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?

They dont give a shit about the kids. Its to make sure parents get to work School is now childcare

What in the actual fuck do you honestly think is worth spending money on if not ensuring that every child starts the day with food to eat?

I’d far rather spend £1000 on feeding children who otherwise would go hungry than buying extra textbooks for the children at the top of class to do extra etc.

Before you start looking improving schools the absolute basic is to ensure every child starts that day with a meal.

40g of oats is correct, it's what I make for myself, ok a teenager would need more but once cooked that's a decent amount.

This school has now confirmed its pulling out, it can't make the finances work.

BBC News - Bacup school concerned about 'unviable' breakfast club scheme - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgwmx2vyx9o

Breakfast is also the cheapest meal to fund! It helps working parents who can drop the kids earlier. It improves punctuality and attendance. It enables children from chaotic homes to be able to start the day on a full stomach (because there was no bread or milk at home). It means teachers like me don't have to go to school with a bunch of bananas for those children who didn't get breakfast before school. Lewisham has been doing free buttered bagels for primary children for several years and I am sure the positive impact of this has been taken into account in this decision.

Was it not the case that the VAT was raised for private schools and shifted in to these programs?

Precisely this, I didn't use a breakfast club when mine were in primary school because I couldn't afford breakfast, I used it because I had to be at work by 8.30.

Because it's all about control.

The feedback from schools at a time when so many children live in poverty is that many children come to school hungry.
The evidence shows that sitting together to eat rather than eating on the fly is good, that eating breakfast is good, that it is better for families in poverty if childcare is provided, making it easier to find a job, that children are more likely to attend and be on time if food is provided.
So, kids get fed, classroom behaviour is better, standards raise, a few more parents are working so morale improves a bit.
So what are we moaning about? That the people who are already paying for wraparound care might not get a place? The number of places will increase the more that take-up does.
That the amount per child that the government is offering is too low? We said that when free school meals for everyone in KS1 came in but it somehow worked out. ( it would have worked out even better if everyone who could pay for school dinners gave a donation to the school; maybe we could do something like that for breakfast clubs? )
Economies of scale mean that it will cost less per head to run if there is more take-up.
The government has come up with a sensible plan and are offering money towards it. Isn't it up to us (the community at large) to make it work for our local schools?
This is the first step towards free childcare for school aged children. It's too important to let it fail by nitpicking the problems rather than finding solutions.

I answered this above.

Absolutely this. I have wrap around care only for one of my children and only two days a week (we have been on waiting lists for the others). It has affected me being able to apply for jobs, change hours or do overtime… if there was easily available wrap around (as a universal thing rather than very much supply/demand/waiting list arrangement) so many parents could find/change/expand their working potential.

also my kids are terrible for not choosing/getting on and eating their vreakfast at home but would eat with the others at b.c.

Breakfast club aside I personally think universal free meals is pointless it would be better to raise eligibility threshold it used to be the parents income under 16k now it's 7.4k which is insane when you think about it.

I wouldn't worry about "stigma" even when I was a kid I had free meals and no one knew because you paid with your fingerprint. Now it's all booked online at least at primary age so no way for the other kids to know who gets it free.

Apparently in London all kids get free school meals just why when certain neighbourhoods in London everyone is a millionaire. Why do they need free meals??

@TY78910 I believe it was. But why shifted into this? Why not other aspects of state 'education provision'?

I’m for anything that makes it easier for parents to be able to juggle parenting and work

And how feckless do you have to be not to provide that for the children you chose to have?

The money would be better spent on prosecuting people who can't be arsed to get their children to school, or who don't feed them.

On supporting the children whose families actually need it. Not just a blanket policy. Breakfast club for those who qualify for pupil premium?? Fantastic idea. Perhaps even extend who can access pupil premium. Breakfast club for all including kids like mine who are very lucky to have multiple options for breakfast sitting in their fridge at home? Pointless waste of money.
Money for an extra TA to support the SEN pupils, money to provide free uniform or extra curricular for those that can’t afford it. The list is endless.
My school would be grateful for some money for basic supplies!

Nope, it’s not.

40g of oats is around 160 calories. The general guidance is that breakfast should be anywhere from around 300-400 calories.

It is different with the free school meals because the staff are already budgeted for. This is an extra that they aren't funding staff for. Provide school with money that they can provide something during registration but don't add extra time without providing staff costs

Christ, are you for real? How long does that take, how much does it cost, and who feeds the child in the meantime?

I make it with milk, that takes the calories up to 300

Breakfast club at our school is over £4. They don't make a profit. So if the government are funding it at 63p per child, how are schools possibly going to make it work?!

Understand (former teacher, trained in a deprived part of Birmingham), but anything highlighting FSM kids is to be avoided since it can embarrass them into declining. General funding of schools is woeful, but taking a piece of toast from a hungry child will not fix everything else.

So you don't agree with breakfast clubs full stop.. even when the parents are paying.
I used a breakfast club for my son throughout primary school so I could get to work on time, it cost me £10 per week. Paying a childminder to do the school run would have cost me £15 per day, surely you can get that finding that money would be impossible to a lot of families.

I’m assuming this isn’t about a few slices of toast but about productivity and enabling people to work.

So if the parents don't, or can't, we as a society should sanction the children bearing the brunt of that?

FFS

I agree. The money could be better spent on improving school libraries, more sport or showing parents how to pour cornflakes in a bowl, stick milk on it and serve it to DC with a spoon.