Free breakfast clubs for ALL primary school children? Why?

[Safi7]

I’ve been overseas since the election so a bit out of the loop, but is it true that Labour are going to make it standard that all primary schools must now offer free breakfasts to all children, regardless of need?

Fair enough for children from deprived families - but all children?

Where is the money for this coming from?

Are Labour actually saying that in 2024, its now to much to expect parents to actually bother to feed their own children breakfast? This responsibility can just be pushed onto schools instead - as if they haven’t got enough on? Teachers are leaving in droves as it is. Du much is out in them - the jobs is becoming more like social work in too many cases. Who will staff these breakfast clubs and make sure kids are actually eating?

Surely this is just encouraging lazy parenting - ie parents who can well afford cereal / toast / eggs etc it but just won’t bother if their kids can eat at school instead. Plus children will be dumped at school earlier than necessary, just because parents can now get away with it?

Surely it’s better to direct resources where they are actually needed, rather than turn schools into free cafes? Makes no sense.

Yes

There are so many reasons for this already outlined on the thread. It's about many things not just one.

As a working Mum who can afford breakfast but struggles to afford extortionate childcare and has been tying myself in knots trying to do the impossible I'll be taking full advantage of it.

It will enable me to work an extra hour in the day and then be available for pick up. I both need to work and want to see my children for more than an hour or a morning and an hour before bed. The cost of living has fucked many people over who were managing/would have managed before and this is actually something practical that will help a lot of people either to work or to ensure their children get breakfast and don't go hungry.

Probably should pay for their uniforms too. Then we need a "hello fresh" set up for the holidays where we drop food off. Meals on wheels?

Maybe give out some laptops for homework?

Perhaps someone could pop by in an evening and read to them before bed? Reading for pleasure is the biggest indicator of education outcome. If they can't afford a bag of porridge (£1 ish for days of breakfasts) then they definitely aren't buying books....

Breakfast is so so cheap, there is no excuse. If you really can't afford a bag of porridge oats or a loaf of bread then you cannot be meeting your child's needs. It's about the planning and organising. The having a routine to get up early enough to make a bowl of porridge. It's not about finances.

It always baffles me when people complain about an actual decent incentive that benefits children.

We've had free breakfasts in Wales for years. In the last school I taught in, it was happily run by the lunchtime supervisors.

The children had access to fruit, yoghurt, cereal, toast and in the winter, beans and porridge too.

It raises attendance, allows working parents to get to work on time without facing additional costs, provides a safe space, gives young carers a chance to eat, and most of all, feeds hungry children.

All the money wasted in the UK on ridiculous things, yet this is what people moan about? 🙄

Will the government actually fund it? Everyone thought it was great when the previous lot introduced free school meals for all EYFS and KS1 children. They then proceeded to give us less per head than the meals cost! My school dealt with the underfunding by getting rid of midday supervisors, shortening lunch time, reducing TAs to 1/2 hour lunch and having them supervise the children.
SCHOOLS ARE STRUGGLING FINANCIALLY! I know households are as well but schools are for education - let them do that.

At my dc school the ta's and midday supervisors usually start work there when their youngest child is in reception or year 1. Then when their dc are older and they want to work more hours they start working at the after school or breakfast club as well. Because they can do this it means the experienced TA's are more likely to stay after their children are old enough that they don't need to work school hours. It also means they can still be around for their teenage children in the school holidays.

I only mentioned the breaks as there have been various threads about children not being able to get a drink or go to the loo as the breaks are so short

I honestly think another lesson could be good or even to do homework in. Perhaps not so good for the teachers?

This is utterly ridiculous IMO.

It should be based on need.

Thousands of mumsnetters have kids in state schools. They can all afford breakfast. As can millions of others.

who is paying for the state to do all this basic parenting?

if you cannot feed your child breakfast, then you are in need of help from social services. Whether that’s for a food bank referral or for more general help. I’d prefer the money to be spent on social services to help the people who really cannot feed kids breakfast. Although when I say “the money” I do wonder what money we’re talking about.

nanny state
parents not even encouraged to parent
woeful

Sometimes I forget how horrible some of the people on Mumsnet are.

100% this and actually, I don't think I realised how horrible some are 😥

I totally agree with you

Free school lunches for all in Scotland for a number of years now. There's no stigma and everyone accepts it as the norm. I think it stops at primary five. How would you decide who was entitled and who wasn't otherwise?

Are you hungry by any chance?

