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.

It's a two form entry. It has a nursery as well but I don't know if the paid breakfast club is open to nursery children.
So there could be 120 UKS2 but it's more like 30-40 daily in the dinner hall, plus maybe 20-30 younger early birds with parents.

So if parents can't afford to feed their children and the state shouldn't, what do you suggest should happen to those children? Do we just leave them to die?

I did a supply job in a secondary where breakfast was actually compulsory, in the sense that all staff and students had to attend breakfast but they were not forced to drink.

Sorry I posted too soon, I was a kid in a nice middle class area and rarely had breakfast until I was old enough to make it myself.

@Whatabonkersworld

why is it you would punish a child for having feckless parents?

@Coconutlattes seriously just read the Wikipedia on attachment styles before making embarrassing statements! Here’s a snippet.

Secure attachment is classified by children who show some distress when their caregiver leaves but are able to compose themselves quickly when the caregiver returns. Children with secure attachment feel protected by their caregivers, and they know that they can depend on them to return

Presumably and then @Whatabonkersworld will LOL at them.

Presumably it's cheaper than the cost to the economy of non working parents or free childcare for working parents for the early morning time they actually do need to get to work.

It's better to provide free breakfast for kids than have parents unable to go to work and employers not be able to hire for jobs.

im entitled to my option as you are yours and I think I’m right given my lived experience. I don’t need Wikipedia to educate me 😂😂😂

It’s not about lazy parenting and not wanting to feed your child, it’s about being able to get to work on time.

All schools should offer breakfast club (the closest school to where I live doesn’t offer it so my DC couldn’t go to this school).

I don't think it should be free though, at least not to everyone. The breakfast club at my DCs school is nearly always full so where will they get the extra staff from if more children are attending because it’s free.

When they had this is some areas it improved outcomes for all children, not just those living with food poverty.

I hope Labour brings this in.

@Redhil but your failing to understand people in poverty are in bad situations. This impacts on their choices and ability to thrive. I can assure you the number of women going 'I'm going to have more kids so redhils taxes can fund them' is very slim.

Tbf I think rather than wanting poor children to go away and starve quietly (like some people on this thread), you want children who come from homes that can afford to provide food to get fed too to ensure the starving children don't get 'an advantage. ' I'm just not sure when not being malnourished became a perk.

Worked in a school in a very deprived area - breakfast club made a huge difference to those children who were regularly late , unwashed, uncared for, and didn’t have anything offered to eat before school.

Often they had disinterested parents and chaotic home lives.

Opening this up to everyone means inclusion for all. The cost of this plan is small beer compared to the billions wasted and syphoned off by the last government.

So it wasn’t just breakfast ? Staff had to help children wash and dress them in clean uniform ?

Sadly it’s a very common picture. I would imagine that most school staff have at least once found themselves hunting for food for a child who has come in hungry for whatever reason.

Its easy to say “but the parents should” but if they parents won’t/can’t then that’s not the child fault but they are the ones that suffer. Hopefully preparing the children for learning can help that child reach their potential even with the challenges they may face out of school.

Slightly different topic but related in showing how important breakfast clubs etc are.

In our school, every year, our Year 11 and Year 13 students are offered a free sausage/bacon bap at the start of the day during the exam season. They just go along to the canteen between 8.15am and 8.45am each day and collect it (vegan sausage available for vegetarians and vegans). Why? Because some of the kids don't eat breakfast. Because some of the kids who normally eat breakfast feel sick with nerves about the exams when they get up but when they get to school they see others enjoying their bap and want to join in. Because it's a social thing - you and your mates meet on the field with your baps and have a chat and that helps calm kids down. It's improving exam results, settling nerves, reinforcing friendships and setting the kids up for the day. Same as breakfast clubs.

Some of our SEN teachers keep cereal, cereal bars and similar stuff in their drawers as it's often SEN kids that can't eat at normal breakfast time. Parents will send stuff in for them too so it's not laziness that causes issues. It can be a range of things.

As for 'parental responsibility' to feed your kids. Of course it is. But anyone's life can change at the drop of a hat. Divorce, death or illness in the family, losing a job. All impacts on income and on mental health in parents.

Anything that encourages a child to stay in school, try hard in exams, get and maintain friendships and feel like they actually belong at school can't be a bad thing. Add a chance to eat into that mix and I'm all for it.

meant to put this in the strictly thread!

Well no cause then every child would have to be in to start earlier and then even longer hours for teachers. It should be a choice. It’s an option there for everyone so that if you need it for early morn childcare if working then it’s there or if you need it to help feed your kids then it’s there and if you don’t want or need it you just take your children in at normal start time. It’ll help a lot of working parents and it won’t make the kids stand out that are in need of the free meal.

entitled to my option as you are yours and I think I’m right given my lived experience. I don’t need Wikipedia to educate me 😂😂😂

I’m afraid you do. Attachment theory is a very well researched area of psychology and stating that children going to nursery is a cause of not forming secure attachments just isn’t correct.

@Coconutlattes it’s fine to say you don’t agree with sending kids to nursery, or that you don’t think it’s good for them. That’s an opinion. However stating it leads to broken attachments is an incorrect statement based on many years of scientific research.

It’s like saying the earth is flat - you can believe that but you can’t assert that as fact as there’s no evidence and is in fact evidence on the contrary.

I think the cost of the food is negligible for breakfast clubs. Its the cost of the staff that adds up. Your school chooses to spend a little bit of its budget on sausage bottles during exam season. Others choose to spend the money differently. I like the sense of an annual tradition that your school has created. As well as the practicalities around performance in exams on an empty stomach, it can create a feeling of camaraderie and of a rite of passage, both of which can alleviate anxiety. However, I do also think that it is good to have choices made at a local level, rather than everything being decided centrally.

*butties not bottles!

I’m an ex teacher. Behaviour was a big part of why I left.

I used to feed my tutor group out of my own pocket. They were a lot nice (to everyone) when fed.

funny that.

Looking forward to dropping my small children off at a universal breakfast club and then starting work. I’m sure a lot of low income families, especially those who have a part time parent due to covering childcare, will welcome having the option to increase hours, or start work earlier. I work in HR and our part time staffing is predominantly women with school age children. Some will take up the offer, some won’t but it’s only right that the opportunity is available to everyone.

It’s about every child having food before they start their day. It’s good that individual children aren’t singled out and it can only be a good thing for all kids. Obviously, you can feed your own child before you send them off to school.

You think? If only Labour had an idea that would help them to do this ….

If you aren't doing something as basic as feeding your child before school then they shouldn't be in your care. End of. We should be supporting families to budget, earn, cook and provide for their own family. Not putting a plaster over child neglect.

Also I like to give my children a proper nutritious breakfast, eggs, avocado, rye bread, porridge etc. I don't want them having white bread toast when they get to school, on top of a breakfast that I provided.