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?

Not primary school, but in the 1st year of secondary school in 1991, I was given £1 a day, increasing to £1.20 a day in 1995 in the 5th year. £3.20 a day in 2023 doesn't sound too unreasonable for a secondary-aged child, but I appreciate that primary-aged meals are likely to be smaller and should be less than £3 a day.

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

You do realise the income threshold for claiming fsm is shockingly low? You're definitely better off working!

Mix and match and then get her a food flask for the non schoool dinner days. TK Maxx usually have them for around £10 for the Thermos branded ones.

• Spaghetti hoops/beans/soup with bread and butter wrapped on the side, piece of fruit, mini cucumber/cherry tomatoes
• Fish fingers/sausages/chicken nuggets in the flask, wrap/hot dog bun on the side, yoghurt and some veg.
• Leftovers from the night before

It doesn't take much effort to do in the morning, just put stuff in the oven if cooking from raw while you're getting kids dressed and fed or microwave for 2 mins for tinned and reheated. You do need to pre-heat the flask by putting boiling water in it for 5 mins before you add the hot food.

The flask works pretty well the other way too and I've sent DD in to holiday club in the summer break with icecream before which held up OK till lunch. I gave the flask an hour in the freezer first.

You're looking at it wrong though. You knew it was going to cost the £44 a month, so you've only got to find an extra £20 a month from what you knew you were going to be paying.

Granted I know you pay nothing now, but you knew this was going to change to at least £44. Everything is going up crazily and with the big increase in min wage, food, gas, electric, it's not surprising at all.

If parents truly knew the state of school finances due to chronic underfunding by government there would be riots British tutting.

schools often have old boilers for heating, that aren’t efficient. Food prices have gone up, schools are forecasting deficit budgets.

schools cannot afford to absorb any costs, they are on the bones of their arse in most cases, the government needs to know how you feel.

Our school is part of a academy so there's
trustees (across the group)
Exec head
Head
Two deputy heads
At least 3 other staff members who come under SLT

Surely it would be better to have less chiefs and use money saved to go into the school.

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?

You DO get benefits

You get Child benefit.

Your child has been receiving meals paid for by tax payers for 3 years.

Your child is receiving a free education paid for by tax payers.

This is what a society does, it provides for people.

Your child didn't arrive yesterday, you knew a charge was coming, all prices are going up and it's possible that £1 means your daughter can continue to enjoy the meals rather than the school change the menu to lower quality food.

I bet they also have staff leading subjects without TLR’s.

They also pay their teachers significantly more than England's teachers.

All schools need a headteacher and having two deputies is reasonable depending on the size of the primary school. For the most part, members of SLT are not paid more for their role at primary level. They might get a TLR of about £2.5k gross if they are lucky but, for that, they'll be leading a phase / a core subject / multiple foundation subjects or a mix of all three.

My understanding on trustees, and I could be wrong, is that these operate akin to school governors. If that is the case, are they not unpaid roles?

My DD was in Year 3 10 years ago and even then most parents at her school couldn't afford school meals every day. The compromise was generally that they could have school lunch once a week and a packed lunch the rest of the time.

(Also 10 years ago, we didn't get any FSM so that was the case from Reception. Maybe be grateful you've had 3 years paid for?)

I suspect your DD will be less keen on school dinners once she sees most of her friends are not having them.

She is only in school 38 weeks of the year which works out an average of £50 a month.

BUT next year when DD1 is in year 3 she will probably be having mostly packed lunches. I can see arguments when her little starts reception and she wants the same as her big sister.

Yes, I’m sure it would really help that school’s recruitment if a deputy was reverted back to classroom teacher, all their additional work shared amongst all their other staff who aren’t remunerated for it and the saving was spent on giving ks2 slightly cheaper meals…

Sorry OP, rising costs are hard. Packed lunches sometimes seems like a good option.

Can you change evening meals a bit on school dinner days, to make simpler?

I think you would struggle to get packed lunches that are satisfying for a similar price, not to mention the hassle. However I would want to know that the school food was good quality.