Free school meals for all primary school children

Proposer
philipjohn
State

Accepted

Vote Score

2

Age

2548 days


@philipjohn edited education.md - almost 7 years ago

Education should be freely available to all to first degree level or equivalent. Tuition fees for university students should be abolished, as university education is of general benefit to society, and should be covered by general taxation.

A primary school children will receive free school meals, removing the stigma around only poorer children receiving free meals, and helping to ensure all primary age children are receiving at least one nutritional meal each day.

State funded, state run

We will end academisation and return all state-funded schools to Local Education Authority (LEA) ownership and control. No school will be permitted to be state-funded without being under the ownership and control of the LEA.

ghost

@ghost - almost 7 years ago

You've got a typo. A instead of All.

Floppy

@Floppy - almost 7 years ago

yes but with typo fix :)

Vote: ✅

@philipjohn edited education.md - almost 7 years ago

Education should be freely available to all to first degree level or equivalent. Tuition fees for university students should be abolished, as university education is of general benefit to society, and should be covered by general taxation.

All primary school children will receive free school meals, removing the stigma around only poorer children receiving free meals, and helping to ensure all primary age children are receiving at least one nutritional meal each day.

State funded, state run

We will end academisation and return all state-funded schools to Local Education Authority (LEA) ownership and control. No school will be permitted to be state-funded without being under the ownership and control of the LEA.

philipjohn

@philipjohn - almost 7 years ago

Well spotted - changed :)

anilliams

@anilliams - almost 7 years ago

Isn't there a risk that this is wasting money by subsiding families who can afford school meals, which is the majority of families?

philipjohn

@philipjohn - almost 7 years ago

I don't think so - schools prepare meals anyway. We're getting rid of a bunch of admin for a start, we're ensuring all kids have at least one good meal per day which will have noticeable health benefits, reducing the burden on the NHS. We remove a bunch of sigma around free school meals, and the associated bullying that goes on in schools. Not at all a waste IMO.

VECTORBOY

@VECTORBOY - almost 7 years ago

This has been introduced in my area and has led to schools having a half day Friday so that it is one less meal to provide. The impact being less teaching, and a higher cost in childcare.

I personally never had enough money to afford the equivalent meals that those with dinner tickets had. It should be a baseline tho, and steps should be taken to avoid waste.

I'm thinking water, fruit or such like. Reducing need of full kitchens and staff, but that miggt be too far.

But right now some kids get a roast dinner everyday and some eat nothing.

(kids will just still go to the nearest chip van)

ghost

@ghost - almost 7 years ago

To satisfy Vector and myself I'd say change this:

All primary school children will receive free school meals, removing the stigma around only poorer children receiving free meals, and helping to ensure all primary age children are receiving at least one nutritional meal each day.

to this:

All primary school children will receive free school meals for every standard school day (for most schools, Monday - Friday), removing the stigma around only poorer children receiving free meals, and helping to ensure all primary age children are receiving at least one nutritional meal each school day, regardless of days off, bank holidays that aren't in school breaks, or half days.

philipjohn

@philipjohn - almost 7 years ago

This has been introduced in my area and has led to schools having a half day Friday so that it is one less meal to provide.

That seems like a fairly ridiculous thing to do! Presumably it's the school, or the LEA, that has introduced the free schools meals, and as they largely have control over where they spend the money, they choose whether to spend it on meals or teaching... I'd love to know the details though if you could share more about that @VECTORBOY

geeksareforlife

@geeksareforlife - almost 7 years ago

School meals are already free for all Key Stage 1 children (Foundation Stage 2 - Year 2), and personally, I think it is a great idea.

I would be a bit worried about funding though - at present, funding is decided on a "census" day - the number of children having meals that day is used to set the school's funding for an entire year. This means that if you have a lot of absences that day, or even a school trip, funding will be lower than it needs to be (this happened to the school I am a Governor for!).

That is probably an implementation detail though, and in principle I fully agree.

Vote: ✅

@philipjohn edited education.md - almost 7 years ago

Education should be freely available to all to first degree level or equivalent. Tuition fees for university students should be abolished, as university education is of general benefit to society, and should be covered by general taxation.

All primary school children will receive free school meals, removing the stigma around only poorer children receiving free meals, and helping to ensure all primary age children are receiving at least one nutritional meal each day.

School Uniform

Individual school uniforms for every school will be replaced with a single national uniform, provided by the local education authority to every pupil at no cost.

State funded, state run

We will end academisation and return all state-funded schools to Local Education Authority (LEA) ownership and control. No school will be permitted to be state-funded without being under the ownership and control of the LEA.

Floppy

@Floppy - almost 7 years ago

I just updated this to resolve conflicts. Just wondering if the votebot will count the votes again... adding this comment to make it notice and recount.

Floppy

@Floppy - almost 7 years ago

@geeksareforlife can I ask you to recast your vote now the conflict with the master version has been resolved?

geeksareforlife

@geeksareforlife - almost 7 years ago

happy to

Vote: ✅