To think that funding free breakfast clubs is wrong-headed?

[WaahWaahWinston]

Government is to fund free breakfast clubs for all primary school children. This doesn't strike me as the best use of money for schools; I imagine there are better things to spend money on that would be of greater educational benefit to children.

It may help a tiny proportion of families but breakfast is probably the easiest and cheapest meal for families to provide to children. (I doubt breakfast clubs will be providing full English or other cooked breakfasts of the sort that one could argue families are hard-pushed to provide.)

So I don't see the compelling need. Why spend money on this of all things, when there must be other improvements that could be funded which would improve education specifically?

140 calories of whole milk is about 250ml. So on top of the 4p per day for the oats that's 35p for the milk.

The children who would benefit most won't be there, most teachers know this!

It isn’t a small percentage of the families in the areas they’re targeting and realistically those that take it up are those who need it.

@ARingtoit 🤷‍♀️ okay. Just not fully understanding the joke I guess.

I think you're a bit naive op. My late sister used to work at a school in Batley and some of the kids arrived at school without shoes...they kept a box of plimsols for those children. It's not about not being able to afford a banana - it's about parents who are drug addicts and living in appalling conditions. I think they did have a free breakfast club but my sister would have probably organised that and got funding from somewhere because that's what she was like.

I work in one of the most wealthy towns in the country and we keep shoes and food.

I think at face value the scheme has merit.

However aren't we in some way having to compensate for poor parenting? Aren't many of those children that need the breakfasts being wilfully deprived of essential nutrients by neglectful parents?

Ultimately this may be a necessity but if it is a necessity we should also be supporting intervention for families that have other priorities than feeding their children. It seems another example of schools picking up the pieces of the failure of society.

It doesn’t take many brain cells to figure out there are almost 13 years from falling pregnant to your child leaving primary school. It’s almost as if a lot can change in that time.

@GreenApplesRedApplesYellowApples Children having breakfast in school is grim in my opinion, it isn't the same as lunch.
I remember lots of nice morning pre-school breakfast conversations with my children

The vast majority of parents are rushing to drop the kids off to school before heading to work. Very few people have the luxury of leisurely conversations at the breakfast table during the week.
You sound incredibly out of touch.

What are working parents without flexibility meant to do if there are no spaces left at breakfast club?

I'd rather they used the money to increase the threshold for free school meals, which is ridiculously low.

Will middle class families who can easily afford breakfast for their children simply not use the scheme and so it will be quite obvious who the poor children are? I think it would take a bit of cheek for the son of a dentist and doctor to rock up for a free school breakfast personally.

I don't doubt your words nor the surestart suggestion. I do however have trouble believing that one third of all children are at this level of poverty. I may be wrong, it's just not what I see.

But they will be using the service as a way to get to work on time and probably feed their dc before they drop them. The scheme is not funded to allow schools to successfully role it out.

But in many schools the paid breakfast clubs are on the school premises, these will likely cease in lieu of the free one. It's also a bit weird to begrudge people who pay a lot of tax and who need a breakfast club due to work a place. This is why the scheme sucks, children who truly need it won't be brought in early, and people who can afford it might lose their place if it becomes unfeasible but has forced the paid provision to cease.

Well what you see seems like a much more accurate interpretation of the poverty levels in the Uk than the annual research carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Who needs them when we have facts from you!?

There are children who don't get any sort of breakfast and are too hungry to learn. Just because you don't have any children like this is your social circle doesn't mean that they don't exist. It will also help working parents on low incomes as they won't need to pay for breakfast clubs any more.

It’s very often hidden.

And unless you are part of the team dealing with pastoral issues, you may well not know.

My concern in our school is that the children that need this are often arriving late anyway. This is not going to help.
It doesn't stack up financially and we currently have no staff willing to staff it anyway.

If the child sitting next to your child isn’t hungry, they will be able to focus better, they will be better behaved. If the child sitting next to your child did not have a chaotic or lonely morning the same applies. Both children benefit because the classroom will be calmer and both children will be able to focus on learning. The teacher won’t be interrupted as often. A bit of child care and a cheap breakfast can make a huge difference to the entire school day.

not every child who isn’t cared for in the morning is neglected because of money. Sometimes there are mental health issues, addiction, or just plain bad parenting.

you don’t have to believe that all children deserve to be fed and cared for ( they do btw). Just be selfish and acknowledge that your own children are better off if children in jeopardy are reached by programs like this.

I don't care what a charity with a vested interest says. A third of children living in poverty? I'm not buying it.

A vested interest? In lifting adults and children out of poverty?

Do you hear yourself?

It’s quite clear you don’t care. Imagine being this proud of ignorance. Mind blowing.

A vested interest?

Can you explain what you mean?

I do want to say I noticed your post, I do think there must be another reason for free breakfast...
... but, they recently added obligatory school lunch to primary schools in country where I live (EU country). There was no similar scheme before, but some schools had kitchen and they used it for meals.
I think 60 per day seems weird - even when we take into account cereals, milk et are cheaper than crips, coke, etc... does this even cover the cost?

@MistyF , if it's correct and Kelloggs provide the cereal for free then it's the cost of the milk and 1 person on the minimum wage for 1 hour per 30 dc.