I'm a primary teacher. I have seen children of all ages and backgrounds turn up at school without having had breakfast. Reasons for this range from not ready in time, including children getting themselves up as parents are working shifts and sleeping and are not able to organise breakfast into the schedule, to having a heated or tearful argument with a parent that morning and not being able to eat because they were upset. I have also seen children turn up at school with a fizzy drink and a bag of crisps or a bag of sweets and claim it's breakfast (given money to buy something on the way). And I have seen children hanging around the school gates over half an hour before they open because they are dropped off before a parents goes to work. Universal breakfast clubs would ensure all kids turn up on time and have eaten something vaguely healthy, as well as keeping children safe by providing morning childcare.

I have to take issue with your 'lazy parenting' call for so many reasons: firstly, schools have an obligation to safeguard all children and the biggest issue is neglect. This neglect is often caused parental mental health issues. This is tough enough on the kids without people labelling their parents. Universal breakfast clubs means nobody has to fill in forms, let alone pay, and supports kids who do not have the greatest home life. Also, we are talking about a provision, not obligatory breakfast clubs, and many, possibly most, children will still have breakfast at home because they prefer that.

A third of children living in poverty …. And the big highly publicized policy promise was “VAT on private education”?
wouldn’t it have been more honest to pledge a policy to lift children/families from poverty through a big tax on Vapes??

and it’s scary how that is probably reflected in the wider world.

People seem to like to bury their heads in the sand about the complexities around things that seem as simple as breakfast clubs. The whole host of reasons why a family may benefit from it and the bonus of having it universal meaning those who need it can access it without barriers.

it’s lovely to be able to think that every household is perfect and no children live surrounded by “issues” but in reality that’s not the case and if something as simple as breakfast club helps tackle just a tiny amount of those issues it’s a success. it won’t fix everything obviously but it will help a lot.

We already provide some of our families with uniform, food parcels/food bank vouchers to tide them over in the holidays (we have our own school foodbank but its term time only) and we have laptops that they can borrow for homework. We also lend them books and have a board games library with educational games that parents can access.

Regardless of this policy, schools have always fed children who come to school hungry. We have a stock of fruit and cereal bars the kids can help themselves to.

I'm not sure what point your post is making. Yes, children's basic needs should be met by their parents/carers but there will always be those who don't and schools have always had a role in plugging the gap.

If they can't afford a bag of porridge (£1 ish for days of breakfasts) then they definitely aren't buying books....

Never heard of libraries? They’re these places where you can read and borrow books for nothing.

Imagine being disgruntled by any kid having free food 🙃

WTAF is this post all about.

When were you a SAHM and was it this century!? Because for the vast vast majority of parents today it is literally impossible to run a household on one income.

It’s not about forcing mothers back to the workplace it’s about supporting families to work to provide for the basic needs of their children. And for many families it is just providing the basics never mind any luxuries.

it has absolutely nothing to do with culture and everything to do with the cost of living in this country. There are thousands of mums out there that don’t want to have to go to work and would much rather be at home with their kids but the simple fact is it is completely and utterly unaffordable.

Giving children actual food rather than money to the parents actually directly addresses this problem of those who don’t prioritise.

A decent breakfast for all kids is a relatively cheap win.

Making it universal should mean you get “buy in” from parents who are quick to moan about others getting “things for free”. And it also saves the high cost of means testing.

I don’t like this and it will benefit me. I pay for my kids to go to a breakfast club. Obviously I will stop paying if this happens but I can afford to pay and it won’t make a huge amount of difference to my life to stop. I did vote labour because I couldn’t in all good conscience vote conservative but I do worry about the economy in Keir Starmer’s hands if he’s going to piss money up the wall like this. Give it to the kids who need it only. Even be a bit generous with this.

So ordinary people pay tax. This tax goes into school provisions and budgets but also covers living costs for “poverty” families, like universal credit and stuff. So how can it be a fair argument to only allow breakfast clubs for poor families but not the working people? Isn’t it enough already we cover their living costs with our tax money? Now what, we also have to cover their breakfasts AND not allowed to get out tax money’s worth from those same clubs? Is this creating fair society? I think not. It creates divisions and all children regardless of which families they come from must be entitled for breakfast clubs. It’s not only food, it’s also convenient childcare for working families, who the more they work, the more tax they pay for those “poor”.

Going by the logic of some people on this thread we should shut down all libraries as well because why should be pay for people to access free literature when some people can buy their own. 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