No more free school meals for youngest pupils.

schoolsweek.co.uk/conservatives-free-breakfast-pledge-costed-at-just-7p-per-meal/

How much would you expect a breakfast to cost?

Many schools already operate breakfast clubs (although I don't believe they are free) sadly my DGC's school does not. For the schools that already operate them, will it make any difference?

Could the breakfast not be served at the start of the normal day? Lets face it we are talking 15 minutes for the youngest school children. Will that really impact on their education?

Why the need for a kitchen? We are probably talking toast/fruit/cold cereal. Does that really need a full kitchen?

There could be a parent rota set up via the governors and/or PTA's so the teachers wouldn't need to be involved if they didn't want to be.

My DGC's school has an army of parents and grandparents ready willing and able to help start a breakfast club but the school refuse. I can't understand why.

My friends works in a school where the breakfasts are sponsored by a local company who supply the fruit and bread. The parents of the children who attend still pay for the supervision time.

gilly my local primary wouldn't consider after-school club, said they weren't insured...

Or maybe (like my DGC's school) angelab they just don't want the hassle.

Yep my thoughts exactly.

How different schools are, depending on the area they're in, of course.

The breakfast club at the school where I worked was free, as are many in deprived areas. It was paid for from the school budget and catered for up to 30 targeted children, ie just some of those we knew would not get a breakfast at home. Run by staff, as not all schools are lucky enough to have enthusiastic volunteers to call on.

I can't see that kitchen facilities are an issue, but staffing certainly would be for many schools. I don't agree that incorporating the scheme into teaching hours would work - the loss of over an hour's education per week for Reception to Y6 children would be significant.

Free school lunches for 4-7 year olds was a Liberal Democrat policy enacted during the coalition which proved very beneficial. How much worse things are when the Tories do what they want.

Maggiemaybe The school breakfasts were almost certainly funded with Pupil Premium grants (currently £1320pa for eligible pupil) - another LibDem initiative.

Many schools use part of the grant for breakfast clubs and this has been shown to be an extremely effective use of money.

The obvious thing to do would be to use Pupil Premium funding for the bulk of the financing needed to run a club. Certain pupils would receive a free place and others could be charged (perhaps) £1 a session, which is a load cheaper than childcare for parents who need to be at work themselves. Ring-fenced government funding would be an additional top up.

As others have said, some schools can't be arsed.

There have been numerous models for breakfast clubs.
I remember when I was a secondary governor, about 6-7 years ago we had funding for "extended school hours" - it was money to pay people to run activities before and after school. So some was used to pay a couple of our classroom assistants to start early and do supervise breakfast session plus the catering manager used to come in early to do the food.
We also spent some on paying people to do after school activities.
It all comes down to money and 90% will be staffing.
There are commercially run breakfast clubs in some schools. Pre-school childcare for working parents. Not cheap as you are paying for staff, rent of space, food and activities (they don't just leave kids to watch telly) - you'd expect to pay the same rate as you do for an after-school club.
Like the extended schools money (which disappeared) the pupil premium money is spent at the discretion of the head in consultation with the governors. It is meant to support the academic achievement of those at risk i believe and schools may well feel that food is not the best way to improve attainment.
During the last Labour government funding for schools experienced a very significant rise. Blair followed through on "Education, education,education" A lot of capital money was also spent refurbishing and rebuilding the schools that had been physically left to fall down under Thatcher and Major.
Then various bits of funding were trimmed away by Gove. A great deal of money has been wasted on acquiring buildings, often unsuitable ones, for his pet project - Free Schools (this continued under Morgan). Many schools were bribed to become free standing academies with promise of better funding.
School funding is now going backward rapidly in England - costs are rising - salaries, NI, fuel bills etc and some schools are finding themselves having to shed staff, and maintenance budgets no doubt. I know someone who is a governor of an academy and it is now dawning on them that there is no money for any much needed building projects, however much they are needed.

Tories are planning 7% cut to school budgets. That is a lot

Have asked a few people (neighbors and my DD and DDil's friends) and school breakfast clubs are really quite expensive. The most expensive I have found around here is £25 per week (the children can attend for one hour before school) and the bulk of this seems to go to paying staff as the breakfast is as I suspected cold cereal or toast and a piece of fruit. Apparently you cannot pay on a day to day basis . A few others are around the £3 per day (which seems to be an average). I am quite shocked as to how expensive it is. Mind you going by what my DGC say the school dinners are very poor for the price and don't seem to be in the slightest bit balanced despite what Jamie Oliver and his cronies might think. Since when was a dried up sandwich and a crispy cake a decent lunch?

