Primary school dinner prices rise!

[theysaiditgetseasier]

Dd is going into yr 3 soon so will not be getting FSM anymore, she loves them and doesn't want packed lunch.

school have sent out prices for this term and they have risen £1 per day!
Used to be £2.20 now it's £3.20 per day! I think that's quite steep, both husband and I work FT, we get no government help bar child benefit and are not high earners so that's another £64 a month to find from September.

AIBU to think the increase is too much?

What else can they do when fuel prices, food prices and the minimum wage are going through the roof?

Yeah, that's a big increase. DS1 is in y3 and we pay £2.30 per day.

Packed lunch. She shouldnt be deciding family finances at 7

Exercise books - I used to buy 50, 80 page ruled A4 exercise books for about £15, they are now £31!!!! Schools just don’t have the ability to pass costs on, absorb all the growing cost without major investment by the government. The kitchen has to cover their bills, and the nutritional standards have to be met.

I agree it’s ridiculous but I am unsurprised sadly.

It's tricky. Ours have only risen 30p but they have changed the menu and the offer is notably grimmer. I'd rather pay a bit more for quality food and just do a mix of pack lunch and school dinners

It’s steep, but then so are the rises in food, utilities and minimum wage.

Your daughter won’t be the only one having packed lunches given that rise, so I’d just tell her that’s what’s happening. Or compromise on dinners some days and packed lunches on others - there must be something she’d enjoy in a packed lunch!

It's a big increase but really not much overall for a two course meal when so many basic foodstuffs have gone up so much.
It's also not an extra £64 to find, as you'd be paying £46 even at the old prices and it's likely that even the most bargain basement packed lunch would still cost at least £25.

Does the school allow you to mix and match?

Mine have packed lunch as its better value for money.

Move to London.

FSM there all through the primary years.

We pay £3.30 and pretty much every year they've raised the free school meals up a year to the year behind DC. Their year is the only one in the whole school who pay for lunches now. Almost 400 kids in the school and all but 48 get free school meals this is in line with the Scottish government free school meals P1 - P6.

In Scotland every child in the first 5 years get free school meals. It will be increasing to all.

Our local LA have made it that those in the last two primary and all of the secondary kids get half price meals until the free school meals for all is rolled out.

Everything has gone up and schools aren’t exempt from price rises-they have food to buy, fuel to use and staff pay rises to cover. If you can’t afford that much, just make packed lunches-I couldn’t never justify the price of school dinners for mine every day.

It is a big rise, but I’m struggling to understand why you’ll need to find an extra £64 a months, surely it’s £20/£25 if it’s £1 a day more?

It is £64 more as currently pay £0 🤣

I'll have to do a mix of packed lunches / school dinners as just not affordable. Makes me wonder why I bother to work 😫

OP is going from free meals in Yr2 to having to pay for meals in Yr3. Its not an increase of a pound thats the problem. Its going from £0 to £64.

However the OP is BU not because of her maths but because she can't comprend the concept of a packed lunch.

🤣🤣 take it you have no kids then

@FrogsWormsandButterflies because she's in KS1 she gets FSM which will stop once she does into KS2, so I currently pay nothing

I always had packed lunch at school apart from when my parents qualified briefly for free lunch. We couldn’t afford lunches from the canteen and that was a long time ago. Just have to adapt

Just make packed lunches, get her involved in what she wants in them so she can take ownership and have choice that way. Most of her peers will move to pack lunches anyway probably! Alternatively if she receives pocket money - tell her she can use that to treat herself to a school dinner if she wants.

Yes it's a big increase on top of everything else rising.

You'd surely be a lot worse off than£64 a month if you didn't work? People on benefits who currently get help and fsm etc are being forced to work a lot more with recent changes following the budget.

If it seems less daunting, it’s not £64 each month, they’re on school holiday a decent chuck of time. There’s 190 school days a year so £608 for the year or more like £50 a month.

When my 14 year old was in primary it was just 2 pounds per day which I thought was quite reasonable. She was the same as yours, loved school dinners 😂Def think a mix is the way to go.

And then my 5 year old has them free as she's in KS1.

I'll have to do a mix of packed lunches / school dinners as just not affordable. Makes me wonder why I bother to work 😫

Appreciate it feels like a lot to find when it’s been free before, but it’s a bit much to say it’s not worth working over not being able to afford school dinners 5x days a week. Mine had to take packed lunch 3x days out of 5 when they hit KS2 - your DD definitely won’t be alone at the packed lunch table come September. At least 50% of parents will switch.