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AIBU?

To think that school children (secondary) shouldn't be allowed to lave school at lunchtime

92 replies

BeeInYourBonnet · 07/03/2014 07:17

I drive past my local shops at lunchtime every day, and without fail the chip shop, bakery and kebab shop are full of children from the local secondary school. Its not unusual to see up to 50 teenagers, and when I've been close enough to see (when I am stopping at shops too) they are all without fail eating big pizza slices, pasties, chips, or kebabs. Almost one has a plastic tray of some kind, full of greasy food.

When I was a teenager, we weren't allowed out of school at lunchtime without a note from parents saying we were going home for lunch. When did this stop, and isn't letting kids eat shit at lunchtime contributing to obesity and reinforcing bad eating habits, when actually secondary school is a time when we can make one last ditch attempt to encourage good eating habits?

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Lovehorror · 07/03/2014 07:21

At my children's school only year 11 are allowed out for lunch.

Artandco · 07/03/2014 07:23

Why should everyone be banned just because some are buying fast food during that time?

MarianneEnjolras · 07/03/2014 07:23

You'd have a point if the school wasn't also serving shit at lunch time.

I ate chips and gravy (just that, nothing else) every day at high school. There usually wasn't anything else left in the canteen anyway.

I probably ate better on the days I went to the chip shop as I could have fish or or to the bakery and ate a meat pie or cheese and onion pasty!

TantrumsAndBalloons · 07/03/2014 07:25

Only year 10-13 are allowed out at DCs school.

They have to have a form filled in by parents to say they have permission to "go home" for lunch in year 10/11

Mine don't bother. Dd because its too far to walk to the shops and it's too expensive.
And ds1 because he doesn't want to spend his own money buying lunch when he can get a lunch from home for free

katrina81 · 07/03/2014 07:25

At my daughter's school none of the years are allowed out, not even year 11.

saidnooneever · 07/03/2014 07:27

Our local school stopped the pupils going out about 4 years ago. Before then it was exactly how you described at the local shops.

I was forever ringing the school up as many would throw thier pizza boxes etc over garden fences. The rubbish in the street was terrible.

Electryone · 07/03/2014 07:27

When my DS was at secondary school he left the school fir lunch every day, yes initially he had chips etc but soon started going to a local cafe and had things like soup, Panini etc so not all kids go for unhealthy stuff!

CalamitouslyWrong · 07/03/2014 07:29

My secondary school let us out at lunchtime. We are mostly cheap crisps as far as I can remember. We're all fine.

I don't think they could have catered for us in the dinner hall if people hadn't gone to the local shops. As it was you'd spend most of lunchtime in the queue and then sometimes they'd insist you threw away half your lunch because lunchtime was over by the time you'd bought something, found a table and eaten anything.

noblegiraffe · 07/03/2014 07:30

When I was a teenager, (1990s) we were allowed out of school for lunch/McDonalds in Y11. So the answer to 'when did this stop' must be more than 20 years ago.

NoodleOodle · 07/03/2014 07:31

YABU

WooWooOwl · 07/03/2014 07:36

It's not allowed at either of my dc's school until 6th form. I like it that way as there's no need for them to leave, but there's nowhere nearby for them to want to go anyway.

ginbin54 · 07/03/2014 07:38

DSs were allowed out at lunchtime from year 11 onwards. Surely we have to let them make their own choices from that age. They used to buy cheap at lunch time but are fine, healthy young men now! Is nowhere safe from the lunch police these days?!

BikeRunSki · 07/03/2014 07:40

We used to go to the kebab shop in the 1980s! It's not a new thing.

ginbin54 · 07/03/2014 07:42

Crap not cheap. Blasted kindle.

MrsBennetsEldest · 07/03/2014 07:42

If the food served at school was decent there would be no need for them to go elsewhere. The portions are too small ( teens in General have huge appetites) and if it's a large school often by the time they have queued for the best part of their lunch break the most popular meal choices have all gone.

Not all children are overweight and it's the responsibility of the parents of those that are to educate their own children regarding healthy eating.

HadABadDay2014 · 07/03/2014 07:43

I don't blame the kids, have you seen the prices of food in secondary schools.

MyBodyIsAtemplate · 07/03/2014 07:45

no going out until 6th form at our kids school

the junk food wouldn't bother me in the slightest as that's what most teens do. and eat a full meal at night too. it's what everyone did that I remember as a teen so no biggie.

however I think kids are safer and less likely to get into trouble on school premises. there should be no need to leave under the 6th form.

GuineaPigGaiters · 07/03/2014 07:51

I left school in the late 80's and we were allowed out from the first year to the shops. We ate junk too.

Smoorikins · 07/03/2014 07:57

I bet the owners of the shops that are making money from them would disagree. Think of the local economy!

blueemerald · 07/03/2014 07:58

I work in a school where the students get breakfast club, toast and juice at break and a meal (it's such a small school that everything is made from scratch and is amazing) at lunch at for free (it's a special school with high levels of deprivation) and our year 11s still go out and buy crap at lunch time!

WorrySighWorrySigh · 07/03/2014 08:01

I started leaving school at lunch time during one of the industrial actions of the early 80s. Never went back to school lunches. My parents continued to pay for school dinner tickets which I would then sell in the school. I spent the money on cigarettes and records!

Logg1e · 07/03/2014 08:02

The British are quite unusual in expecting schools to provide so much of what normally falls under parenting. So I ask the opposite question, why should the schools interfere with what teenagers are doing during their lunch break at all?

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Kirk1 · 07/03/2014 08:03

Our local secondary allows the yr11 out for lunch. I think the local sandwich shop would object if that stopped as a large number of them descend on the place every school lunch time. School holidays are so quiet I suspect the school children make a large fraction of their annual income.

formerbabe · 07/03/2014 08:06

Sixth formers were allowed out at lunch in my school but that's all.

I'm amazed schools allow younger pupils out. During school hours the school is surely in loco parentis. When you hand over your children to them in the morning, you expect (or at least I would) that they would know where that child is for the entire school day.

hackmum · 07/03/2014 08:08

I'm a child of the 70s. We were allowed out of primary school at lunchtime. Happy days.

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