howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
courtesy of the independent
Hundreds of schools have driven up the amount they will be paid under the Government's "pupil premium" initiative - designed to "reward" them for taking poorer children - by encouraging parents to apply for free school meals (FSM) for their children, even if they don't eat them.
Amid growing concerns over pressures on school budgets, headteachers and local councils have targeted the premium, allocated to those pupils eligible for FSM, as a key source of extra income. Teachers estimate the device is worth at least an extra £10m.
They have co-ordinated a widespread campaign to persuade all low-income families eligible for FSM to register, qualifying their schools for an extra £430 per child.
But health campaigners complain that registering for FSM simply as a way to get more money undermines the message that free meals are a vital element of a child's education.
The School Food Trust chairman, Rob Rees, said: "Extra efforts by schools to encourage families to sign up for their free school meals are always welcome, but it's vital to remember that this isn't just about securing additional funding. The most important thing about a free school meal is that it guarantees a child a tasty, nutritious lunch every day."
The spending watchdog, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), predicted a rush to sign up eligible pupils for FSM in time for the annual school "census".
The IoS has established that hundreds of schools - many in the wealthiest parts of the country - immediately sought to encourage parents to overcome the "stigma" associated with free meals.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
Would it be cheaper and healthier to add £10 or so to each child and make all school meals free?
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Creating a decent menu for all of the children, involving the children, and demonstrating a bit of care and nutritional understanding would probably be a good use of resources.........
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
whilst tom and bern make good points the bit that surprised me was that parents on low incomes were not availing themselves of the free meals for their offspring.
seems like we are not a nation of scroungers after all.
Or can't be bothered.........
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
Howard, all sorts of things get handed down from generation to generation. Shame being one of them and the parents recollections of their own school days, whether they had free school meals or not they would have known those who did and the attitude of others to those 'less fortunate'.
I dare say that the payments to the catering contractor are a separate issue from the fillip to the ppi. Rather like the payout for bus passes.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
The issue of free school meals is admittedly new to me. At school, everyone paid for their meals, or at least, if anyone didn't, no-one else knew of it.
At Saint Mary school, most people went for seconds (a second helping) of what was called dinner, which was always tasty. I didn't, but went for thrids, and sometimes fourths of what was called pudding, which really was delicious, and that every day!
However, I was a volunteer, with a few others, helping the care-taker to clear away the tables and chairs after school dinner. It was my way of saying thanks for enjoying so much good food.
In those days, a daily dinner ticket (valid for first meal and pudding + second/third helpings) cost 12 pence.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Yep, that were the good old days!
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,894
Howard #4. When my daughter was on benefits and qualified for free meals she always made the boys a packed lunch instead.
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Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
School dinners more so when privatised were small and not that tasty.
it was clear who had free school dinners as they were in a different line
so my catholic schiool didnt wory about discrimination!!!!!
so there is the shame bit, parents today wouldnt want there children to go through the same.
i have posted on this in other threads
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i thought the days of children standing in different lines were long gone.
jan mentions about her daughter doing a packed lunch for hers.
surely a system could be divised where it is not known who is getting the free lunch.
besides the nutrition involved, chidren do not want to be different and stand apart from their friends.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,894
I should have added that the boys did not like school dinners it was nothing to do with different lines.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
I think all school children unless they go home for one, even if they pay or not,for alot of chidren this might be their only main meal of the day.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
certainly not the case some schools still operate this system
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
All children need one good meal aday with greens and meat etc hot drinks, not just cans of soft drinks and chips etc.and schools can see they get that.I also think that young Children should have their milk back again.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,894
I hated school milk and tricked my mother into writing a note to say I did not have to have it.
You are a little out of date Vic, neither a vegetarian nor a carnivore need meat every day to have a healthy diet.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
jan;
your corect, but healthy diets do need to be looked at
just look at childrens packed lunches to tell you thats a problem
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
at the pre school to doors from me there are signs up suggesting what a lunch box should contain.
all the serious stuff plus a treat, i think most parents now are more aware of what to put in them.
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
I remember having a few meals at Junior and also at the Grammar School (Lincs). We had no choice in those days, you had what was put in front of you, no choosing this or that. I distinctly remember the lumpy, grey (mashed?) potato, stewed meat of varying shades of brown, and sloppy greens well overcooked. But we ate them. No one left ANYTHING, and later at the Grammar School anything that was left was eaten up greedily by the billy bunter types - absolutely nothing was wasted. Fortunately I could cycle home and have a good home cooked but simple meal most times.
Look at what is wasted now with food !
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred