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.

What if the immigrant was a child?

Free gas for everyone. Even the ones that can easily afford it. Sod the children. They can starve to death.

I already pay for their breakfast at the hotel.

They’ve had a lifetime to make sure they were set for retirement. If those with children should have to suck up the cost of living because ‘they chose to have them’, why should social security benefit those who have had 50 odd years to build a kitty (and often have managed to do much better out of it - usually with a house owned outright and the ability to actually retire). Works both ways.

Should we keep paying fuel "subsidies" to those pensioners who can easily afford their energy bills?

At least with universal breakfast club the uptake is unlikely to be anywhere near 100%.

@Safi7 haven't read all the replies (sorry) but there was a fairly comprehensive study that demonstrated giving children breakfast improved educational attainment more than class size. In our area those that need breakfast club tend to use it, those that don't won't.

Providing opportunities for children to access at least one healthy meal a day has the potential to improve social mobility through education more than many other approaches, while also addressing issues around childhood obesity and all associated knock on health implications.

This is a good evidence based policy in an area which has been consistently over looked by the Tory government. We need to do something to improve childhood outcomes and fast.

I work in a primary school & spend quite a lot of time feeding children who arrive at school hungry or have had sweets for breakfast and then can't focus properly. If everyone was offered a breakfast together each morning it would certainly help with attendance and focus.

It is not mandatory. It is there for the children who need it.

When did you teach? All children in ks1 have got free school meals for a while. My child gets pupil premium which means they would get free school meals even if older than ks1.

I find it extremely hard to believe that teachers are coming in to take the free school meals kids for "targeted interventions" haha my child certainly has never mentioned this.
I went to school in the 00s and I had free school meals didn't even realise until secondary school mother always made us think we were wealthy but obviously we couldn't of been 🤣 anyway my point is it's very careless if the teachers are making it obvious to the whole class which children get fsm. Maybe you should of said something if you worked there? It's definitely not something that happens in most schools

@Leah5678

Children who receive free school meals also receive Pupil Premium, which means the school gets additional funding for them. Admin staff know as well as teaching staff.

Also for school trips and such, fsm children are entitled to a packed lunch which has to be organised by kitchen staff, admin staff have to order them and classroom staff hand them out.

Believe me, staff know, and other children pick up on them being given the lunches.

And I am speaking as someone who was a teacher in multiple schools in multiple leas in the U.K., a supply teacher and now a governer at a school in another country in the U.K. my mom is still teaching, as are my friends.

Ohhhhh how nice it must be in your ivory tower

It's completely made up, because there are no interventions for FSM children. There is specific funding made available for the benefit of Pupil Premium children, and children eligible for FSM are also eligible for PP. Not all PP children get FSM, and there are very rarely special interventions for all the PP children at once because that isn't targeted to the specific needs of the children involved.

YANBU. It should only be for those that need it and means tested. We use breakfast club at school (which I pay for and am happy to continue to pay for). It’s a waste of taxpayers money to offer it as a universal benefit for all.

the money could be used by schools but in more beneficial ways.

The trouble is, school food is absolutely dreadful. I doubt they would provide quality breakfast, my children have packed lunches now because the school dinners (I used to pay for) are atrocious and tiny portions. When my child explained the meat he was given at school, I wouldn't even feed my dog that kind of slop. There should be more focus on employers to offer better flexibility on working hours.

Thank you I thought it sounded like nonsense I've worked in a school before and this certainly wasn't a thing there. My child gets fsm and he's very smart I would feel insulted if he was given an intervention just because he gets free school meals

From what I understand especially in the school I work in (had a free b/fast club for over 18 years) The staff apply to work there and are paid, now yes this can be teachers if they want the extra money but can also be TA's / lunchtime supervisors etc . Surely offering this support to help working parents arrive to their employment whilst also providing a meal for all is a good thing.????

@MrsSunshine2b

Schools get allocated funding for children on fsm. While those children do not directly 'get' that funding, it is recorded and can be used to benefit children who need extra support. All children who receive fsm, or who have previously (within 6 years I think - but I could be wrong!) are allocated PP but do not necessarily have to benefit from it; other children (care leavers and armed forces children if i remember correctly) also are counted in PP.

Staff definitely shoudnt be asking for groups of fsm kids, but I've worked in a school where a TA had interventions for children on pupil premium, and have been known to come in and ask for pupil premium intervention groups.

The point is that staff DO know which children have fsm. It goes towards knowing that child as a whole and the challenges they may have if they are a lower income family.

I have PP children as we claimed fsm a couple of years ago. They would have paper bags with lunches if they went on a school trip, and these were handed out by staff, and other children do notice. I've never seen any children have issues with this, but it isn't unnoticed which does create a (ridiculous!) stigma.

Away and do some research before you come on here frothing at the mouth about children being fed

I haven't read the whole thread so don't know if it's already been mentioned but making such benefits universal rids the free meal of stigma. All children are treated equally, which I don't think is a bad thing. It's also easier to implement, and there'll be economies of scale that mean it's not as expensive as you may expect. In giving all children a good meal and strong start to the day, (which is also a social occasion to eat with friends before learning) many things are being achieved that will positively impact on children and their learning, growth and social development. Why would anyone begrudge that?

Three brief points:

• It's not about breakfast, it's about allowing EVERY parent to have a job and get there in the morning, without incurring extra cost or filling in forms to benefit from free breakfast club
• It is often more labour intensive to do the admin to means-test something and create fair rules than to give it away for free
• It's also about attendance - if kids can get to school early and have an activity available there, there's less lateness/less of a morning rush

Most of all it's about giving parents/ women more options and choices.

In some countries nursery/kindergarten/school is free/very cheap and tailored around parents' working hours, and there's no such thing as 'the school run', kids get to school and back independently of parents (some exceptions, usually by choice).

I don't understand how the childcare system can so severely limit parents' opportunities to work, especially parents that can't afford childcare. Where are these jobs where you can just be there 10am-4pm? What about impact on the parents' income both short-term and long-term?

So glad the British government is finally showing they care about women having opportunities and not being forced to become low-income or spend half their salary on private childcare the moment they decide to become a mother.

Still lots to do but first step in the right direction.

No, they don’t. It’s still around 25% after housing (18% before) but over-inflating the figures doesn’t help anyone.

Stupid comment. I’ve worked through my children being primary school age, and always managed to feed them breakfast, get them to school and then get to work. Presumably if unemployed you still have to feed your dcs breakfast before getting them to school for 9pm. And the issue isn’t about feeding them, but about getting the breakfast free.

That is a nonsensical suggestion. If schools started earlier, all the teachers children would STILL need a breakfast club open before hand to be dropped off at while their parents go on to the earlier start school. Plus schools would then also finish earlier, and then there would be more child care problems at the other end of the school day

I'm sorry if I'm just being naive but I struggle to believe there are any parents out there that are genuinely trying their best, work, and cannot afford a load of bread for toast in the morning or supermarket own cereal.

Luckily I don't know of many families that wouldn't give kids breakfast. But the ones I do know, it's because the parents don't care.