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Original poster

Free school fruit should go

88 replies

benandoli · 05/10/2010 00:55

In these times of cuts the free school fruit should go. Half the time schools dont give the fruit out as intended as they need to spend their time, god forbid, teaching. Fruit often ends up being taken home by teachers before it goes off. It must cost a fortune and I would suggest has little impact on children's long term eating habits. So is this a luxury we cant afford and should therefore be cut?

OP posts:
Ladder · 05/10/2010 10:42

no i agree, but the poster said they are going from tea (if they are lucky) meaning that some are not being fed an evening meal.

Frequently my 10 year old doen't have breakfast either. I won't force feed any of mine, but no way are mine or yours not being offered an evening meal.

AlgebraKnocksItUpANotchBAM · 05/10/2010 10:48

I got healthy start vouchers for a while, they are fab.

my DCs aren't in school yet but at my DD's preschool (a charity-run one) each child is asked to bring in one piece of fruit a week and they use that for snack time. works well, and it's not compulsory (so no worries if you really can't afford it).

I guess it wouldn't work in a school though if the whole point was for kids whose parents didn't bother.

bb99 · 05/10/2010 10:49

Perhaps we should look at dropping the free (in some places) nursery/pre school milk as I have seen much more of this go down the drain than fruit wasted.

£50 million a year savings.

Fruit is very helpful for many children who arrive at school with no breakfast and may influence future eating habits?

soccerwidow · 05/10/2010 10:52

This thread has really riled me...

... so because your children have fruit bought for them, eat three meals a day and know how to sit still and eat amongst others, the Fruit for Schools Scheme should be scrapped...

The cost is minimal the gain is massive IMO

TotorosOcarina · 05/10/2010 10:55

I agree soccer,

People seem to look at their own childrens circumstances when it comes to these things, but these schemes are set up for the poorest children whos parents do not ensure they get their daily supply of fruit.

MaMoTTaT · 05/10/2010 11:05

ahh sorry - didn't see the "if they're lucky" - yes that does make a difference - my DS's all eat more than me at dinner time the night before

obviously if that's the case it probably needs looking into. May not be abuse/deliberate neglect - (thought obviously it could be) but could be parents struggling.

gorionine · 05/10/2010 11:19

"Ok I can see the point but lots of the parents who can't afford fruit are quite happy to pay for cigarettes!"

Nothing like a bit of sweeping generalisation is there?

Gretl · 05/10/2010 11:21

Oh come on gorionine
I am as liberal as they come but that sweeping statement has more than a hint of truth about it.

MaMoTTaT · 05/10/2010 11:22

I know quite a few people on benefits.........I'm the only one that smokes (yet I buy more fruit and veg and cook from scratch more than some of them do as they say it's too expensive >

ShadeofViolet · 05/10/2010 11:25

"Ok I can see the point but lots of the parents who can't afford fruit are quite happy to pay for cigarettes!"

So that makes it okay for the children to go without?

Gretl · 05/10/2010 11:28

Well good on you QoQ

I blame the supermarkets myself: you can buy hugely overprocessed food so cheaply and it takes 5 minutes to prepare.

I don't blame people for not buying relatively expensive food (even if it's got far more value to health) and relatively labour-intensive food but it is sad to see people smoking and handing out rice crispy squares and complaining that they can't afford to eat healthy food when you know from experience of budgeting and cooking that they can, actually. They just don't know how or don't want to.

TotorosOcarina · 05/10/2010 11:29

Oh for fucks sake.

I'm on benefits, I don't smoke neither does my husband. We don't drink either, not a drop.

Its still hard to afford fresh fruit, enough for a family of 5 to get all our 5 a day.

Gretl · 05/10/2010 11:35

It's 5 a day of fruit and veg. I would find it hard financially to provide 5 pieces of fruit a day

Ladder · 05/10/2010 11:37

it doesn't have to be fresh fruit toto. frozen veg has more vits in it that alot of the fresh stuff you get in the supermarket which has been stored for so long it is probably older than the stuff in the freezer. Frozen is part of the 5 a day

Ladder · 05/10/2010 11:38

I think? That has got me thinking now!

TotorosOcarina · 05/10/2010 11:38

Yes, I know that, its still difficult.

DS1won't eat veg so his does have to be fruit.

paisleyleaf · 05/10/2010 11:39

Do you think those people (whoever they are) would quit smoking and get fruit for the children if the scheme stopped then?

They all eat the fruit in my DD's class, and fruit time is a nice time.
It'd be interesting to know the cost as they only really have tomatoes, apples, carrots etc and sometimes satsumas or bananas. They're hardly having watermelon or mangos everyday.

Ladder · 05/10/2010 11:39

oh good i was right!

actually includes canned fruit and veg too.

here nhs link

ShadeofViolet · 05/10/2010 11:42

Paisley - we pay for DS to have it now he is in KS2 - its £12 a term and he gets apples, oranges, bananas, pears etc. The cost cant be that massive.

HalfCaff · 05/10/2010 11:43

Definitely should be kept. Small children are running out of energy by mid-morning even if they have been given breakfast, and fruit is the best snack to provide for them. It has many other benefits too.

GrimmaTheNome · 05/10/2010 11:48

We never had 'snack time'. Kids don't need to eat all the time.

There should be some basic breakfast provision for anyone that needs it (toast/cereal + juice?), and lunch, free for those who are entitled. This should include veg and fruit (fresh, tinned or dried).

Gretl · 05/10/2010 11:55

I don't think a small bit of fruit is a good breaktime snack.
Yes the vitamins are good and vital. So is the roughage.
So too is the habit of eating fruit.
However, fruit usually releases sugars pretty quickly. Just a bit of sugar-energy isn't all that great. I'd like to see it paired with a slow-release carbohydrate or a bit of protein as well.

MissM · 05/10/2010 11:56

Parents 'should' give their kids breakfast.
People 'shouldn't' smoke.
There 'should' be breakfast provision at school'.

All true, but we live in the real world. I don't think abolishing free fruit in schools is going to reduce the budget deficit. Does this really keep you awake at night?

Caboodle · 05/10/2010 11:57

Both my DS's love the 'healthy cafe' at school, they don't need the extra fruit as such but enjoy the experience of eating together. Also, I'm pretty sure that it's all locally sourced - important in a (semi) rural area. I would be happy to pay for it though, or, as at DS's nursery, make a weekly contribution of fruit to the cafe. But not everyone can pay...and it's the ones who need it who will lose out it it's abolished surely?

IsItMeOr · 05/10/2010 12:32

Gretl - if you bear in mind that the School Fruit Scheme has to work for everybody, so when thinking about an intervention to supplement children's diets across the country, you'd want to look at what children's diets are typically falling short in.

As far as I understand it, the research shows that children are getting plenty of fat and carbohydrates, but even with the school fruit & veg most are still not eating the recommended 5 a day.

So adding in extra fruit & veg makes good sense in that context. Obviously each of us individually as parents might choose to organise our child's calories differently through the day, but the scheme is always going to be a compromise.