Free school lunches

[PumpkinP]

Anyone else’s school going free packed lunches instead of vouchers? Kind of defeats the point abit imo if I have to go their daily to pick them up, our school is a bus ride away and I’m trying to avoid buses, would also mean taking the children with me as I’m a lone parent. I’ve heard some schools getting vouchers to spend at the shop instead, how do they decide who gets what? Is anyone else’s school doing lunches instead? Don’t want to sound ungrateful but we will have to pass as would mean going out daily

We’re doing packed lunches for locals and vouchers for those further away. But that’s over a 1.5mile (secondary)

Mine just emailed saying they want to pay the equivalent of £2.30 per day into parents bank accounts monthly while they are off. This is brilliant for the parents who are struggling

My sons school is issuing vouchers from Tuesday ( even though he’s been home since Wednesday)

The packed lunch is silly and from what I read from the DfE it was vouchers and the government will reimburse the school. As you said it defeats the object if we are all supposed to be trying to keep off the streets

A lot of schools prefer giving food directly to students because there is a danger the vouchers might not filter through to them. Plenty of people are trading them or using them to spend on things other than food for their kids unfortunately.

Ours are giving parent £20 per child per week Tesco e-vouchers which are being emailed to the parents.

We haven't heard anything yet

I'd like vouchers as we're a 10 minute drive away from the school and are self isolating due to being in the vulnerable group

I have emailed to request vouchers if there's a choice

They requested bank details to make payments straight into a parents bank account

That’s the thing, no good really for me. I’ve only heard people getting Tesco’s/coop vouchers so does seem a little disappointing we will simply have to go without them then because it’s pointless me paying the bus fare to go daily, Im surprised some have requested bank details seems a little unfair we are expected to collect lunches. Oh well.

Even this is so unorganised and depends where you live
Majority of the school get free school lunches where i live and havent heard nothing from the school when i phoned they had no idea

Our school haven't announced anything yet either.

Requiring travel to the school for meals just isn't going to be feasible for anyone isolating or having to distance for 12wks as they're vulnerable.

It's almost as if it's not been very well thought out...

Well if they do a packed lunch for my DS it defeats the object as not only it is a 1.3 mile journey it’s going to cost more in bus fare to get it.

I would prefer the vouchers as it’s not only the food, it’s the general running cost of having them home too at a time I wouldn’t normally. I have a smart meter so can see the difference and it’s costing me so far about an extra 30p a day which doesn’t sound much but it all adds up when on a tight budget

We've just had a text to say packed lunches are to be collected from school

No info on how often this is and what to do for those who are self isolating

Feel disappointed that there isn't a choice as it's not funded by the school so they should offer vouchers if requested to do so

Sorry to hear this @Fraggle45

It really doesn’t make any sense to tell you to go out to collect meals when being told to social distance, avoid public transport, stay home as much as possible etc. A voucher would mean one day for a couple hours max but the lunches will either be daily or every other day to go and collect it unless they are cooking airplane style meals that they will freeze and you can microwave 🤷🏽‍♀️

Exactly, my kids school is over a mile away so although it isn’t massively far dd has asd and refuses to walk and can be challenging, she won’t want to be forced down to the school every day just to collect a lunch then walk all the way back, can’t be left home alone either, so we get the bus but I’m not even comfortable getting the bus at the moment and to add in the bus fare it just isn’t worth the hassle, just think it should be the same thing for everyone not some people getting £20 Tesco’s vouchers per child I’ve heard?! Yet some getting a school lunch.

I'm hoping that they've probably just been so busy with the key worker situation today that this is an over sight

They've got the meals being made at the school for the key workers children so perhaps they think that's easier for them but haven't consider the families using this service

Up side will be that if food does get harder to get the kids will be provided for

I've tried phoning but no answer from the kitchen phone

Just had a call from our school to say that packed lunches daily are being delivered but they're waiting on more news from the government on how the voucher scheme will work. I said we wouldn't be able to get the lunches as in isolation and no one able to pick them up so she said we'd be eligible for vouchers. Should know more on Monday so hopefully you'll get some more positive news then too OP.

I think the lunches are just quicker to sort because it's what they're used to doing anyway.

*Good Morning,

If your child is entitled to Free School Meals and you would like to come to school at lunchtimes next week to collect a packed lunch for them please ring the school office as soon as possible.

Many thanks*

That’s the email we have

I would imagine some schools are choosing to offer packed lunches instead of money/vouchers because:

The money/vouchers will not reach some children. The money will be used by parents for other things.

or

The lack of food in supermarkets and lack of available delivery slots currently might mean that vouchers or cash are pretty useless.

or

The school haven't had enough time to get a process in place for ordering vouchers or paying cash, but have the facilities/contracts ready to offer packed lunches.

Maybe also a combination of all of the above.

The schools have been given a huge admin task between working out which children still get places and working out how to feed those children, not in school. Things are going to take a while to work out all of the problems.

Well then it should be the same for all schools. Not some vouchers some not.

Well then it should be the same for all schools. Not some vouchers some not.

Well, schools will base their decisions on the families and local situation, so it won't be one size suits all.

So far schools have less than two days to sort things out. Give them a few days and I am sure they will work out how to make sure everyone's needs are met.

I spoke to school and they haven't got a system for vouchers yet as the one the government said to use isn't used by all councils

They intend to offer daily packed lunches for this week coming by which time they expect to have a voucher system in place

@PumpkinP - If you can hold out just for a little bit this is directly from the department of education:

To make sure eligible children can continue to be supported, we will give schools and colleges the flexibility to provide meals or vouchers to children eligible for free school meals. They will be reimbursed by the Department. As soon as possible, we will put in place a national voucher system.

So you will get a voucher at some point. I hope this helps relieve some worry, even if it is not able to be in place from Monday.

My children's secondary school is only offering free school meals if my children go into school and sit down for a meal. My younger children at primary will be having a pack lunch that I need to pick up. I just wondered if there is anyone else whose children will have to go into school just to eat their free school meal?

Has anyone had any updates about the vouchers?

We can't collect the food so could really do with them now