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.

But if you are too poor snd mentally unwell to pour water on oats and cook it, then what else is going wrong in your children's lives. Put the money into family support workers instead. Be better, expect more, don't wallpaper over the cracks.

People who are against this and universal free school dinners need to understand that the end of the line of this argument is

why are we paying for people in hospital to have 3 meals a day when most of them can afford their own food

why are we funding libraries when most people can buy their own books

Why are we paying for the nhs when some people can have private health insurance.

We do these things because of the type of society we want to create and you need to be very very careful what you wish for. Take food out of children’s mouths at your peril. It may well be you next.

Love this post 😊.

Incredibly well said. Only very few of us on this thread seeing the bigger picture here...

@TheAlchemy yep- even better than my bus pass analogy earlier- to be frank in hospital if they charged me £8 a day and massively upped the quality of food- I would be ok with it!!

@LBFseBrom - I agree, plates of good wholewheat bread, cereal bars or cornflakes or weetabix , butter, or olive spread, decent jam, cheese cubes , some bananas and oranges and grapes, yoghurts and juice would do the job

That doesn't make any sense. Part of caring for people in hospital is making sure they are fed. Part of education is making library books available to the local community. Part of educating our children is making sure our children have breakfast ... oh, no, wait, that's not the job of a school!

It is not the responsibility of hospitals to provide free meals to people who can afford to pay for their own

it is not the responsibility of councils to provide books to people who can afford their own

it is not the responsibility of the state to provide universal free at the point of entry health care to people who can afford to pay the full bill.

it is not the responsibility for schools to provide universal free school meals/breakfast to all children.

but we do these things because it’s the decent and right thing to do in a properly functioning, caring and community focused society.

the original post on this thread was not “should breakfast clubs exist” it was “should everyone have access to a free breakfast club”

And as per the examples I have given, yes they should. Otherwise the end of the road argument is goodbye NHS, goodbye libraries, goodbye free meals in hospital and countless other universal things we all benefit from.

Please don’t get me wrong …. I 100% agree that there are children that need this. I and my colleagues often give children breakfast from our own little stashes and as a school we have a food bank provided by staff that can afford it. We wash second hand uniform and unclaimed lost property in our homes and this is GIVEN to families in need.

BUT I know that as a school we wouldn’t have anywhere to store these food items. Milk, butter etc all needs refrigeration. Bowls, plates, cutlery all need to be washed and stored. The hall used for the club would also need to be cleaned before it could be used for assembly, PE etc. We can’t use the school kitchen - cook is prepping for lunch by 8am. Technically do the staff preparing and serving the breakfasts need the relevant food safety certificates? Would we be subject to food safety inspections? Because a cupboard in a classroom certainly wouldn’t meet the correct standards - I’ve seen the inspector checking the school kitchen and they have (rightly) very high standards.

It IS a great idea but the logistics need to be considered not to mention the funding - remember that universal free meals for KS1 is NOT fully funded! We have to top up the amount we get from government out of money that should be providing education. I honestly believe it is being proposed more as a childcare situation to get people out at work and less about a healthy nutritious breakfast.

@LadyDanburysCane I agree with you too- practicalities have to come into it. I have seen it done well in Denmark- but they clearly used the school hall and kitchen- any particular reason school kitchens need to be used from 7.30 to say 9 .30 ? I can't imagine most lunches take more than 2 hours from the quality I've seen ?? Not criticising by the way- just interested-

I've no issue paying for food if I have to go to hospital.
Libraries are open to everyone across society.
Breakfast for children is the responsibility of their parents. I want my money to go to my children, nobody else's.

Again, in Wales we've been doing free breakfast club for years. It's held wherever the children have lunch, mostly in the school hall, and the food is served from the same place as lunch, using the same crockery/cutlery.

While the staff are washing up/starting to prep lunch, the children are supervised while they finish eating and they have access to board games, toys and books, which they put away before going to class.

It's all rather simple. And very necessary.

So just let them starve then, is it?

Everyone knows that hungry children don't learn, so it's beneficial for them not to be hungry.

