Free School Breakfast

[Espresso25]

I’m irrationally irritated at the comments on social media about the free school breakfast that are being rolled out.

Comments like “we didn’t get that help in my day” FO Barbara it’s a bit of cornflakes and toast.

I just can’t understand the outrage, anybody who begrudges kids breakfast is just awful IMO.

FWIW it’s not reached my kids school so I don’t benefit, we don’t get child benefit in our household - we’re doing ok. But I’m quite happy for my taxes to feed other kids of all the waste of public money I just can’t get upset about this. Think you must have to be inherently selfish to.

I’d be concerned it’s mostly bland, processed crap which isn’t actually any good for the children. Seems more likely to be used by working parents as free childcare than the children that actually need a free breakfast though.

Like you, I can’t get that worked up about it though.

Kids should not be hungry. I not high earner but happy for my taxes to pay for this. Like previous person mentioned I would prefer it to be something more nutritional than cereal and toast. Better than nothing I suppose.

@Kitchi yup, I’ve not doubt it will be UPF and I’d still rather feed my kids at home. Also think it’s a bit of an empty gesture in that, like you say, working parents will utilise it. A parent who wasn’t giving their kids breakfast anyway won’t start getting up earlier and organising themselves to get their kids to school for it. That said - the lower uptake will make it cheaper to run. My guess is they’re saving overall by stopping legacy FSM and replacing it with this.

Kids need carbohydrates for energy and glucose for brain function. Toast and cereal at school is absolutely great. Usually they provide fruit too.

not sure mine would have made it out of the door without breakfast - certainly they wouldn't have wanted to wait to get to school for it

YANBU. I think there are plenty of sensible arguments against the policy (not the best use of money, can it be staffed etc). But the argument “I didn’t get the in my day” is obviously bollocks.
What else shall we scrap because some people didn’t get it in the past?

Sadly lots of children do arrive at school late and hungry, not a great start to a day of learning.

I have issues with the scheme, not kids getting fed, but everything else.

I suspect it is being funded the same way the “free” nursery hours are in that parents who already pay for wraparound care will have to pay more to subsidise those who are using the funded breakfast club.

The intention behind the scheme is to get parents working longer hours so they can get to work for 9am. Are employers now going to expect their staff to get in for 9am whereas before they were flexible for school runs? That doesn’t benefit the kids.

Who is staffing the clubs, are the school staff being paid extra or are they expected to volunteer for this? Does this mean they have less time to prepare for lessons, does it add to the high workload, do they have less time with their own kids as a result?

Finally, I suspect the kids who would really benefit from it - the ones who are genuinely not being fed - won’t be attending, so the scheme won’t reach the ones in need.

The “parents should feed their own kids” comments are missing the point - it’s not about the food.

I'm 50 this year, grew up in a typical working & middle class suburb of Birmingham in 70's and 80's.

We had free milk (for a time), toast at break time, nit nurses, dentists in school showing us how to brush (using the pink disclosing tablets), and even a free holiday club in the community centre in the summer - my Mom and all her friends weren't going out to work, but they didn't have to pay and we went and had a lovely time doing sports and crafts etc..

It's like folks like this feel they had it particularly hard and no one else has struggled since. They tend to be bitter and can't see the advantages they had, or they don't want people to have things they didn't. My aunt (Reform voter) gets bent out of shape about parent and child parking, as when she had my twin cousins at the same age as me she didn't have this. She now, at 76, parks in them out of some kind of weird spite.

I'm not up in arms about families getting some help, but I can't help thinking this won't be beneficial for most. It is going to be cornflakes and toast, which isn't a great breakfast, although of course hugely beneficial for those who otherwise go without.

However, the reason it needs to be offered to everyone, is to remove the stigma for those who need it. Whether it does that or whether those who can provide a good breakfast at home continue to do so remains to be seen.

Another huge benefit, when we provided (school funded) breakfast clubs, is that it gets children from struggling families into school and in on time.

IME it will be run by TAs who will be paid extra and many TAs want the extra hours becuase currently they work a max of 5 hours per day, which doesn't equate tona full time salary.

If it's Weetabix, bran flakes and wholemeal bread yes. Aldi cornflakes and white sliced, not so much. I mean yes, better than nothing but it's smoke and mirrors..as ever, the headline is great but they won't fund it properly.

It’s a good thing if it helps good parents who are just struggling with childcare and financially with saving breakfast costs, but I do worry that it masks when children are not being looked after properly in some cases. I feel the same about the free sanitary items.

Years ago, one of my children was at primary school with a child who displayed signs of neglect and the school gave her a free place at breakfast club, gave her a school dinner most days as her mum ‘forgot’ her lunchbox, but the other signs of neglect remained.

Don’t understand the comments about “ah working parents will use it”… yeah, that’s part of what it has actually been set up for? Starmer himself has been out saying the breakfast clubs enable parents to drop their kids off and get into work, it’s not a dirty secret it was quite literally the point to make it easier for parents to work!

If this helps just one child in a class of 30 have a meal and be ready to learn (as opposed to hungry and lethargic ) then it’s worth it in my book. It’s not intended to be free childcare although that is an added bonus for some, but making sure no child starts their day without a meal as many many do. And yes, oats & flaxseeds with fresh fruit would be ideal, but let’s be honest, toast and cereal is a significant improvement on nothing.

I'm not a labour fan, but i do think this is one policy they’ve implemented for the right reasons and is a sensible move.

I think the point is they would have utilised the clubs anyway, so their children aren’t getting anything new or different.

We are not doing it at one school. We can not bear the cost.

The other primary is limited to 14 children again because it is not fully funded.

Free School meals are not free to schools and these cost us thousands each year. Next year there are no providers for one school.

Not really, part of them bringing it in was to make it easier for more parents to get into work because lots of jobs are 9-5 and if you have a school run at 9am you can’t apply for those jobs, it supposedly will give the average family back 95 hours and save something close to £500 a year.

This hasn't been rolled out to our area yet, so my colleagues and I will continue to buy fruit and snacks with our own money for the kids who turn up to school hungry. Many of us are in school from 7.30 anyway so staffing a breakfast club on a rota wouldn't be a problem, we just need it to be funded.

I already use the school breakfast club to get to work on time. My children both insist on having breakfast before they go!

Its better than no breakfsst.

Having worked in quite a few schools, many of them were already doing this (I don't know how it was funded). Yes, mostly carb based. But I agree with others who have said, this is better than nothing.

I think Greggs fund some school breakfast clubs? Or maybe they just provide food for them? Not sure on this.

I’m really not sure it’s the right use of resources and providing food for your dc should be parents responsibility, it’s literally what benefits are for.

Unfortunately poor budgeting, debts (often from borrowing without understanding compound interest) and delays in the benefits system mean that some children are going hungry so for them this is necessary, not for the majority. Same for school dinners, should only be free to those in need.

In their day, was the cost of living so out of control?

Teachers like you are worth your weight in gold. Thank you!!!!