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.

That isn't the issue. It is the precise intention of offering it universally. The question is:

Do you want to live in country that pays for services like your child-care collectively through taxation, or do you want to live in a country where you make choices over whether to pay for it and whether to use provision within a school or with a childminder? The same is the case for any other freebie that a government provides. When the government provides something, you pay towards it whether you want it or not and you have little choice over what the provision is like, bit you get it at a subsidised rate. It is freedom of choice verses a safety net. Faced with the immediate costs of childcare at a time when there is a cost of living crisis and the freebie is desirable. The bigger picture is, perhaps, less desirable.

It's not discrimination. It's giving opportunities to those who can afford /access childcare . It's aiming to ensure children from deprived families get a good meal before school. A good start to the day.

I think it's about the economy and meeting their political targets.

Economy- get parents to work on time by having free childcare available, it may mean more women return to the work force, can work more/longer hours which all equates to more money going into the tax coffers and money being spent commuting, coffee shops, shops, news agents, public transport, petrol etc extra money saved on wrap around care will get spent in other ways.

Political targets- less children missing school or being late, better attainment if fed and present. Brings in their targets on school attendance, stats testing, year 4 multiplication testing, comprehensive testing and so on

Ah, a comment from the luckily ignorant person.

Some children find going to school difficult for a variety of reasons but often due to neurodivergence or mental health reasons. Going to a quiet building and being amongst the first people there is an easier adjustment, and then the noise and chaos of the school day gradually increases once they are already in rather than what they have to walk straight into and deal with from the start.

So you think the children of hundreds of thousands of mumsnetters, including my own, have damaged attachment because they started nusery at 9/10/11 months old? My incredibly strong bond and love for my DC 3 and 6 would beg to differ. They are happy, resilient, wonderful children who are thriving at nursery and school and have positive relationships with family, friends and teachers. Stop with your utter nonsense

I sent mine to a private school, but am a product of a state school. I did not think about it then, but now, as a mum, my heart sinks at the memory of several children, given special treatment by my state school, i.e. because they were from poor families. This charity was beyond humiliating, we all knew who 'people from poor families' were and some swines looked down on them. Breakfasts in state schools should be available to everyone. When I lodged in Mecklenburgh Square (post-grad Halls), we were given dining hall vouchers (included in the price of halls) and people either used them or not. It was done to encourage communication and friendship forming in post-grads of various nationalities at dinner table. It was a brilliant idea. So maybe give vouchers for everyday use for deprived people and only 2 vouchers to the rich, but that way they will never know who is who and there will be a chance to make friends without the stigma.

Yes absolutely this.

Its a non-stigmatised way of feeding children
It provides childcare for working parents
It gets kids to school on time

Every single piece of evidence says that children perform better at school when they have been fed a breakfast

What I want to know is will this breakfast club for all include our SEN children who have previously been turned away for requiring provision the school do not currently have.

I'm not expecting schools to pull something out of the hat at all, but has Keir factored in the exclusions and limitations this places on our disabled children and has he suddenly opened up a magic pot of money to make sure these kids aren't excluded from something their NT peers are going to be offered.

Caring for disabled children puts you at a financial disadvantage anyway, so is the risk to poverty recognised for them too, or do they just have to suck it and see?

If they are allowed to get a good meal, so are others. We all pay taxes, and are entitled to get equal amounts of care for our children. Deprived kids are not superior and shouldn't be treated that way!

There are free breakfast clubs in Wales and it works fine. Also free school dinners for all primary aged kids. In my daughter’s primary school, they can come free from 8.15 and get free breakfast. Other schools do it from half 8. It’s standard cereal or toast or fruit. Take up isn’t huge in our school, those that need it use it, those that don’t don’t. We don’t because I can get to work for 9.15 after dropping mine off. Our school also does free milk at snack until year 2.

What form entry is this school?

If they are allowed to get a good meal, so are others. We all pay taxes, and are entitled to get equal amounts of care for our children. Deprived kids are not superior and shouldn't be treated that way!

