Everyone on my town’s Facebook page is currently moaning about this.
Impressive_Sleep_801 on
It would be interesting to see what’s on the menu and how it would be offered and sub ministered amongst different institutes.
Let’s hope it’s not going to be a UPF rich diet full of sugar which will only makes children more dependent on those foods and the multinationals that produce them.
[deleted] on
[removed]
IceLysis on
Even though I don’t have kids and have no plans to, it makes me really really happy to know that this is what my taxes are going towards.
Fantastic news.
Baldeagle61 on
Good idea, but I’ll bet it’s not going to be a full English they get.
LloydAtkinson on
This is good but is it going to be any good? With the purposely engineered ever rising prices, are they going to end up with a bunch of slop or something nutritious?
nightdwaawf on
A positive change to make up for the negative change of potentially killing old folk during the winter.
Let’s get the young folk through school so they can then work and we can eventually tax them
We need rid of the old folk as they are a burden on our money pot.
Swimming-Proposal-83 on
Labour funds something incredibly helpful and popular.
Media immediately: bUt iS da food eVeN heAlThY??? – what a bunch of losers
ArchdukeToes on
…just in time for my daughter to go to secondary!
Selfishness aside, this is a good thing.
Personal_Lab_484 on
Are they means testing this? No one likes hungry kids but all these initiatives just seem to let parents continue to just do fuck all.
Don’t pay for breakfast or lunch. Don’t buy them clothes. Collect benefit. Get a big council house cause of the kids and you can’t be made homeless either. All at taxpayer expense.
I think my time as a primary teacher in a shit school in south Bristol just made me hate these parents. Obviously happy the kids are getting fed but it’s just disgusting what they get away with.
dotamonkey24 on
What a genuinely important and impactful policy decision.
Of course, the BBC will instead be running a highly scathing Laura Kuenssberg article about how Starmer ties his shoe laces wrong and that means the country is doomed.
AdaptableBeef on
So is there a financial black hole or not?
It seems like terrible messaging to defend removing the winter fuel payment, announce this and also reinforce that the country faces a £22bn “black hole” all ok the same speech.
Which is it?
Hairy_Inevitable9727 on
Good news the thought of hungry kids in schools is awful.
We have this at our Scottish school although I don’t think it is nation wide.
It does put private providers of before school care for working parents out of business. Ours stopped offering it so we have to use the schools although our kids mostly have (1st) breakfast at home and then have a yogurt at the breakfast club.
InstallTheLinux on
Every study done on this shows that it’s one of the cheapest ways to improve outcomes for children. A child that’s hungry is a child that won’t be learning as well in school.
Invest more in the future generations and you get more back maybe I’m just getting soft as I’m getting older (only 30 without kids) but I feel like children should be the main focus of any society.
Brilliant-Big-336 on
This will of course be means tested so the ‘rich’ aren’t being subsidised from the public purse.
SwartzzInc on
I can already see the news flashes after finding out these ‘free breakfasts’ being laced with something or them charging kids tax on it 🤣
Deliriousious on
Wait, it wasn’t free?
When I was in primary school “breakfast club” was like 50p and that got you a cup of tea, cereal or fry up like breakfast, and some toast, along with a little fruit.
And in my secondary, it was all free, unlimited tea, toast, cereals. Made full use of it, there was no limit, so I got 4 slices of toast with marmite, and probably 3 cups of tea basically every morning.
yourefunny on
This is awesome! I have a 3 year old who will be starting school next year. He has breakfast everyday and it does not put us under any pressure. We may still use this. We are rubbish at getting him to eat anything other than cereal, jam on toast or occasionally eggs for breakfast. If there is a more balanced meal at school that will be great. Ultimately though we will be grand at home, might save some time in the morning though.
For people struggling this amazing news. One of our closest friends is an only mother, her daughter is my son’s best mate. Free breako for her daughter will be so helpful for her!! Well done politicians! Lets keep this up!
clbbcrg on
Now watch all the right wingers saying this is the worst thing ever
Mrmrmckay on
Drop all this free shit. It’s publicly funded. Why is there always this weird need to label things as free when it’s not.
