Free school breakfast for every child

[greyingunderneath]

Is this a good use of funding? I am not very well off financially but I don’t mind providing a slice of toast for my child and can’t say it will make any difference to me financially if they provide it instead.
I don’t know how much this is costing the government but it seems like a waste of resources to me.

Some childcare would be included, the aim is to eventually roll out "free 30 minute breakfast clubs for all 4-11 year olds". It will be great for me as I currently only use ours for 20 mins a day in order to get to work on time.

I’m conflicted about it, generally I’m opposed because if you are unable to get your kids up, clean and at school then thats on you and I’m wary of society increasingly taking over parenting. The kind of people who use breakfast clubs are often working people who need them to be able to get to work on time. If someone is incapable of getting their kids anywhere on time or fed then I doubt their kids are going to be in breakfast clubs anyway.

On the other hand I’d hate to think a child hasn’t eaten because they drew the short straw on parents.

Wasn't this Phillipson's thing, delivered with a rictus smile

it’s a con

schools can use the time between the gate opening and the register closing as part of the free breakfast club….my kids school previously opened gates at 830am - register closing 855am…. That 25mins now counts as part of the 30 mins breakfast club so they now open a grand total of 5 minutes earlier but get the government funding

opening at 825am makes zero difference to most parents being able to get to work. They’d need to open at 8am minimum for that

Sadly sxhool.regeralscfor familes in need (Family Support Worker, social sevices etc) aee frequently bounced back to schools to support families as the services schools refer to are so overwhelmed - school staff are often acting as socual workers as services are dealing with so many cases that what a few years ago would have demanded intervention is now deemed managable with school support - there are levels of neglect,poverty, drugs, alcohol etc that are mind boggling to see referred back to schools to support which historically would have been dealt with by authorities. Anf services such as Early Suppirt, Gamily SupportWorkers etc need parental consent, and most of those that need it decline consent as they don't want council services having access to their home life, so schools can't refer them.on,so schools have to deal... So many times when we do home visits for a child not at school without contact we hope no one answers the door do we can call the police, if they attend and gain entry and observe justified concerns (drug use, visible neglect etc) they can upscale the family to social services without consent, but it's ridiculous schools have to go to these lengths.

This includes children been fed breakfast at school. Now the early adopter breakfadt club funding is so shit that after staffing (minimum wage staffing, skeletal staff etc) it comes out at a few pence per head for purchasing food, hence toast, cereal, fruit.

Honestly, it is so shit at times .

If you lay the table the night before it’s fine!
I work, but I also consider it my responsibility to give my children a good breakfast to start the day. I don’t expect the state to take my child’s care and needs away from me.

I think it's a good idea and I would also make school lunches free to all. Any kind of means test has an administration cost and risks those who need it not claiming. Hopefully some healthy school meals will have longer term benefits.

The majority of parents can feed their children before school, but there are a minority who fail to feed them, and fail to get them into school on time. If those parents who cannot afford to feed them have an incentive to get them into school if it means they get fed, the child avoids missing out on their education and also a meal.

Sadly, I doubt it’s incentive enough. The people who are prolifically late are unlikely to get the kids up and out earlier when it doesn’t benefit them (the lazy parent).

For some children that’s the least of their problems. Some parents wouldn’t care. I heard of a tear 1 child trying to make their own packed lunch and bringing in random rubbish food. Same child brought cold takeaway food they’d found from the night before. So sad the life some children live.

Chucking your kid a piece of toast is not “taking your child’s needs and care away from you”, just like when you eat breakfast at a hotel they’re not taking your child’s needs and care away from you.

Theyre getting breakfast, it’s a common breakfast staple. They’re not giving each kid a Mars bar and washing it down with espresso shots!

Give all the kids espressos. Can you imagine the classroom! 🤣🤣🤣

They'd either be working at Mach 10 or hovering by the ceiling 🤣

All I will say is that on the scale of governments wasting money, this one is low down the list.

Exactly, so why can’t the parents give them toast or cereal at home. It’s not hard. But you just need to set the alarm and get up a bit earlier.
surely parents giving their own children breakfast is the least we can expect from society. It’s a pretty low bar.

This.

I hate the thought of kids going without breakfast but this isn't going to solve it as it'll be optional and earlier than the school start and many of the kids that need it won't be there in time. I also feel bad for the teacher above who is expected to staff it, making it even harder to give their kids a good breakfast!

If children are going to school hungry then spend this money on additional resources to address that.

My secondary school does free toast every morning for anyone. We also provide uniform and shoes for children who arrive without usable items. Of course you can argue the parent are lazy and not prioritising their kids - many do have social services involvement. Causes aren’t always simple and easy to fix; it could due to physical or mental illness of the parent(s), breakdown of relationship between child and home, substance abuse (in parents or teens). Few children meet the threshold for removal, and courts will generally say that maintaining the relationship between parent and child is really important. Not that those who are removed do well anyway (kids in care have incredibly poor outcomes).

Ultimately, free toast for everyone is actually pretty cheap to provide and children who are underfed need calories so we do what we can rather than worrying about things which would be impossible to do (eg provide them all with scrambled eggs). White toast isn’t poison and I’ll be glad to see kids eating it when they come back visibly thinner than they were in July. I’m not convinced this policy will actually reach the children who need it most, but the idea that schools can prevent some kids from falling through the cracks is a good one.

Most of the time my kids refuse to eat first thing because I’ve woken them and they’re tired and groggy. That wouldn’t improve by doing up with a frying pan and wooden spoon at 5am.

To facilitate me having a full time job (our only income) they do a 47.5 hour week in education and it couldn’t be a second shorter most days. Getting them up even earlier so it’s my hand that gives them their toast is nonsensical, impractical and pointless because who cares who gives them the toast as long as they eat the toast?!

I'd much rather feed kids that need it with breakfast, lunch and dinner than wasting money on families who are perfectly capable of feeding their own kids.

You’re presuming everyone has a table. The children that need it most are not likely to have a table or a parent up or available to be putting clean dishes on it for them

Universal catches everyone - including the kids who try to hide their parent’s ineptitude (and those kids are really hard to identify and reach). It prevents stigma and lets kids who are not having a normal childhood feel normal. We have real trouble convincing some parents to apply for the free school meals they’re entitled to as they’re ashamed of being poor. They see themselves the same way some posters on here see them - as failures. Even when the poverty is caused by serious health problems they had no control over.

Our schools do free breakfast clubs for everyone and have for years and I’ll be honest it was great for me getting to work on time. My daughter’s not a massive breakfast eater at all however she would have a slice of toast or yoghurt and a glass of orange juice. At nursery she ate 2 of the peach fromage style yoghurts every single morning so the wee woman would always have them in for her but at home she doesn’t entertain breakfast. I think it’s great there were a few kids who really benefited from it and free school lunches and knowing these kids are getting breakfast & lunch is worth it for me xx

Or toasters. One of our pastoral team did a home visit and found out that the house only had a kettle and a microwave. And they weren’t working because there was no money on the electric.

"'rhubarbqueen" wholeheartedly agree, but we live in a society ( for whatever reason) where children in our communities go hungry. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it goes on unnoticed. I agree providing a slice of toast for your own child should be the lowest of parental benchmarks, but I'm glad such facilities exist.
No child asks to be born .

This has made me really sad 😔

I agree.
It’s great for working parents, as it’s one less thing to fit into a busy morning, and if it’s free then that’s a bonus too. But the kids who really need it - the ones whose parents don’t feed them because they’re lazy/depressed/addicts/unwell/asleep etc - won’t get it, as their parents won’t get them to school in time.

The version of this sentence that actually makes sense is....?