To wonder what will happen about the government's 'free' breakfast club proposal?!

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They have been talking a lot today about saving families £450 a year, but I just can't see how this is going to work?

They are paying 60p per child per day, which might pay for a Weetabix and a bit of toast, but doesn't take into account the staffing (and any energy costs) that this will require!

We already have a small school with a successful breakfast club running, with smallish numbers but all can sit down and eat together. Parents pay a reasonable amount for it and this pays for 1/2 members of staff, depending on numbers. If this was opened up to all parents as a free option, we simply wouldn't have enough space to put everyone in the hall-it would be mayhem.

The school budget doesn't have any spare cash in it for TA staffing costs (normally paid for by parents paying) so where are schools expected to find this money from?

Has there been mention of this in the news today? As we haven’t heard anything about this for a while I thought it had quietly died

At our school, every child is offered a piece of toasted bagel when they get into the classroom.

Not as a breakfast club, some will have already been to breakfast club which is separate.

It doesn’t take into account many things. One of course is the cost, another is the physical space and perhaps most importantly, the fact that many children and families this is aimed at will not access it.

I am also curious about this. I've worked in two schools where the breakfast club actually runs at a surplus, so covers its costs and pays for a few extra bits in school too (including a 'snack' bar which is set up so children who don't get breakfast can grab a couple of rice cakes, apple and a milk or similar)

This scheme looks like we could end up will less money.

Plus staffing breakfast club has been a nightmare.

Lots on Twitter from BP and the DfE today.

BP was on the radio this morning talking about it. When asked how the staffing was being funded she said it was up to schools to find the money and work it out.

Well at our school there used to be a breakfast club but they recently said that the red tape involved with providing food under government rules was too much and would require extra staff, so now no food is allowed to be served, it is just a holding pen for children whose parents need to be in work early. So I am not optimistic about more breakfasts materialising.

I like the toasted bagel idea (a drink of juice/milk to go with it would be good as well!)

This new government offer of breakfast comes with half an hour of free childcare as well so will be prior to the start of the school day.

Brilliant. All they have to do is look down the back of the sofa in the staff room then, and problem solved!

Oh god it sounds like another offer that is not being funded and will be disastrous for school budgets

It is bonkers to make the budget of a sensibly costed paid for service fail (in the schools where there's demand) in order to provide a bog standard under funded service to all, at the mercy of political whims.

Surely the result will be fewer breakfast club spaces? Did they learn nothing from what's happened to day nurseries and childminders?!

This is starting to sound rather like the

Free NHS dental care (that you can only access if you can find one of the few remaining NHS dentists)

'Free' 15/30 hours childcare with a provider that actually accepts people wanting those hours.

If schools are forced to offer 'Free' breakfast club places to every child, then it'll probably lead to staff redundancies to pay for it.

We have an obesity crisis in this country, amongst children and adults. Why is a school offering every child a toasted bagel when I expect many have already had breakfast - very wasteful and just fuels the constant snacking/eating that is leading to obesity.

But then I don't agree with giving free breakfast, I think people should feed their own children and gets their teeth, anything else is neglectful parenting.

DDs primary school have been doing free breakfast club for all kids for years, it starts at 7.45am, they can choose from porridge, toast, cereal, bagels and scrambled egg. The new incentive from the govt will actually be an improvement for the school finances as to date they've been financing it using the general school budget and now they'll be getting something extra (although not much).

My secondary school offers a free breakfast club. So did a previous secondary I worked at. Both deprived areas, fairly routine around me.

Staffing wise, we have a group of TAs who are offered flex-time and many happy to work 8-3.30 instead of 8.30-4. Breakfast club runs 8.00-8.40 (when school starts) and is staffed by at least 2 TAs, as part of their basic hours.

Goods provided are inexpensive - cereals, bread based products, margarine, jam, marmalade, squash, hot chocolate, milk. Most of that is provided free from the local supermarket - for example they save us bread based stuff from the 'use by today' shelves.

One member if staff has the job of collecting thr morning's shopping from the supermarket on the way in. That's really the only arduous task.

Cost to school is next-to-nothing. It's offered free to all, but get between 5-10% of students coming.

Cost to school is next-to-nothing

Those members of staff still need their wages to be paid; that's not 'nothing'.

I presume the schools in areas of high socio-economic deprivation are using their PP funding to pay for free breakfast club. Schools (especially small schools) that don't have such numbers on PP don't have the same wriggle room in their budget (or room in their school).

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/we-cant-run-at-a-loss-heads-snub-flagship-breakfast-clubs/

Our primary school has provided a free breakfast club for years (fairly mixed area. But 52% pupil premium, so a lot of deprivation). Another couple of schools in the area do the same. So I think that while a lot of school may struggle, it’s going to be an improvement to the finances of a fair few as well.

Children are at school for 190 days a year. Where is the £450 per year saving figure coming from? That's £2.36 per day. Most schools are giving/planning to give simple breakfasts such as pieces of bagel/cereal/slice of toast? Even with multiple children, a slice of toast would not cost parents that much.

I cannot fathom a policy which is giving free food to very wealthy families. It doesn't seem a sensible use of resources.

My dd teaches in a small school with only 3 classroom teachers. There's no money for TAs to be paid to do it, so the SLT have ordered that the teachers have to do it on a "voluntary" basis once or twice a week. No one has agreed to do it yet. They are all massively over on directed time and noone wants be the only adult on site.

So it's not properly funded or thought through? Schools are expected to find staff prepared to work for free or to just use that unallocated extra funding they have splashing around........

I read something this morning that said 170 schools have been picked to test the roll out so if you haven’t heard I’m guessing your school hasn’t been picked

35% PP, not incredibly large proportion. But we are a secondary school, so bigger than primaries.

The TAs hours haven't changed. They either stay until 4pm and staff the daily homework club, or start at 8am and staff the breakfast clubs. They're already contracted for those hours and have been for many years, it's nothing extra.

The cost to school is next to nothing. And yes, the marginal cost does come from the PP budget. But its nothing compared to, say, the amount we spend giving away free uniform to PP students in need.

Teachers don't get overtime sadly. They will probably just draw up a rota in the same way as they staff detention or prep sessions.

Our city schools all open at 8am and offer free breakfast - cereal, toast nowt fancy.
The canteen staff are already there prepping for lunchtime and teachers/ TAs generally supervise just as they do with lunchtime/ breaks.
It’s already happening all over the U.K.