CyberPunkDongTooLong on
Hooray the first actually positive thing they’ve done.
Traichi on
Old people all getting Winter Fuel Allowance – Utterly horrible, waste of money, we need to restrict this to only people without means, and spend a lot of money setting up means tests.
Children free school meals – Of course, this should apply to all primary school children no matter how wealthy their families are.
Helios_AI on
Labour make school breakfasts free after just learning that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Monkeyboogaloo on
Many schools have paid for breakfast clubs already.
I think it’s great that kids don’t go hungry. I also think it’s terrible that we have to address this.
My daughter is in year 5 so will catch the tail end of this. Being in London we get free school lunches.
I think removing stigma and making sure all kids have an equal chance is a very good thing.
All-Day-stoner on
No kids should go hungry! This is positive news and will have a great impact to millions of people
LauraPhilps7654 on
Don’t like Reeves. But credit where credit is due this is a fantastic policy. More of this please.
Innocuouscompany on
Good idea. Breakfast is an important meal that a lot of kids skip due to their parents ever busier lives.
kjtmuk on
I’ve never understood why schools don’t feed children properly in this country. What could possibly be more worthwhile, and a safer investment, than ensuring the health of our children? Isn’t this just an easy and inexpensive win in a landscape of intractable and gigantic problems? I worked in Japanese schools for many years and they have professional nutritionists designing menus for every school and provide high quality fresh-cooked meals to every student every day. Not coincidentally, Japanese kids rank number one in the world for physical health. This is a step in the right direction for sure, but I hope we see a dramatic in the (currently shockingly shite) standards of food in British schools.
appletinicyclone on
This is actually a very good decision. It’s really sad to say but if you don’t know people in education or child social services you don’t really realize the extent to which many many kids are being neglected in terms of proper/enough food at home
We often think about obesity rates but there’s still small kids that come into schools and just thinking about it makes me cry that they don’t have regular meals apart from what’s guaranteed at school
jeck212 on
Fantastic and kind of thing that if you designed a society from the ground up would seem insane not to do. Feeding kids should be right at the top of the list and this will have such a massive benefit to society.
Don’t care if there’s a financial black hole, don’t care if wealthy pensioners are paying for this – this is more important than anything else on the agenda.
Future-Atmosphere-40 on
Children need food to live and learn.
People deserve food for existing. No one needs to earn food
Top_Opposites on
But only if their nan is able to claim the winter allowance via the 246 page form for it and there’s and another 270 page form for the breakfast
Galimimus79 on
A good soundbite but unlikely to ever be fully rolled out.
The challenge is delivery.
Specific staff and facilities are required for school meals. Teachers can’t do this as it requires relevant H&S training. Not all primary schools have cooking facilities, with many now using hubs (sometimes larger nearby schools) to provide lunches. If the current catering staff are needed this means significantly extending their day and into early unsocial hours at significant cost.
If the breakfast is timed as part or wrap around care (before the start of the school day) then you also need more staff for the extra children (and you need to provide free wrap around care for eligible children).
If breakfast is in the school day this reduces the complexities of extending the day but reduces benefits as many children will have already eaten before leaving home due to timing (free breakfasts if you’re hungry)? What do the children who have eaten do at this time?
It’d be far easier to just provide free lunches to all (and far less costly to deliver universally). This should tell you that the free breakfasts are not meant to be universal and if ever delivered will be so watered down as to be useless and quickly dumped after poor take up in the pilot.
This is by design.
You should be cynical of all politicians regardless of the colour of their rosette.
keasy_does_it on
Yeah dude. It’s not just cruel to have kids going to school hungry. It’s just bad policy. Kids who aren’t hungry tend to like learn more things in class.
iwncuf82 on
Rachel thieves actually doing something useful?
Will these breakfasts be cheap, processed crap or actual food?
digitalpencil on
Does anyone know have they commented how this will work with regard to staffing?
Our daughter is on a waiting list for a paid breakfast club at her school, as we learned that whilst these are a thing that enables the 2 working parent family model that’s now basically required for financial subsistence, there isn’t enough early morning staff to accommodate all the children so if you don’t get in, you’re kind of stuffed.
