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.

15:46Mumofsend
What's your situation?
Do you work?
How does money get spent in your house?
Do you live near a big supermarket with affordable food?
Do in you make the choice of eating or heating?

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

Read the full thread.

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

Disturbing to see such such a basic truth described as "pathetic"

Granted it's not as simple as that, but that doesn't change the facts - though perhaps it shows just how far we've come from the concept of personal responsibility

16:00unmarkedbythat
Any decent parent would feed their kids first before feeding themselves

I honestly fail to see why all this anger isn't being turned to the ones in charge who have given inflated amounts of money to their mates in return for contracts which haven't been delivered. This is fraud.

The anger should be directed at those who have bled the coffers dry, those that have failed to deliver on what they have been paid for.

While I agree it's not up to the school to feed children out of term time we are in VERY unusual times atm and ALOT of people who were running a successful budget have suddenly had the rug ripped out from under them. Schools are ideally placed to run the schemes from and also have a fair idea which child has their only meal at school. No system is going to be perfect but we are talking about children here who in Britain in 2021 should NOT know hunger.

perditaplum other communities have other options, some have community fridges, some have meals for kids in holdidays through community houses and family centres and other religious buildings. Look what is available in your community.

@FTEngineerM

Gosh, grabby.. I understand parents end up in predicaments sometimes but if you can afford to feed your child ever there is something seriously amiss.

But there is something seriously amiss! Families are experiencing sudden & unexpected unemployment / wage cuts. Universal credit is notoriously problematic and people go for weeks without payments.

Due to the pandemic, people who might have relied on friends/family/neighbours to help out with an extra meal or snacks are now not able to do so.

Family centres / children’s clubs which would have provided meals during holidays are closed.

Yes, things are amiss.

@PrankedByLife

16:00unmarkedbythat Any decent parent would feed their kids first before feeding themselves

I assume you had some reason for typing that and didn't just choose to randomly address it to me?

Any decent parent would feed their kids first before feeding themselves

My GP tells me I am malnourished and the reason is because I go without meals regularly and eat poor quality meals so my children are not hungry.

Bleating on about "hungry children" is getting tiresome now.

@scaredykittycat

I wonder what is different this year in holidays to previous years I can't possibly think.

@Godimabitch yes if only there was a system for them to be flagged to - like FSM! Which doesn't only feed them , by the way . It flags and covers them in other areas too.

To the many posters who are saying parents should just be able to feed their kids lunches for a week - it's not just their lunch. Many FSM children only have one meal a day. And yes they should but they clearly can't or don't. So then what? Do we just refuse to help them and say sorry you should have fed them?

Anyone who thinks FSM kids magically get fed in holidays doesn't understand child poverty. And for what it's worth , we wanted. FSM in holidays.

The government voted against it.

though perhaps it shows just how far we've come from the concept of personal responsibility

Puzzled we’re talking about kids though.

Are you suggesting that kids should take personal responsibility for feeding themselves? It’s not something they have that much control over.

Or are you happy for kids to be collateral damage?

@FunTimes2020

Bleating on about "hungry children" is getting tiresome now.

Bleating ? As opposed to what ?

They really are tiresome aren't they , those pesky starving weans who don't get fed (or washed , or their hygiene appointments, or or or or). You're quite right. There are so many more important things.

@FunTimes2020

Bleating on about "hungry children" is getting tiresome now.

Stop reading threads about them then. Its obvious from the thread titles what they are about 99% of the time.

16:08dayinthelifeofworkingpoor

If it's a choice between you are your kids then it's better it's you that is malnourished.

Please go to your local Sikh temple they will feed you a decent, nutritious meal, you don't have to believe in God.
If some places on Fridays or Saturdays they even make 'english' food.
It's not the crap you get at Indian takeaways but decent vegetarian food.

What city / town are you in?

Do you actually know any kids on FSM? To suggest that their parents don’t care for them properly is incredibly offensive.

You've misread what she was saying, and owe her an apology. She was saying that parents who never give their children food (so the only meals they have are FSM) may not be the kind parents children should be left with.

@prankedByLife

I'm a student working on my MA. My oldest child is Autistic and on a heavily reduced timetable at school which is a whole other difficulty being tackled. Her DLA does go on all her expenses which is a massive relief.

Usually we tick over. I'm definitely not rolling in it but usual times there is enough for everything needed. March lockdown was fine. Its only over Christmas and Tier 4 that it has been an issue and that's because of heating because it has doubled. We are one of those prepaid tariffs which is extortionate during the day. The vouchers definitely saved that decision needing to be made. It doesn't take a lot to make a managing well enough situation into a tough decisions one.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

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

Do you honestly believe parents sit there taking their free hand out of loaves and a bit of cheese going yesss lads we didn't have to pay for that lunch today Someone else will sort out my kids? Really?And if so, how common do you think it is?

I wouldn't take a free meal from anywhere. Children come first and I would not see any child going without for an adult.

@AttackOfTheFloppyKnob

Feeding children who aren't being fed at all at home is just papering over the cracks. Instead of feeding them why on earth arent these children being removed from those environments and cared for properly. ?

Do you know anything about social services or indeed the number of children on FSM?

You've misread what she was saying, and owe her an apology.

Nope. Quite happy to not conflate kids on FSM with parents who don’t feed their kids at all.

@Crystalclair

I know there are many genuine cases of families not being able to feed their kids. But, let's face it, there are a huge majority of family who are abusing this system.

I'm a single parent, I'm unable to work because of the pandemic and am not entitled to furlough or SEISS grant. Currently I survive on very little and have no savings. Yet I can still afford to feed my children. So many people I've heard complaining about their kids going hungry are usually the ones taking photos of their kids around the Christmas tree with a shit load of presents, or using Uber eats as their kids 'need a McDonalds'

Pisses me off.

Bully for you.

These unhelpful stereotypes do nothing but to further fuel the myths surrounding FSM children.

So many people? How many? 5? 10? 20?

There are not a huge majority of people abusing the system , please don't make things up.

@PrankedByLife completely off topic, but the way the Sikh community stepped in to feed the stranded lorry drivers in Dover just before Christmas was wonderful

It’s only changed because Marcus Rashford pushed for it. It took a footballer to fight for children to actually be able to eat, in the 21st century Britain. Bonkers.

Would be interesting to see how much Marcus and his fellow professional top flight foootballers on £100,000s per week donate to food banks/feeding deprived kid's

Sure I read a statistic somewhere that even if they donated 1% of their salary it would raise tens of millions of pounds per year