No...

Don't blame the rich for ppl having kids they can't afford.. my.post isn't for anyone who genuinely needs support ..I'm talking about families already in a bad financial situation having more kids. The rich avoiding taxes is nothing to do with what I said, not sure how you moved me over to a tax avoidance issue???

I think it’s great, firstly if it’s there for everyone it’s stops marking out children as poor, or in need. Secondly, many working parents need breakfast clubs to get to work on time and pay tax, I think it’s a great use if tax money. I like that all children would receive it, too late for mine as all older, but would not be against those with younger children getting free breakfast club. I think it should be open for all, to help those in poverty and to help the squeezed middle that need breakfast clubs

For those that are saying it's so awful that children might be out of the house for slightly longer. And that families should stop farming out childcare.
How do you propose to re-organise the British economy so that one parent can afford to stay home to look after their children? Please offer your well thought through arguments on this.

@NotAlexa don't worry deprived children rarely feel superior!

Equal opportunities is not treating everyone the same it's ensuring everyone has access to the same outcome. So if the opportunity is breakfast and you can afford to feed your child at home or pay a child care provider to do so then that's what you do. And you don't begrudge poor children the opportunity to be fed.

I’m not saying it damages all dc, but it can cause issues for some. My dc are not able to go to nursery and some couldn’t even manage school due to SEN. Those who are in school have EHCPs. It just doesn’t suit some dc and with rates of SEN and especially ASD rising so much it should be a consideration for some parents

Making sure children have something to eat is a really important start to the school day.

Unfortunately there are some children who come from homes that are chaotic and for many reasons don't function in a suitable way. This then is on a sliding scale moves to some families that are not so bad until you get to a decently functioning family.

If the children that are deprived need to reply on the parents letting the authorities know they are deprived then many will fall through the net - as those families will not come forward and the children still would go to school hungry, maybe only having had toast the night before.

By covering all children automatically - this means that those most in need do not fall through the net, do not get stigmatised by ebbing different and every child has the opportunity to not be hungry at school - receiving at least 2 meals per day.

In relation to this this can hopefully listen in class and have similar functioning to others in class who are also fed.

Of course in a decent world every family would have breakfast for children but we have one a million children living in poverty and they need to be brought up and out of that situation - it's not their fault they were born to a family that is poor.

These are sensible steps to levelling up

I’d also be interested for the plans for children with 1:1 support will their TA have to go I early to facilitate them accessing this or will they be excluded ?

I'd rather give my child breakfast at home and get him to school for 8.45, than drop him off at 7am for a free breakfast, because I can afford breakfast.

Most parents who have to use breakfast club will be dropping off thier children early so they can get to work. It might be dinner ladies and TA's or even PTA volunteers that run it. It's usually a couple of quid for parents per morning, so if the government have decided to give schools the money for toast and cereal instead that's fine by me.
It means that a few people will drop thier kids off earlier than needed at school if they really need the free breakfast club.

Of all the political issues to get annoyed at, this isn't it.

@Redhil do you know how many women get pregnant because their partner doesn't understand consent or doesn't like to wear confoms ?

It's not black and white. A lot of the women in deprived households who get pregnant are vulnerable . Judgement really isn't helpful.

No child should be going to school hungry. However, as a primary school teacher I do wonder how this will work and how we will staff it. There will also be some families that would benefit from using it not accessing it. I like the idea of a grab and run breakfast club where you arrive a bit earlier and toast, bagels etc are available to eat before lessons start. Breakfast club from7.30 could still be charged for working parents. Just thoughts.

Why isn’t it just free for the children who receive FSM and then if other parents want to use the facility they pay a nominal fee such as £1 per day? If they are using this as childcare so they can get to work earlier, I don’t think £1 a day is going to break the bank.

Surely this would be easy to administer by the school and the additional fees would pay the cost for whoever is running the breakfast club.