Universal Free School Meals

[sp1814]

What do you think of this scheme?

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/02/free-school-meal-scheme-begins

I think it's a great idea, but then there are others who might think that free school meals don't make sense for those who can afford to pay.

[sp1814]

New Judge

You proposed:

"people unwilling or unable to feed their children (the most basic and important requirement for their survival) should have them taken into care and rehomed with parents who can and will."

I submit that would be a far greater burden on the public purse than the provision of free school meals.

This is what we know at the moment - too children are entering school without a basic understanding of nutrition. We are sitting on an obesity timebomb (cliché, I know - but the figures are indisputable).

The government has spent years trying to educate parents and it isn't working. So what is the alternative?

[sp1814]

I'm now returning to The Great British Bake Off with a pile of biscuits on the coffee table, but I run 10km a day so I need not feel any guilt.

[Svejk]

sp1814 . ///We are sitting on an obesity timebomb (cliché, I know - but the figures are indisputable). ///

The figures are very disputable. The chairman of the 'Obesity Council' (who put these 'statistics' and scare stories out from time to time) was on More or Less, which is a radio programme that studies statistics. He admitted to making all his statistics up and even 'guilding the lily' to scare people into dieting. Until recently the 'Obesity Council' was funded by the Diet Industry.

[Svejk]

The radio programmes real statistics proved that obesity levels have been falling for decades.

[Tilly2]

Why are there so many fat people about then, sweety?

[sherrardk]

Schools pushed for those entitled to free school meals to 'claim' them as they were part of a range of measures that meant a school got extra funding (the number of pupils receiving free school meals was supposed to be an indication of how badly those students were meant to achieve, therefore affecting the overall performance of the school).

One of mine had pizza and doughnuts for lunch today (not my idea of a nutritious meal but a nice treat) and the other can't remember what he got but it wasn't pizza.

[Svejk]

even if there were loads of fat baskets about, I don't see how filling their hoppers up for free is gonna help.

[Tilly2]

The school meals will be less stodgy and will contain less sugar.

[tamborine]

Will Mustapha's mum be suing the school coz he has been served ham pasta ? Do teachers know that muslims dont eat pork and sikhs dont eat meat. Are the chips & crisps cooked in veg oil ?

I can see lots of parents sending in lunch boxes to suit their kids diets.

[Jeza]

I went to a Catholic school, taught by nuns. All the kids on free dinners were put at the back of the queue. So it is a good idea to make them free for all.

[Tilly2]

Tambo:
Do teachers know that muslims don't eat pork and sikhs don't eat meat.

I think so! (I have added the apostrophes.)

[tamborine]

You might know Tilly but dinner ladies at our village school dont know the nuances of different faiths here. Our local rich oil arabs will not have their princely offspring chancing ham pasta.

Feel free to add any punctuation ;)

[zebo]

My grandchild is one of those entitled to this new freebie but they have opted out as it upset the family dynamics, the children take a nutritious packed-lunch and have a home-cooked meal in the evening. If the youngest had a hot meal at school she would not want her evening meal.

[sp1814]

tambourine

I'm sure the school meals aren't mandatory.

And dinner ladies and catering companies have been dealing with vegetarian, those with lactose intolerances, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and Jedis for decades now. I don't see them falling to pieces due to introduction of universal free school dinners for under sevens.

[sherrardk]

Zebo - we couldn't opt out here (something I was called a liar for this morning) - it's either hot meal, veggie option or school lunch box. It's thrown things a bit as two have different school dinners and the others have packed lunch.

[sp1814]

Tambourine

Sikhs can eat meat, by the way.

[sp1814]

Tambourine - if Siobhan O'Leary was standing behind Mustafa and was served a beef and ale pie the tomorrow, do you think her parents may too sue the school district.

;-)

[sp1814]

Sorry - the day AFTER tomorrow.

Didn't realise it was still Wednesday...

[naomi24]

What a mess! Free school meals for all, even for those children who are well fed at home anyway, but this one can't eat that and the other one can't eat this. For heavens sake, stop with bleeding hearts. At every turn it seems we are climbing up into the lower recesses of own bottoms. People breed - that is their choice - stop with the nanny state and let it be known that the populace must be expected to take responsibility, at least as far as feeding its children go, for itself. This scheme, devised I understand by the Liberal Democrats, is nothing but a hopeful vote-catcher.

[tamborine]

The Gudhwara here never serves meat, nor do sikh takeways. In general they dont eat meat, particularly sikh children.

I dont know the ins & outs of sikhism and only know what I observe, am not interested enough to venture further into their diets. You might be right, tho.