[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-20402251

Plans to give all children in Blackpool a free school breakfast to stop them turning up for lessons hungry have been approved by the town's council.

From January, Blackpool's 12,000 primary school pupils are to receive free milk, fruit juice, cereal or toast as part of a three-month trial.

Council leader Simon Blackburn said "under-nourishment is a real problem" in the town.

The scheme will be rolled out to secondary schools if successful.

The potential annual cost would be in the region of £2.1m, according to a council report.

The aim of the scheme is to improve behaviour, attendance and standards in schools.

Mr Blackburn added: "Blackpool still has a big problem with attendance, attainment and behaviour in the classroom.

"Daily we see and hear of children attending school who quite clearly haven't had breakfast, and are not therefore able to learn.

"A recent survey of schoolchildren suggests that some of our older pupils are more likely to have used alcohol or tobacco in the last week than they are to have eaten breakfast or had five portions of fruit and veg a day.

"All of the evidence points towards the provision of school breakfasts improving attendance, attainment and behaviour - in some cases quite dramatically."

Whatever happened to parenting skills?

Well, apart from doing the school run in the 4x4 in pyjamas and curlers .....

[Shaun]

is there any news you don't complain about?

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Shaun

is there any news you don't complain about?

Are you stalking me?

[Kizzy]

Omah, thanks for raising this important issue.
Where the heck do they get 2.1 million from!!
I'm sorry I think your picture of blackpool parents is way off...
Essex parents maybe haha.

[Ammi]

..I think this is a great thing..we do a similar thing in our school, except it isn’t always toast/cereal..but a healthy snack instead...maybe we should have publicised it...LOL...

..there was talk of every child being offered free school meals, but I don’t think it’s being pursued atm...

..the children who it will benefit most are those from low income/single parent families..and the majority of them try their very hardest to provide and have very good parenting skills...yes, there are some that prioritise wrongly but their children shouldn’t miss out on their learning because of that..every child in this country is entitled to an education...and I also certainly wouldn’t discriminate against children of any 4X4 pyjama curler brigade..although, personally, I haven’t seen any of them...a couple of 4x4s that’s all...

..I’m possibly one of the oldest people on this forum...and I know of children when I was at primary/middle school who would have benefitted from this...parenting skills are just as good, if not better than they ever were..there have always been a few who didn’t put their children first and there always will be...nothing has happened to parenting skills...it’s one of the most difficult and challenging ‘jobs’ there is and most people are doing their best and improving their skills constantly...all we can do is concentrate on the ones who maybe don’t take it seriously enough and try to educate them in their priorities...judging them will achieve nothing and most certainly be of no benefit whatsoever to their children.....

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..I think this is a great thing..we do a similar thing in our school, except it isn’t always toast/cereal..but a healthy snack instead...maybe we should have publicised it...LOL...

..there was talk of every child being offered free school meals, but I don’t think it’s being pursued atm...

..the children who it will benefit most are those from low income/single parent families..and the majority of them try their very hardest to provide and have very good parenting skills...yes, there are some that prioritise wrongly but their children shouldn’t miss out on their learning because of that..every child in this country is entitled to an education...and I also certainly wouldn’t discriminate against children of any 4X4 pyjama curler brigade..although, personally, I haven’t seen any of them...a couple of 4x4s that’s all...

..I’m possibly one of the oldest people on this forum...and I know of children when I was at primary/middle school who would have benefitted from this...parenting skills are just as good, if not better than they ever were..there have always been a few who didn’t put their children first and there always will be...nothing has happened to parenting skills...it’s one of the most difficult and challenging ‘jobs’ there is and most people are doing their best and improving their skills constantly...all we can do is concentrate on the ones who maybe don’t take it seriously enough and try to educate them in their priorities...judging them will achieve nothing and most certainly be of no benefit whatsoever to their children.....

I wholeheartedly agree with this comment, poor parenting skills are nothing new, the only thing that has changed is the publicity it receives.

[Kizzy]

I am not surprised this is being trialled in blackpool. The C4 series '999 whats your emergency' was a real eye opener!
Most think of the place as a happy seaside town, it's not...
It is really good to see that Blackpool council are being pro-active and all children are able to access this scheme.
This way no group gets stigmatised.

[Omah]

If parenting skills are so good, why do children from a suposedly affluent society need free breakfasts?

How long does it take to make a bowl of cornflakes?

I was born into a very poor family, yet my mother always provided my sister and myself with cereal and a hot/cold drink for breakfast before school with a small sandwich for elevenses (with free milk) to take us up to the proper meal at school-lunchtime ..... we always had a light meal at "tea-time" with biscuits and a bed-time drink for supper, too, but we never gew up fat ..... just heathy and well-educated .....

If poorly-performing parents aren't idle then they must be ignorant - no hope for their children there, then .....

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Omah

If parenting skills are so good, why do children from a suposedly affluent society need free breakfasts?

How long does it take to make a bowl of cornflakes?

I was born into a very poor family, yet my mother always provided my sister and myself with cereal and a hot/cold drink for breakfast before school with a small sandwich for elevenses (with free milk) to take us up to the proper meal at school-lunchtime ..... we always had a light meal at "tea-time" with biscuits and a bed-time drink for supper, too, but we never gew up fat ..... just heathy and well-educated .....