As it stands we can’t drop her any earlier than 8:45 which makes 9am work starts really tricky.
Would love it if this means budget for ensuring staff capacity to make this available to everyone!
the_phet on
Let’s hope it is quality food and not some outsourced shit from their pals.
41 Comments
Finally something that is a real positive change that will see a serious impact for millions in the UK.
No child should be in hunger. Especially not at school.
A positive change, let’s hope they can keep the momentum going.
is this before or after she was heckled? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zc02PsMtIY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zc02PsMtIY)
Everyone on my town’s Facebook page is currently moaning about this.
It would be interesting to see what’s on the menu and how it would be offered and sub ministered amongst different institutes.
Let’s hope it’s not going to be a UPF rich diet full of sugar which will only makes children more dependent on those foods and the multinationals that produce them.
[removed]
Even though I don’t have kids and have no plans to, it makes me really really happy to know that this is what my taxes are going towards.
Fantastic news.
Good idea, but I’ll bet it’s not going to be a full English they get.
This is good but is it going to be any good? With the purposely engineered ever rising prices, are they going to end up with a bunch of slop or something nutritious?
A positive change to make up for the negative change of potentially killing old folk during the winter.
Let’s get the young folk through school so they can then work and we can eventually tax them
We need rid of the old folk as they are a burden on our money pot.
Labour funds something incredibly helpful and popular.
Media immediately: bUt iS da food eVeN heAlThY??? – what a bunch of losers
…just in time for my daughter to go to secondary!
Selfishness aside, this is a good thing.
Are they means testing this? No one likes hungry kids but all these initiatives just seem to let parents continue to just do fuck all.
Don’t pay for breakfast or lunch. Don’t buy them clothes. Collect benefit. Get a big council house cause of the kids and you can’t be made homeless either. All at taxpayer expense.
I think my time as a primary teacher in a shit school in south Bristol just made me hate these parents. Obviously happy the kids are getting fed but it’s just disgusting what they get away with.
What a genuinely important and impactful policy decision.
Of course, the BBC will instead be running a highly scathing Laura Kuenssberg article about how Starmer ties his shoe laces wrong and that means the country is doomed.
So is there a financial black hole or not?
It seems like terrible messaging to defend removing the winter fuel payment, announce this and also reinforce that the country faces a £22bn “black hole” all ok the same speech.
Which is it?
Good news the thought of hungry kids in schools is awful.
We have this at our Scottish school although I don’t think it is nation wide.
It does put private providers of before school care for working parents out of business. Ours stopped offering it so we have to use the schools although our kids mostly have (1st) breakfast at home and then have a yogurt at the breakfast club.
Every study done on this shows that it’s one of the cheapest ways to improve outcomes for children. A child that’s hungry is a child that won’t be learning as well in school.
Invest more in the future generations and you get more back maybe I’m just getting soft as I’m getting older (only 30 without kids) but I feel like children should be the main focus of any society.
This will of course be means tested so the ‘rich’ aren’t being subsidised from the public purse.
I can already see the news flashes after finding out these ‘free breakfasts’ being laced with something or them charging kids tax on it 🤣
Wait, it wasn’t free?
When I was in primary school “breakfast club” was like 50p and that got you a cup of tea, cereal or fry up like breakfast, and some toast, along with a little fruit.
And in my secondary, it was all free, unlimited tea, toast, cereals. Made full use of it, there was no limit, so I got 4 slices of toast with marmite, and probably 3 cups of tea basically every morning.
This is awesome! I have a 3 year old who will be starting school next year. He has breakfast everyday and it does not put us under any pressure. We may still use this. We are rubbish at getting him to eat anything other than cereal, jam on toast or occasionally eggs for breakfast. If there is a more balanced meal at school that will be great. Ultimately though we will be grand at home, might save some time in the morning though.
For people struggling this amazing news. One of our closest friends is an only mother, her daughter is my son’s best mate. Free breako for her daughter will be so helpful for her!! Well done politicians! Lets keep this up!
Now watch all the right wingers saying this is the worst thing ever
Drop all this free shit. It’s publicly funded. Why is there always this weird need to label things as free when it’s not.
