School turned down funded breakfast club

[MightyGoldBear]

The school my children go to were part of the 750 selected, as the first roll outs for funded breakfast club. They turned it down! And said they won't do it even when it's rolled out for all schools.

It would of helped so many children and parents. Their reasoning was the school is too small. It's absolutely not.
Am I being unreasonable to find this so frustrating?

They don't offer after school club they don't offer any holiday clubs. I have a sen child who would really benefit with a soft transition into school. He has had periods of school refusal.
This is our nearest school. I don't drive (cant afford to learn, working is difficult with care needs) My sen child can't tolerate other transport than with me or his dad. We have no outside help.

It's just so frustrating that the school made all the right sounds at one point that they were going to offer more for children and parents. Only to turn it all down. With the cost of living crisis there will undoubtedly be children going to school hungry or sometimes just life happens and that chance to have breakfast or a soft transition would set more children up for the day. It just seems really rubbish of them to not even try a reduced scaled down version of it.

@BurntBroccoli I have looked at the data for that Primary school. It has excess of 40% FSM children. Looking at their Pupil Premium report they would appear to be using some Pupil Premium funding to pay for staffing of Breakfast club.

I'm surprised, the first thing my school always did was go to the teachers.

Come on! It’s early days yet!
Look at the ITV video in this link.

https://www.carrmillprimary.co.uk/page/breakfast-bistro/120627

@BurntBroccoli read my earlier post, this school is funding this from other sources of school funding. Other schools won’t have the same level of this funding so won’t be able to afford to run it

Which unsurprisingly not mentioned in the news report

I think it is sad, to be honest.
It is such a huge help for working parents.
I cannot fully understand how schools are equipped to care for the whole number of children, have playtime and lunch, yet they cannot manage a breakfast and after school club for a reduced number of children.
They could stagger the actual breakfast sitting down bit, if the canteen is small.
But this is the reality of some schools. I wonder if it is the insurance which is giving hassle in some cases.

I completely agree.
Hopefully they will learn a lot from the trial though. I do think the club would need booking in advance.

I see the pressure is on that bit.
I do think the scheme may not help children who are not provided with breakfast at home as much as the government claims. I see it as a help to working parents managing the school runs and work start time.
I was very grateful for it when mine was little.

So you can book them in as needed. In your position, you also wouldn’t want it to be overrun would you?

I know there are many reasons people don’t work and people have various needs for childcare. I am part time; I wouldn’t start taking my children early on my days off if breakfast club was free. That’s what I was getting at.

@MushMonster it is the cost involved that is preventing schools from running them

If it was funded properly then schools would be able to run it.

Our school was asked to do it but we already have a paid for external company that runs wraparound care - breakfast club costs £6.50 and is 7.45-8.45. We do not want this wraparound to lose money and close so it’s a firm no from working parents (and the school luckily!).

The children who it will be aimed at are likely to be the ones I see on my walk home who are running late whilst being screamed at, and looking half ready - I would be very surprised if these children had eaten breakfast. I imagine that it’s not just hunger that causes issues, a bad routine (staying up late/waking up late) must have a big impact.

It would be good to know the plans for external wraparound care if this is actually rolled out to all.

@MushMonster we used breakfast club when one of the dc were little but it cost more than this one. The school can do it but it has to be funded enough to work.

Where are schools supposed to put 100s of kids and supervise them for an hour before school? Our school has clubs in the hall before school so where would they eat? We’d need loads of extra staff- who? The lunch team are using the kitchen preparing lunch. Where is all the ingredients for breakfast going to go? Extra fridges? Where?

The places, if they were properly funded in the first place should be reserved by parents who really struggle like the OP and other working parents. It shouldn’t be open to all.

There's an interesting article here about how 79 schools have already pulled out of the trial because it's unworkable.

I wonder if the government will press on regardless, or will they actually listen and increase the funding. At the moment it'll just be schools with very high level of pupil premium funding who can offer this.

schoolsweek.co.uk/79-schools-withdraw-from-breakfast-clubs-trial/

I agree. It needs to be well run and funded.

I work in a 2 class rural school with wrap around care and I think parents would be surprised at how much teachers step in behind the scenes to make it happen, for which they're not paid, even if on the face of it it is staffed by a TA or separate member of staff. It is one of the many, many reasons why working in a tiny school has a much greater workload for teachers.

It's likely running on the goodwill of low paid roles (TAs and dinner ladies) and it wouldn't surprise me if it soon ends. You've been lucky so far, I'd be looking closely at the size of the school, the upcoming intake and if it can survive.

Schools have to prioritise. Frankly having a teacher in the classroom is a higher priority than breakfast club.

I'd love to know your background. I've seen you post a lot on funding matters in schools and in childcare and you seem very convinced by the government's strategy in this area. Are you a politician/ teacher/ nursery manager/ whatever?

DS went to breakfast club once, largely because he kept asking to go because some of his friends do and there was a morning where DH and I both had earlier than usual starts and it made the morning easier it was £3.50.
He came home and told me he was really hungry, he'd had a bowl of rice Krispies for breakfast. This morning at home before school he had 2 scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast, a banana and a glass of milk, tomorrow he's asked for overnight oats, which I make with nut butter, a mashed banana, whole milk, blueberries and raspberries. 60p per child isn't going to give anyone a filling nutritious, balanced breakfast.

My kids state primary has a breakfast club. It’s run by a private company. It’s £15 a day and they still fill them up on cheap white carbs.

Cereal and toast are the easy foods to make on demand through a morning club. Making things like scrambled eggs and porridge take more time and kitchen space. Not to mention the washing up and staff time.

Happens at a private provider near me too…

I’m a parent who thinks that the cost of childcare is too expensive and that the private model isn’t working any more.

Go on Reddit, there are a lot of people saying the same thing on there too!

And to add, I’m concerned that high fees are preventing women in particular from returning to their job/career as they simply can’t afford the childcare.

Privatisation doesn’t work with an essential service and costs rise (see utilities, water and transport).
We have one of the highest costs for childcare (and all the other essential services I’ve mentioned) in the OECD.