Staff at Knowle DGE School in Bristol are supplying the youngsters with the food at a weekly cost of £280.
The teachers refused to let their pupils go hungry and are buying cereals, bread and fruit juices - so pupils will no longer complain they feel 'sick' and 'angry' with hunger.Hang on, I thought teachers were so hard up they could barely afford to eat themselves?
Spokeswoman for the school, Joanna Greenwood admitted teachers felt it was ‘unfair’ that they had to pay but refused to let the children go hungry.
She said: ‘We feel it’s really important that a child has a good start to the day. Hunger and thirst is a very big trigger for negative behaviour.
‘If the meals aren’t in place then they aren’t able to engage and focus and be able to learn.
‘We have a very good network of staff in our learning centre and they’re willing to help out as much as they can.’And while they are feeding the kiddiewinks, what are mum and dad (assuming there’s a dad in the picture) spending their money on?
Previously, the school had facilitated a breakfast club but after the charity which provided funding collapsed in August, the teachers agreed to buy the food themselves.
Knowle DGE has now applied to another charity - Magic Breakfasts - for funding.This one isn’t (as you might expect) a fakecharity; as far as I can see from its records, its income is mostly from fundraising and donations. Which is something, I suppose.
Mark Cousins, from the charity visited the school today to discuss pupils’ needs with teachers. He said: ‘The teachers are actually paying for these breakfasts out of their own pockets at the moment because it is so important to give the pupils a good breakfast.
‘I’ve been speaking to some of the children there and they say that without the breakfast club they are too hungry to concentrate.
‘Some were feeling a bit sick from hunger and said it affected them to the point where it was making them angry.
‘Some of the stories are just heart-breaking.’Yes, I'm sure they are.
I’d carefully rehearse my kids in sob-stories to be deployed for the ears of do-gooders and simpletons if I wanted to ensure someone else fed them, too…
15 comments:
The more I watch it, the more I'm convinced "Shameless" is a documentary.
Why have none of the teachers had the jam to call social services and bring this to the attention of people who are paid vast sums to sort this kind of problem? I mean, if one of the little darlings turned up with a crucifix round his neck, the buggers would be lined up six deep.
'Magic Breakfasts' - really?
Is that a too perfect for satire summation of the liberal world view or what?
‘Some were feeling a bit sick from hunger and said it affected them to the point where it was making them angry. Some of the stories are just heart-breaking.’
I'll bet! This story has the muddy footprints of leading questions stamped all over it.
I'd like to think it's an attempt by exasperated staff to shame a few offending parents into giving their children a proper breakfast - or not stuffing the little darlings with sugar and e-numbers at the start of a school day.
(I once had to deal with a mother whose idea of a suitable breaktime snack for her child - on Ritalin for ADHD - was a family pack of Skittles and an energy drink. Unlikely as it sounds, she was actually a Daily Mail reporter).
It's the mention of fruit juice that rings alarm bells - an unnecessary expense if the aim is to avoid dehydration. I have often heard parents complain 'I have to give her juice; she won't drink water'; it's a clear sign that the tiny tyrant has them round her little finger.
If the children have won on that issue, are they calling the shots all round?
Understudying the professional 'needy', a few will graduate with first-class honours in Street Begging.
Our Towns now host the new paradox of poverty in designer clothing. Young able-bodied ne'er-do-wells can sit for hours on cold pavements wearing just Summer Armani. They are thin and gaunt for sure...sadly their hunger is not for tuck.
Having ceased giving to beggars, I respond to pathetic looks with an excuse of only carrying notes. "I got change!" came one response with newly found pride and an unintentional glimpse of his top-earner status.
An apple, slice of toast and a cup of tea for FFFF sake. Thats all it takes. if they save 50p per day at home I suppose it buys another cheap pint at wetherspoons.
Hang on....starving your children isn't Child Abuse, anymore ? Who knew ?
Feeling sick with humger? Unable to concentrate? Making them angry?
Sounds like they've all got hangovers
Strangely I used to skip breakfast on a regular basis. Oddly my concentration in the classroom wasn't affected.
So, this is just another excuse for crap discipline in the classroom then...
XX Hunger and thirst is a very big trigger for negative behaviour. XX
Thirst? The school has got no bloody mains water then?
And MTG, you are making sense again,. STOP it, you are ruining your reputation.
You have my thanks, Furor von Spreuth. The odds must favour a few occasions when my comments do not despatch you to the dictionary.
The strange case of 'bet you can't kick me in the goolies if I drop my pants and bend over backwards mtg.'
I give credit where it is due Melvin.
"The more I watch it, the more I'm convinced "Shameless" is a documentary."
Given yesterday's evening commute contained a nutter on the train who was the spitting image of Frank, you could be right!
"Why have none of the teachers had the jam to call social services..."
Because they wouldn't care?
"Is that a too perfect for satire summation of the liberal world view or what? "
I guess, somewhere, 'Free Lunches' was already taken!
"I'd like to think it's an attempt by exasperated staff to shame a few offending parents into giving their children a proper breakfast..."
Me too, but I'd question the intelligence of any teacher who thought they read the newspaper. Or possessed the concept of shame.
As anon points out, breakfast shouldn't break the bank, should it?
"Having ceased giving to beggars, I respond to pathetic looks with an excuse of only carrying notes."
I just don't respond. It's easier in the long run!
"Sounds like they've all got hangovers"
Heh!
"So, this is just another excuse for crap discipline in the classroom then..."
Hmmm, good point!
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