Thoughts on the SNP’s proposed P1 school bag scheme

[FunnyOrca]

What do you think about the SNP’s P1 bag idea?

I think the prototypes look ugly! My nephew down south got a school branded one from his local primary. It’s satchel style and looks smart. It’s not huge, fits his homework jotter, reading folder and water bottle.

I also think it’s pretty pointless! I’d rather have funded childcare from 9 months or strategies for teacher retention! 😭

My P2 equivalent child doesn't even take a bag to school except a book bag on her reading day. A lot of schools don't have space for lots of bags and like people have said, stationery is usually provided.

It genuinely worries me that politicians think that this sort of crap impresses people.
It's insulting, when the challenges in the Scottish education system are so clear, that they waste time and money on gimmicks like this.

Exactly. Just give us the funded childcare

Pointless gimmick.

Give the cash direct to schools so teachers can buy things they actually need in their classrooms.

I'm a regular complainer to my msp. I'll be emailing him this morning asking how this expenditure contributes to positive outcomes.

Tories would never favour more taxes so the government can give away freebies. Conservatives are small state. That is the point if the right of centre.

It's such a good and inclusive way to help kids into school and learning.

More children live in poverty than pensioners now, we can't have a society which looks backwards and grudges kids the basics. The best way to avoid stigma is to make a project like this universal and I'm glad we are giving every child a good start in school.

Remember the kids at school with no pencils, no snack, no lunch? I do, sometimes I was one of them. Now we have more provision for FSM, breakfast clubs, and school bags we can address the inequality poverty causes in education.

Nice though that might be, it isn’t education and would cost a hell of a lot more than a free bag.

Exactly. Greedy.

Agree.

School have provided basic pencils etc as far back as I can remember, and free school meals for children in poverty have existed since I went to school - I was a recipient of them when I was five. There are also, and have been for as long, uniform grants - a more inclusive way of supporting those children in poverty without a school bag (that you don’t even need) would be to increase that by £20.

So you are saying we have an SNP government because Tories decided to vote for the SNP in order for children to get a free school bag? If that is the case they (and their greed) now count as SNP voters.

Lord knows how you misinterpreted my post to that extent. No, I am saying that the people who applied for a baby box they didn’t need are more likely to vote Tory than vote SNP.

But you have no basis for saying that beyond bigotry.

Mirroring yours regarding SNP voters.

Well this is what I thought, teacher "who's bag is this" 20 little hands go up! P1s can't find anything far less the school bag that is the same as their pals!

Why do you think the SNP announce these things in the run up to elections if they don’t think it will gain them votes from people who want ‘freebies’?

They certainly don't think that people who don't need or want them will apply for them.

They certainly don’t think.

Honestly I’m so sick of the SNP coming up with new, inventive ways to waste taxpayers money instead of doing meaningful things for kids in poverty like - fixing the apocalypse that is education.

Vote them out then.

There's already the child poverty payment for targeted support.

It's a complete waste of money. The same as Chromebooks/ I pad for every P6 pupil. Costing local authorities millions.

Children are struggling with no support on classrooms and I'm not talking only as it's across the board.

True, there has previously been provision for FSM, but it now covers more ages of children than ever.

I do not agree with uniform grants because children don't need a uniform to learn. They do need a school bag, pencil case and so on to learn so they are a necessity. In the past, these often had to be provided at the expense of teachers otherwise kids would have nothing to write with.

I would rather see the requirement for uniform scrapped altogether and the grants used to provide other services, such as supporting universal access to school trips for example.

I think logically, having 32 backpacks that are exactly the same hung up in the hallway is going to be a nightmare. They already spend half of P1 bringing home the wrong gym shoes. I have no issue with targeted funding for school bags and water bottles going to those who most need it. I am delighted that all children get school meals for the first few years of school (on a logistics basis it really helped us). I think the relaxed uniform my kids' schools have is brilliant - kitted my son out at ASDA for £40, pair of black trainers, job done. My daughter's high school is just black leggings and t-shirt and they have a school hoodie provided - so easy and no squabbling about clothes.

I just can't work out the need for providing individual pencil cases and such - it will be impossible to keep it all straight, the schools provide most of it already and having tiny children responsible for bringing this all back and forth each day means half of it will disappear in the first few weeks. There are plenty of children living in chaotic home situations where finding a backpack and pencil case etc etc will just be impossible each morning - so much easier to just have everything waiting for you at school.

I like how my school does it - firm rules against bringing in any of your own kit for a few years and then allowing a simple pencil case if someone wants. No drama.

Sorry but it is absolutely untrue that targeted support hasn't helped.

My mum worked in a deprived school in the 80's where kids were stealing milk from doorsteps on the way to school because they weren't fed.

Initiatives like breakfast clubs address extreme poverty and have proven results.

Just look at the difference the Scottish Child Payment makes to outcomes. Child poverty in Scotland is forecast to drop to 21%, but in England and Wales it will rise to 32% in the same time period. Having nearly a third of kids raised in poverty is a dismal prospect for a country's future prosperity.

I also know several children who have benefited from having a Chromebook who would not have been able to afford it otherwise. One of them is off to uni, another college to study joinery. I don't know if they would have been able to do that without the help which was provided, which their parents couldn't afford.

Well, the sky is also blue,the grass is green, is it not? Just because the cancerous "auld firm" chose those colours, does not mean they own them 😂
Again, it depends how bigoted you are to take offence because of a colour in nature 😁

A child being ‘lifted out of poverty’ just means you’ve given their parents more money. There is nothing to say that this money has to be spent on the kids. It could all go on stratchcards, fags and booze for all we know. Why not use the money for breakfast clubs, sure start etc and teach parents how to actually raise their kids instead? This was proven to be some of the most cost effective spending in the New Labour era. Why not restart it? I mean I know it won’t be quite such a straightforward bung to voters but it would improve kids lives. Is that not what we want?