School starts charging £2 for ‘free’ meal at breakfast club
A mum is considering moving her daughter to a new school after the current one is to start charging £2 for its breakfast club.
Longhill Primary School, in Hull, has run a free session for a number of years which is 45 minutes before the school day officially starts.
Although food has not been provided since before the pandemic, this is set to resume from September – but will cost £2 a morning.
One mum claims the charge is too much, adding: ‘£1 would have been a push, but £2 is pure greed.
‘I rely on breakfast club there to enable me to get to work and provide. We’re going to be the most expensive breakfast club in Hull, by the looks of it.
‘From what I can see from every other school I’ve done my research, it’s like £1 or £1.50. And this is for a 45-minute period.
‘This may force my hand to move my child school just to save money for the month.
‘Cut backs need to happen but I did not think moving school would be one of them.’
She further claimed the charge will apply to everyone, regardless of whether children are in receipt of free school meals.
In a letter to parents and carers on Friday, the school said: ‘From September we are going to change the way breakfast club is run as the school are no longer in a position to offer this service free of charge.
‘We are going to offer a breakfast club with a choice of toast or cereals at a cost of £2 per session. The money will cover the full cost of the food and will contribute to the cost of the staffing.
‘We do appreciate that this is an additional cost but the school budget is not in position to fully subsidise staffing and this brings Longhill in line with other schools.’
The mum said she would have been happier if the charge was £1 or if children could attend for free if they did not eat.
The breakfast club will not be the most expensive in Hull, but other primary schools offer the service either for cheaper or free, or no charge for those who get free school meals.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Longhill Primary School for comment.
Government funding for breakfast clubs at schools in deprived areas of England is to be cut after July from a 100% subsidy to 75%.
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