If poorly-performing parents aren't idle then they must be ignorant - no hope for their children there, then .....

Is Blackpool classed as an affluent area of the UK?
We don't know why these children are not eating in the morning, there could be many factors..
Some could come from local authority care, be young carers, their parents may have mental health issues or addictions, they may not have time as parents rush off to work?
It is really sad but not all parents nurture their children as your mother did.
What can we do about it?
feed them, and hope it instills in them the benefit to do it for their own children.

[Omah]

Originally Posted by kizzy

Is Blackpool classed as an affluent area of the UK?
We don't know why these children are not eating in the morning, there could be many factors..
Some could come from local authority care, be young carers, their parents may have mental health issues or addictions, they may not have time as parents rush off to work?
It is really sad but not all parents nurture their children as your mother did.
What can we do about it?
feed them, and hope it instills in them the benefit to do it for their own children.

Blackpool's a "deprived" urban borough in an "affluent" rural setting - there's money passing through but not stopping .....

Once the schools feed the kids then NO parents will bother - why should their kids be left out of the freebie? A bad situation gets worse .....

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Omah

Blackpool's a "deprived" urban borough in an "affluent" rural setting - there's money passing through but not stopping .....

Once the schools feed the kids then NO parents will bother - why should their kids be left out of the freebie? A bad situation gets worse .....

Then you have to ask why Lancashire County Council is allowing Blackpool to slide into near dereliction as they did with morcambe?
That in my childhood was a lovely little seaside town.

I disagree totally that those parents who previously provided their children with breakfast will suddenly stop because a slice of toast is on offer at school...

[Omah]

Originally Posted by kizzy

Then you have to ask why Lancashire County Council is allowing Blackpool to slide into near dereliction as they did with morcambe?.

I don't think LCC have a say in the matter now that Blackpool is a unitary authority.

[Scarlett.]

Blackpool is fine as a town, it's the twats that come here that ruin things.

[Omah]

Originally Posted by kizzy

I disagree totally that those parents who previously provided their children with breakfast will suddenly stop because a slice of toast is on offer at school...

Then the kids will get fat on TWO breakfasts .....

[Marcus.]

well that going to help them

[Kizzy]

Well then Blackpool as an independant town then... They seem to have put a lot of money into regenerating the seafront.
Lets hope they can plough some profits made from tourism this year back into the run down residential areas for the people who live and work there.
Do you live in Blackpool chewy?

[Nedusa]

What a load of absolute nonsense....what's next buying them all new clothes and taking them all to Disneyland...!!!!

[Nedusa]

Originally Posted by Nedusa

What a load of absolute nonsense....what's next buying them all new clothes and taking them all to Disneyland...!!!!

Its bad enough most households have to pay on average over a £1,400 p.a in Council Tax without this money being used to fund ridiculous schemes like this. And if there is money available to pay for hair brained schemes like this then that particular Council should reduce their Council Tax income for the following year. Either way this is left wing, liberal, Yoghurt munching nonsense....!!!!

[Scarlett.]

Originally Posted by kizzy

Well then Blackpool as an independant town then... They seem to have put a lot of money into regenerating the seafront.
Lets hope they can plough some profits made from tourism this year back into the run down residential areas for the people who live and work there.
Do you live in Blackpool chewy?

Yup, its a lot better of a town during the off season

[Me. I Am Salman]

the primary school and secondary school I went to have been doing breakfast clubs for about 10 years now
edit: it's probably because I live in one the most deprived boroughs in the UK pmsl

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Salman!

the primary school and secondary school I went to have been doing breakfast clubs for about 10 years now
edit: it's probably because I live in one the most deprived boroughs in the UK pmsl

Was yours free salman? lots of schools have breakfast clubs but they charge, it's really pricey too if I remember, it was only supermarkets own bread and it was 15p a slice!!

[Me. I Am Salman]

Originally Posted by kizzy

Was yours free salman? lots of schools have breakfast clubs but they charge, it's really pricey too if I remember, it was only supermarkets own bread and it was 15p a slice!!

At the secondary school I went to you could eat free breakfasts as long as you arrived before 8am, after that though stuff like toast cost 30p... I don't know about my primary school.

I never ever went to any of these dirt cheap breakfast clubs by the way

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Salman!

At the secondary school I went to you could eat free breakfasts as long as you arrived before 8am, after that though stuff like toast cost 30p... I don't know about my primary school.

I never ever went to any of these dirt cheap breakfast clubs by the way

How come, were you embarrassed to?
Did many go to it?

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Omah

Then the kids will get fat on TWO breakfasts .....

Well I guess they could if they could be bothered to get up, have one breckers, get to school and shovel another one in before 8am.....
Neither of mine would, prefer the extra time in their pits! haha!

[Omah]

If pupils made the effort to get to school by 8AM, why did they not, alternatively, spend 10 more minutes on breakfast at home ?

Were their parents too poor to afford a bowl of cereal or a couple of slices of bread, i.e. were they living in the 1930's ?