JessM The Sutton Trust has a toolkit for the use of Pupil Premium money and breakfast clubs have been shown to be an efficient use of money.

It's not just that children have food, but the clubs improve punctuality and readiness to learn. Moreover, they're an opportunity for children to have contact with adults and other children in a non-academic way, which can have advantages for learning.

gillybob £5 sounds a bit steep, but I'm not surprised. Ten years ago, I was on the committee for my son's out-of-hours provider and we charged about £3 an hour (from memory). Staffing, including enhanced DBS and training in child protection and health and safety, is by far the biggest cost.

I don't know how much childminders charge these days, but I suspect it's not far off.

I suspect the clubs you know insist on regular attendance, because staff need to be paid, however many children attend. There are laws about minimum staffing levels. We didn't insist on everyday attendance (although most did), but parents had to commit to certain days. A few parents used tax credits to pay the fees.

We had volunteers (such as me), but we mainly did fund raising and administration, such as accounts and recruitment. We also ordered the food.

gillybob I suppose if there is an hour's care before school £25 isn't excessive really, it compares very well with the cost of any childcare. These sort of Breakfast Clubs are great for working parents who then don't need a child minder but can drop their child at school and still get to work on time. The reason for not paying on a daily basis is that like any other childcare the numbers need to be accounted for and regular to make sure staffing is right.
Years ago I worked in a school where the children were given breakfast, provided free thanks to a crusading head who pestered local businesses for support. It certainly made a huge difference to attendance and punctuality.

Whether or not this measure would cost less, I think it is a great shame that what will presumably be a pretty simple breakfast (fruit/toast/cereal?) will be substituted for a surely more nutritious cooked lunch, plus it will not, presumably, apply to all children.

One school I did supply teaching in had parents from the PTA come in early and they did toast and cereal and a fruit juice for about half an hour before school started. As not all the children who needed some food arrived early enough there was also a small band of mums who were there with the toaster and fruit at morning break. The PTA funds paid for the food and the whole scheme was manned by volunteers. Fund raising events were held specifically for this project and some mums who did feed their children breakfast etc would from time to time come in with a donation to the funds.

I don't think that toast/cereal does lack nutrition. The French have been eating white bread/butter/jam for breakfast for ages and, on average, are less obese than the British.

Children, especially hungry ones, need energy ie calories, which bread and unfrosted cereals provide. Butter and milk provide some fat and protein.

We opted not to have volunteer Mums, because we wanted to be more professional. The problem with volunteers is that it's difficult to get rid of them if they aren't doing a good job. For example, we had a proper behaviour and discipline policy. Some parents are good at looking after their own children, but can't cope with crowds of children and their "discipline methods" leave something to be desired (trying to be tactful here).

Even volunteers must have enhanced DBSs and child protection/health and safety training, both of which cost money.

dd, I didn't say that there would be no nutrition in the breakfast, only that I thought there would be more in a cooked lunch.

Also the French, I believe, tend to eat a proper meal at lunchtime, as opposed to sandwiches so having a small breakfast is not a problem.

The point surely is that some children who would previously have had a cooked lunch will, in future, get a less nutritious breakfast, while some will not have a 'school breakfast' at all, as not all will be at school at that time.

What on earth do children eat for breakfast at home? In my experience it is usually toast, cereal and fruit juice.

My DGD's love those Pains de Chocolat (filled croissants) and they often have one of those gently warmed and a bowl of cereal and a small fruit juice too. They are very active and sporty and need a good filling breakfast.

Iagree, gilly, it's really more the relative nutrition of this v. a (hopefully well-balanced) cooked lunch, which every child would have.

Those children entitled to free school meals will still get them.

As somebody who has eaten school lunches for many of the last 30 years, I can vouch for the fact that they are not particularly nutritious.

Most secondary schools have a self service system. A "set meal" is usually offered, but it's usually only staff who opt for it. Pupils themselves opt for filled baguettes or pasta with a gloopy sauce and a cake/bun.

I've never understood the obsession with a hot, cooked meal, because it's not more nutritious than a raw salad/vegetables or sandwich with balanced filling. The healthiest health freak I know doesn't eat any cooked food.

Pain au chocolat? Oooh! You're posh!