The government’s flagship plan to set up free breakfast clubs in all primary schools is running into trouble as headteachers say that initial funding is inadequate and charities with experience of providing food in schools demand more flexibility over how they can be run.
So, a typical Labour election promise, then?
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson sees the provision of free breakfast clubs in all primary schools as vital to breaking what she calls the “unfair link between background and success” in education.
Because that's driven solely by breakfast, and not by any other aspect, like, say, a stable familty who value education?
Numerous academic studies show that a good breakfast improves attendance and pupil performance.
Ah, well, correlation just must be causation, if the 'experts' say so, eh?
But with the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, considering further spending cuts for major departments, concerns are growing among headteachers, unions and charities that the plans will not be properly funded and will lack the flexibility required to be successful.
I know, I know, I'm shocked too!
This weekend, the independent publication Schools Week highlighted how some headteachers in primaries, while enthusiastic about the overall aims, were refusing to take part in an “early adopter” pilot scheme for 750 volunteer schools because only 60p was being provided by the government per pupil.
What can you provide for that? Well, porridge, maybe?
Lindsey MacDonald, CEO of the charity Magic Breakfast, which has more than 20 years of experience in the field and provides breakfasts to more than 300,000 children and young people every day, said ministers must allow schools to offer a variety of ways to feed pupils, rather than just in formal “breakfast clubs” set up in one hall or building, before the normal school day. This is by far the most expensive model as it requires extra staff to be employed out of normal hours, and does not maximise the chances of all pupils being fed. While MacDonald is strongly in favour of the government’s aim, she insisted that ministers must allow schools the option to provide food in a wider variety of “grab and go” settings, such as when they arrive at school, in classrooms and even during lessons and break times.
Ah, but when a policy is driven by civil servants, what becomes important is what can be measured. Not what's actually working.
Anna McShane, director of the independent thinktank The New Britain Project, which has been looking at the practical implementation of Labour’s pledge, said its research had also found that more clarity was needed. “Now, more schools are rightly pushing back. Without clarity, this risks being another initiative that prioritises political headlines over practical solutions.”
Like all of Labour's policies so far...
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