Polly Toynbee’s suggestions about bringing joy to the education system through increasing the provision of free school meals and breakfast clubs are nice enough (The Tories have sucked the joy from the education system. Here are three ways Labour can bring it back, 29 February).
However, none of this will bring any improvement unless a new Labour government does the really essential thing of reimbursing schools the full cost of providing meals.
Currently, the government subsidy does not reflect the actual expense; so the requirement to provide free school meals for children in reception, year one and year two, and the associated increase in uptake, has cost schools thousands of pounds a year, which must be taken from elsewhere in budgets already cut to the bone.
Extending free school meals to key stage two would double the size of this deficit, or worse: food prices are increasing, as we all know, and catering companies are passing these costs on to schools.
If any new government wants children to be fed and educated then they need to pay for the food.
Jess Hindes
London
• Polly Toynbee is right to criticise the current limited provision of further education. It should not be the Cinderella of the education system, with lecturers underpaid in relation to their secondary school counterparts and overworked. Students should feel as valued as those embarking on A-levels and degrees, not just for the sake of their self-esteem but because of the enormous contribution that they and their skills will make to public services and commerce over a lifetime.
Apprenticeships should not be abandoned simply because the levy has been opportunistically misapplied by some employers. There are school leavers who would benefit from mixing work and training, but their pay is ludicrously mean. Half the minimum wage is poor compensation for the many hours of hard work that they will contribute to their work placements. It leaves them with the belief that they are simply a source of cheap labour, especially if all their pay is swallowed up by transport and food costs.
Happiness is partly derived from being nurtured and cared for, but long-term contentment comes from financial independence, the promise of a career and being valued for making a distinctive contribution to society.
Yvonne Williams
Ryde, Isle of Wight
• I just heard myself actually whoop out loud. I was on my own in my office, but I would happily have explained to any curious listeners that I was whooping with delight at Polly Toynbee’s article. Yes – to all of it. Attendance and exam results will follow if young people feel joy.
I would like to propose that Ofsted introduces the Toynbee Glee Scale, to rate schools from (4) Dismal, to (3) Mildly interesting, (2) Generally pleasant, and (1) Joyous. Any school marked as 3 or 4 would be sent a crack team of artists, musicians, actors and educators to help them find the fun.
Dr Helen Care
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
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