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?

Life changes, circumstances change.

there's never been an issue staffing it because teachers are in anyway so they just rotate through,

I think with the way things are in England with workload/Ofsted, if teachers were expected to staff breakfast club 'because they were in anyway' there would be a big pushback.

It will be as successful as their target for building 1.5 million houses.
There is no money and there are no staff (TAs or Trades).

It's this. Recruiting TAs is hard anyway. No one wants to start at 8am because what do they do with their own chuldren? We've advertised various shift patterns for breakfast club, after school club, midday and TA positions over the past year and had zero applicants. Nice school, nice village.

30 minutes could make a big difference for a lot of low paid jobs. Its fairly common for retail or preschool staff for example to have a 9am start, so that half hour would allow them to get there in time without spending a large % of their first hours pay on childcare.

Working parents, a 30 minute breakfast club made a huge difference for us as it meant we could drop off from 8:00am (so technically a 35 minute breakfast club, rather than the school start time of 8:30am. So we could both be at our work before our start time of 08:30am.

Schools are there to educate children. They should not be providing free breakfast, teaching children how to brush their teeth or how to use cutlery. These are jobs for parents. We are simply asking too much of schools and letting parents get away with doing nothing. There will be very few families who can’t (rather than won’t) afford a piece of toast or bowl of porridge for their kids in the morning and those who genuinely can’t will be known to the school and can be given a free place in the current breakfast club. Let schools get back to teaching and make parents look after their kids.

Labour are especially bad at considering unintended consequences on policies. They have always been heart in the right place and arse and elbow at the same time.

This is also MN which means that’s parents on here are invested in their children. People assume lack of food is because people are struggling for money but some really do not care about their children. Some parents will neglect their children to the point they do not feed them. It happens far more than most care to admit. I have been involved with food projects with initiatives on feeding people and research in to poverty,

Unless you have directly worked with or been involved with issues like this it is hard to fathom just how neglected some children are. Initiatives like this mean children at school are going to get fed. It is the best way to facilitate feeding children. I’m no biologist but it’s pretty obvious the body and brain aren’t coping if it doesn’t food have and some children and adults misbehave if hungry.

Illiteracy in the UK is at 16%, within the prison population it’s at 57%. If people want a better society the push should be about educating at the most basic level.

The problem is this will not have been costed properly and there will yet again be unintended consequences for the already overstretched school staff.

If a parent is unable or unwilling to provide breakfast for their child then the solution is not for the school to provide it.

The solution is to investigate why the parent is unwilling or unable to do this.

That will mean home visits to check accommodation, to check that food is in the house and that children are not left to fend for themselves.

Providing breakfast on days when the school is open does not help these children, no matter how much of a warm glow it may give to the govermenrt.

We need to step back and ask what type of parent is unwilling or unable to provide breakfast for their children and deal with that because being unable to give your child a couple of slices of toast in the morning is a massive fail and maybe that parent is not fit to have the care of a child.

A breakfast club is not the answer.

Apart from cost and staffing issues (which are major considerations) I do also feel sad that there will not be equality of provision across the board. Why do Labour insist on doing this. Failing to cost it and provide sufficient funding.
What is offered will vary widely in terms of staffing, food etc
Promise big and falling short.

Because it's all about the soundbite of "free breakfast clubs". Populist policy

@AquaPeer ”They’ll get an eating disorder at home too, the way you talk ”

What because I try and avoid processed foods for my DC?
You do realise that toast bread and breakfast cereals are processed? And that British children consume the most UPF foods in Europe?
Perhaps do some research.
I would never feed my DC shop purchased toast bread regularly. It is not healthy. Neither are many breakfast cereals routinely sold to families.

I’m sorry do you think that there are people who don’t realise bread is processed? Do you think people think bread is pulled out the ground?

no wonder you’re so taken by the idea of avoiding processed foods if you think it’s some special information to help you feel superior to other parents.

however, thinking and using phrases like “crap carbs” is orthorexia language, as is demonising bread / cereals and claiming that “healthy” is such an overarching aim in your life

Of course healthy and as much unprocessed foods as possible are better for DC. Completely standard in most other European countries.

Yeah kids in France manage to find all that unprocessed bread growing in their gardens 🙄

that sound bite totally misses the point. It’s perfectly standard to eat processed foods and still be healthy, and demonising foods and using orthorexic language is a dangerous way to bring up children. Their minds need to be healthy too you know.

I really do not know what you are on about. We have had a bread maker for years and a sour dough and kefir culture. Even my British Granny used to make her own stuff. It is much better to make your own bread than buy processed toast bread and that is what they are likely to get in a breakfast club funded at 60p per child.

“Orthorexic”? None of my older DCs have any food issues and have great mental health, thanks very much. Part of the problem in this country has been normalising an unhealthy lifestyle for children, feeding them crap, not exercising them enough and the most recent trend of plonking in front of screens.

What if a parents situation has changed and they're no longer able to afford breakfast at home? This is where breakfast clubs or a piece of bagel can mean that child being able to concentrate that day and not have feelings of hunger or not.

I would much rather see improved school lunches and free lunches for all?
My DD is in Yr1 so qualifies for the free school meals but the food is dire so she takes a packed lunch 🙃

Obviously you realise that bread is processed whether or not you make it yourself?

people often don’t recognise their own orthorexia as it’s so insidious in our society and often disguised as being good/ clever/ knowledgeable/ health focused.

@AquaPeer https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_food

supermarket bread is typically UPF.
My homemade bread is not, and if it is sour dough which I make 1x per week, sometimes twice because it does take an effort, that will feed gut bacteria and immunity. Especially important at this time of year.
Small healthy choices like natural yoghurt plus fruits (real) vs supermarket bought “fruit” yoghurt. These things do make a difference. The more healthy choices you can make, the better. It is plain common sense and no need to pathologies what countless generations before as did. Before the advent of advertising and companies selling us crap packed up as “healthy” choices.

It is going ahead... selected schools in certain areas all over Britain. I personally think it is a bit ambitious and can see it being whittled out pretty quickly .. it should be offered for anyone who qualifies for free school meals or maybe anyone on universal credit as the free schools meal criteria is ridiculously low now.. that way any children on low incomes will be caught and helped.

@Araminta1003 This is literally 2005 Gillian McKeith stuff, it’s not new or unusual knowledge and It’s not relevant at all to the conversation about breakfast clubs. You were just trying to make parents feel shit about themselves and bash schools/ the government for providing kids with food for energy. It’s so distasteful and basic

No @AquaPeer - I was not. with 60p per child you cannot provide a nutritionally balanced breakfast. It will be ultra processed at best.
So for parents who can afford to pair the weetabix with nuts, fruits and natural yoghurt to make it more balanced, why would you send them in to eat crap for nothing. It is common sense. Actually our breakfast club is pretty good but costs £4.50 currently and runs from 7.30-8.55 and provides fruit as well as natural yoghurt etc. and they do crafts and dancing and all sorts with the DC.
I am not interested in Labour feeding the nation with UPFs, no thanks. That is not what our children need. They deserve better. Especially kids on FSM. At least provide enough money to feed them properly. We know UPF leads to obesity, diabetes, cancer etc.

If the Government want to provide 30 minutes of free morning childcare to all children, they should hand over the 60p per primary aged child to the head teacher in each primary school and let them take the money and choose what is best for their cohort. For example, for some it may be a free morning running and dance club and fund a couple of PE teachers to do it on a field. Some others may not have the space and may have kids who do not eat breakfast at home - they can use it on food, although as I said, I think the amount for food needs topping up. It is not enough to feed healthily. And if we are talking about Government intervention, it should at least be healthy! That is a basic.