I honestly can't believe the absolute ignorance on this thread. I've used my own wages to buy children food, shoes, books, water bottles etc, because otherwise they wouldn't have had any. I'm so glad that there are still people like me out there, who realise that the hungry children are not at fault, so make sure they are cared for by someone.

Half a bagel is ridiculous. Bread and jam, or cheese, wouldn't need any cooking, neither would cereal or yogurt.

They would need storing....not all schools have a kitchen. Meaning there is no fridge, no toaster, no food prep resources. There are rules on food prep they have to follow and correct food storage is one of them. I wonder if this budget will ensure kitchens are built or areas such as intervention rooms in the school removed to accommodate new food prep/storage areas?

Some schools do not have a kitchen.

I'm not necessarily against free breakfast clubs, at least in some areas, if this is something that could be a quite efficient way of getting children into school while also helping working parents. But the idea that pp questioning whether this is the best use of public funds with education in the state it is is some kind of slippery slope to making people in hospital beds purchase their own food or doing away with public libraries is laughable 😂 Expecting people to put a slice of bread in the toaster every morning is hardly the same as wanting to return to the eighteenth century 😂

Has anybody got any ideas as to how to staff a breakfast club open to all pupils? Where are all these people who want to, and are able to work 7.30 to 9
30 every day??

It would have helped me. People would have assumed that I had a very middle class / privileged background but my mother could not be arsed to get out of bed to feed us. Obviously, I got to an age where I could get myself a bowl of cereal, a glass of milk or hot drink but didn't because she would have a fit that I hadn't made her a cup of tea.

People are getting confused. Schools have always provided school lunch - the kids are physically there, what else are they supposed to eat?

I am 100% in support of free breakfast clubs where needed. Schools know the need where it exists.

I just don’t think every school needs to provide this to ALL pupils, regardless of need. Because, it won’t be about breakfast for many - it’s just free childcare, let’s face it. Think about all the London commuters, who earn hundreds of thousands, who will put their kids there just to catch the earlier train from Esher or whatever into the city, etc. This type of thing.

Many children in poverty or with neglectful parents rarely get dinner in the evenings - should schools now provide free dinners to all as well, regardless of need? Again, that would suit the high earners who work long hours - no need to rush home to give the kids dinner now; no need to hire a nanny - the school will do it free.

I just feel, in some ways, this policy could be barking up the wrong tree. The support needs to be targeted at supporting families in poverty or neglectful families - in their own homes. I know it’s not easy - I have worked in child protection. But if you just pass the buck into schools, where is the impetus or support for families to change or take any responsibility?

A teacher friend of mine supervises one of these breakfast clubs - not through choice - and she finds parents entitled, rude, belligerent. Always complaining their child is has been bullied / told off unfairly or that the food is rubbish. Well do it yourself then!

It's not just high earners that work long hours. If there is overtime at work I'm there at 6am, how does this help me with free childcare? We are extremely lucky that grandparents are around to help out.

I agree with PP the money spent in this should go direct to social services to provide family support. I totally get that it’s not the kids fault they have no breakfast at home but we need to do something so it isn’t seen as normal or ok to send your children to school hungry. I grew up in poverty like many on this thread probably did and yet I always had breakfast. Granted it wasn’t avocado or eggs- it was porridge or corn flakes. So yes - let’s provide breakfast but let’s also have a plan to make sure that 10 years from now school breakfast clubs are a thing of the past.

I see it as an investment.

Children learn better with food in their bellies. It sets them up for good habits later on.

We don't know what talent is being wasted by children not learning, and the primary years are the foundation for that.

Schools have always provided school lunch - the kids are physically there, what else are they supposed to eat?

No they haven't always provided a school lunch. My last school (10 years ago) all kids brought packed lunches. There was no kitchen. My current school they provide a lunch but there is no kitchen. It is cooked off site and delivered to the school.

At our school it’s the existing staff (teaching assistants and helpers) who do it on a rota basis.
Why would it be from 7:30? Ours doesn’t start until 8:15 which is plenty of time for kids to eat and for most parents to get to work after, and most of the staff are there at that time already whether they’re helping with breakfast club or not.

wherethecityis

How does that impact on teachers setting up if all the classrooms are being used by 210 kids in school early in the morning?