V.A.T, in school fees

How are school meals funded in Finland and Sweden? I know that their rate of general taxation is higher than ours which is what I suggested instead of potty schemes to fund services such as this one and business rates funding social care thus outting small businesses at risk of closing.

See - I am not specifically anti-Labour - just anti-potty pies in the sky.

The classrooms in state schools will be standing room only if this scheme ever saw the light of day!

Would be not will be

Don't need this scheme Jalima this government is well on the way there already

It's not a case of "sticking up for" the 7% who choose private education. I wish that type of education were available to every child in the country, but that would be impossible for any government to finance.

Like several others here, I believe Corbyn was wrong to bring the funding of school meals into the subject. It makes it such an emotive issue. It would have been better to have concentrated on something educational, like more resources, more facilities, more staff.

Interestingly, the cost of a lunch in a private prep school is around £5 per head, whereas the average state school lunch is £2 per meal. Thee will always be inequalities.

dj some of the 7% paying the school fees are not the parents but the grandparents and some of us are doing it for the same reason that people home-school because the state school is not the right place for some children.
People choose to save and spend their money in different ways, I for example, have not had a new coat or shoes for nine years.

Where have you been hidng your head, roses?
Or do you have your fingers in your ears so you don't hear the heads saying that cuts are destroying their schools?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/30/destroying-schools-budget-cuts-education-government

Do you not read the articles by parents saying that heads are asking parents to contribute towards books and equipment?
Even in your part of the country?

www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/29/education-quality-and-pupils-futures-in-peril-from-funding-cuts

Do you believe the IFS when it says there will be a real terms cut in spending per pupil by 2020 of 8%?

www.ifs.org.uk/publications/8027

You have the choice, though, harrigran. Most people do not.

Any cuts in state schools are the fault of the government not the parents of children in private education , those who are leaping on these parents are expecting 7% to improve state schools.

Do you think those 7% will not improve state schools?
Do you think what they think doesn't matter to this government?
Another dreamer.

How people choose to spend their money relative to education and feeding of their own children and grandchildren is moot, in my opinion. It seems the government is doing a poor job managing the tax funds they are entrusted with for education. If VAT (on private education) is needed to balance the books (and provide meals), the entire sums need a look at and going over.

There is undoubtedly a case for vat on fees, but it's far from straightforward. I think there is much less of a case for free school meals for everyone. On the vat point, my take would be to limit charitable status to schools which fit more specific criteria than currently applies. I won't try to set out a list but it might include, for example a % of assisted places and a cap on fees. Nor would I just throw in 20% overnight - kids already in such schools might find themselves taken out by parents who just can't afford the extra. Very unfair (I moved schools at 14 and can vouch for the teenage angst that results!). There would need to be a phased entry of some sort. Just a few ideas, no doubt all with their own problems, but if this is ever to fly (higher than Pinky or Perky!) it will need to be thought through properly, which clearly is not the case at the moment.

I may be a dreamer but I don't believe Corbyn will ever be PM, if I did I would be living in a world of fantasy .

Both the Green party and the Libdems had free school meals for primary pupils as policies before the last election. I think it has been thought through properly by lots of people.
I don't know how they were going to pay for it. They never get asked. It's only Labour who are condemned for not funding their policies, then condemned again for saying how they would fund their policies.

Well DJ I'm not condemning them for not funding but I'm definitely condemning them for this "two for one" policy link nonsense and I'm happy to condemn the LDs and Greens for what I think is an ill thought out use of public funds! Just spreading the love.

Well, yes, that's something isn't it?The Lib Dems and the Greens could say anything at all( and often did) as they were not in power, and I knew that promising no tuition fees for Uni students was a mistake and would come back to bite them on the bum....and it did. Still, even though Corbyn says what he would do, it doesn't make it the best idea to get the money from.All those in need already get free school meals, so why give them to parents who are not in need?

(BTS till can't find any evidence of O levels being graded by letter in the 60s...will keep looking, of course but Education Boards certainly didn't vary)

BTW

Look at the pig's ear the coalition made of providing the first two years with free school dinners on a whim of Clegg because he couldn't get his way about tuition fees. Schools having to equip new kitchens (which they couldn't afford) and food having to be ferried from other schools - just not thought through at all.

Been asking DH about grades for GCE O levels in the 60s and he remembers it the same way I do pass, merit, distinction or fail.

"From 1963 to 1974 success in Ordinary level subjects was indicated as a Pass. Grades 1-6 = Pass, grades 7-9 = Fail."

I know my highest achievement was Grade 1 distinction for English Language.

Why do you persist in trying to prove I am a liar, Ana?

The only exam I failed was chemistry, where I got an F.
However, I had passed physics with chemistry at the Christmas exams, and got a B for that.

"Before 1975, each exam board had its own grading system (some used letters, others numbers), with grades only given to schools and not recorded on students' certificates".

'Not recorded on students' certificates'? What was on the certificates then?

I'm sure if you'd been lying about your exam results you wouldn't have made such an elementary error, but as I say, it's news to me that O levels were graded by letter during the 60s.