable food?!

I would love to hear from an actual poor person living in this situation to understand your day to day lifestyle.

@noblegiraffe but it won’t lead to people missing out the council gives vouchers to all fsm children plus all low income pre schoolers , toddlers and babies.

15:49noblegiraffe
Writing a few sentences in a forum isn't getting off your own backside

What have YOU done to help the poor?!!

the primary responsibility to ensure children aren't going hungry is with the parents, not the state

It's so boring seeing this bloody pathetic argument trotted out again.

If you can't feed the children you have already, stop having any more

It doesn't answer the point about the children already here, but this raises the issue of some who won't think twice about having more if others will pick up the pieces - and so even more are born into appalling disadvantage

Along with concern for existing children it can sometimes be useful to look at the longer picture

BY the way if there are any people people that can't feed themselves or their children go to your nearest Sikh temple, you don't have to be a Sikh, or an Indian, or believe in God, you can be raging racist BNP voter and you will still be welcome - hunger doesn't see race or religion.
Just take your shoes and socks off, wash your hands and cover your heads, you will be welcome.

It's 40 miles away, can you open more local branches please?

@PodgeBod

hansgruebar Its the Tories who have stripped back the welfare system and pushed more children into poverty. The benefit cap, bedroom tax, 2 child limit, lower LHA rates- all Conservative policies

Don't forget there is also the rise in living costs, zero hour contracts, years and years of austerity and privatisation of the NHS, education and social services, police etc.

The services are all having to cover each others backs. Police officers are having to provide mental health services, hospitals are picking up the slack from social services, schools are providing social support and social services are completely overwhelmed and struggling to provide the basics.

Yes parents should be able to afford to feed their children and house them safely but when you have a nurse(university for 3 years and not minimum wage) having to use food banks to get by because the private rent is 3/4 of her monthly take home wage there is something rotten in the system. This is not a one off that can be blamed on smoking or drug addiction or feckless style, this is spread across the country.

Presumably these parents don't work, they can walk there and back and take breaks if it's a long walk.

My nearest supermarket is 10 miles away and its -3 here today. Would you be able to walk twenty miles in the freezing cold, potentially with small children in tow, carrying a week's worth of food shopping on the ten mile return journey? Do bear in mind too that part of the journey will be along the grass verge at the side of the dual carriageway.

My point was - why can't these parents starve themselves to feed their kids?

And then their children would have parents unable to undertake all the other necessary elements of parenting. You do understand that there is more to parenting than food, don't you? You are able to grasp that a starving person is neither physically nor mentally capable of doing those things?