Hooray the first actually positive thing they’ve done.
Old people all getting Winter Fuel Allowance – Utterly horrible, waste of money, we need to restrict this to only people without means, and spend a lot of money setting up means tests.
Children free school meals – Of course, this should apply to all primary school children no matter how wealthy their families are.
Labour make school breakfasts free after just learning that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Many schools have paid for breakfast clubs already.
I think it’s great that kids don’t go hungry. I also think it’s terrible that we have to address this.
My daughter is in year 5 so will catch the tail end of this. Being in London we get free school lunches.
I think removing stigma and making sure all kids have an equal chance is a very good thing.
No kids should go hungry! This is positive news and will have a great impact to millions of people
Don’t like Reeves. But credit where credit is due this is a fantastic policy. More of this please.
Good idea. Breakfast is an important meal that a lot of kids skip due to their parents ever busier lives.
I’ve never understood why schools don’t feed children properly in this country. What could possibly be more worthwhile, and a safer investment, than ensuring the health of our children? Isn’t this just an easy and inexpensive win in a landscape of intractable and gigantic problems? I worked in Japanese schools for many years and they have professional nutritionists designing menus for every school and provide high quality fresh-cooked meals to every student every day. Not coincidentally, Japanese kids rank number one in the world for physical health. This is a step in the right direction for sure, but I hope we see a dramatic in the (currently shockingly shite) standards of food in British schools.
This is actually a very good decision. It’s really sad to say but if you don’t know people in education or child social services you don’t really realize the extent to which many many kids are being neglected in terms of proper/enough food at home
We often think about obesity rates but there’s still small kids that come into schools and just thinking about it makes me cry that they don’t have regular meals apart from what’s guaranteed at school
Fantastic and kind of thing that if you designed a society from the ground up would seem insane not to do. Feeding kids should be right at the top of the list and this will have such a massive benefit to society.
Don’t care if there’s a financial black hole, don’t care if wealthy pensioners are paying for this – this is more important than anything else on the agenda.
Children need food to live and learn.
People deserve food for existing. No one needs to earn food
But only if their nan is able to claim the winter allowance via the 246 page form for it and there’s and another 270 page form for the breakfast
A good soundbite but unlikely to ever be fully rolled out.
The challenge is delivery.
Specific staff and facilities are required for school meals. Teachers can’t do this as it requires relevant H&S training. Not all primary schools have cooking facilities, with many now using hubs (sometimes larger nearby schools) to provide lunches. If the current catering staff are needed this means significantly extending their day and into early unsocial hours at significant cost.
If the breakfast is timed as part or wrap around care (before the start of the school day) then you also need more staff for the extra children (and you need to provide free wrap around care for eligible children).
If breakfast is in the school day this reduces the complexities of extending the day but reduces benefits as many children will have already eaten before leaving home due to timing (free breakfasts if you’re hungry)? What do the children who have eaten do at this time?
It’d be far easier to just provide free lunches to all (and far less costly to deliver universally). This should tell you that the free breakfasts are not meant to be universal and if ever delivered will be so watered down as to be useless and quickly dumped after poor take up in the pilot.
This is by design.
You should be cynical of all politicians regardless of the colour of their rosette.
Yeah dude. It’s not just cruel to have kids going to school hungry. It’s just bad policy. Kids who aren’t hungry tend to like learn more things in class.
Rachel thieves actually doing something useful?
Will these breakfasts be cheap, processed crap or actual food?
Does anyone know have they commented how this will work with regard to staffing?
Our daughter is on a waiting list for a paid breakfast club at her school, as we learned that whilst these are a thing that enables the 2 working parent family model that’s now basically required for financial subsistence, there isn’t enough early morning staff to accommodate all the children so if you don’t get in, you’re kind of stuffed.
As it stands we can’t drop her any earlier than 8:45 which makes 9am work starts really tricky.
Would love it if this means budget for ensuring staff capacity to make this available to everyone!
Let’s hope it is quality food and not some outsourced shit from their pals.
Will the councils pay for this?
Education, education, education
More of this please