...to ask you to ditch school milk?

[TurquoiseTranquility]

Just received the milk letter from school. Not sure if milk prices vary by area/school, but I'm being asked to pay £18.25 for the Autumn term. That's for a 189ml carton of semi-skimmed for 8 weeks, which works out at a whopping £2.42 per litre (£1.37 per pint) of supposedly EU-subsidised milk
Beyond the maths, though, I can't even begin to explain just how much school milk goes to waste. I'm a TA and in my KS2 class, only three children are on the milk list... yet they never EVER drink it, and even though we do offer it to the rest of the class, there are rarely any takers. In Reception, where more than half the class are on the milk list, they are regularly chucking whole packs of it. And that's not just the milk, it's all the packaging and the plastic straws, makes my heart sink
The odd thing is, I've always asked my kids whether they want milk before renewing. And they'd always said yes. But having seen all that waste, I thought I'd go a bit further and ask it they drink all of it or just take a sip and put the rest in the bin. Guess what the answer was.

So last term, I bought them a small thermos flask each and started sending milk in with them. This lasted all of 2 weeks, in which time they were coming home with the flasks still full. Lesson learnt

I guess what I'm trying to say, grill your kids before you pay! And if you don't think they actually drink much of it, save your money and the planet. They'll drink some at home if they want to.

[Southernstars]

I thought school milk was a thing of the past. I am surprised to read your post. All the packaging and straws thrown in the bin would bother me too.

[Whatshallidonowpeople]

Why on earth are parents giving glasses of milk to children? Drinking milk is for babies.

[TinyRick]

Drinking milk is for babies

Well, I'm a 30-something year old baby then.

Lol. What nonsense 😂

[CadyHeron]

Drinking milk is for babies?! What nonsense. Drinking milk is for any age!
Here (UK) in infants years (age up to 7) you get school milk if you pay for it.
18 pounds sounds extortionate though,was only a couple of years ago since youngest got it in infants and it was more like 5 pounds for the term!

[SneakyGremlins]

Milk is only for babies? Fucking bullshit

[echt]

Possibly what Southerstars means is that no mammal past the need for mother's milk drinks it. Humans don't need it either.

[DontThinkTwice1]

Yes you are right, loads of milk is shockingly thrown away! I also see whole packs of milk cartons sat on the side in the school entrance from when it's delivered early for most of the morning. So it's sat in the warm for hours and tastes slightly sour.

[BarbaraWarpecker]

Check out "Cool Milk" for a less pricey option- daily milk for my DC was £21.47 for 2 whole terms.
Mind you, I think a bit of honest information for parents at payment time would be in order. If you know hardly anyone is drinking it in your classroom, then parents should be advised, in order to avoid such unnecessary expense and wastage.

[LinoleumBlownapart]

Drinking milk is for babies. true but drinking milk is an easy source of calcium. Other more natural options could be eating termites and clay. Personally I prefer to leave that to the Chimps.

A lot of school milk gets wasted, why can't they bring back those little glass bottles we used to have? At one school I worked in once the staff used to take it home at the weekends.

[abbsisspartacus]

Our school puts spare milk in a box by the nursery exit at the end of thr day the kids from the other years flock over and help themselves it never goes to waste

[Unihorn]

I didn't realise school milk was still a thing. Is this just in England? We don't have it at my local primaries in Wales.

[habibihabibi]

Gosh been abroad so long I'd completely forgotton about school milk and the stench of it .
Delivered early and sits in the sun (when it's out)
Leaks all over the school fridge and no one cleans it up
Kids squirt it onto their jumpers which never get washed .
The cartons and straws are ditched in bins which are barely emptied.
Blurrrrrrrrgh!
To be honest it was breakfast for some children in the areas of deprivation I worked in during the 80s and
therefore much needed.

[PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks]

I've never paid for school milk. The school gets huge deliveries and the infants help themselves at snack time.

[DiabolicalMess]

I can well imagine and I've been paying £12 per half term... think I may well knock it on the head!!

[Bowerbird5]

Some of the kids don't drink the whole bottle and waste it but most drink it. Spares are given to anyone and there are usually quite a few hands up for it.
We have a fridge especially for the milk. It goes in there until the class teachers send for it.
Ours was about £12 something last time I was involved with that.

[Bowerbird5]

Our little ones get it for free and pupil premium children do too.

[GreenMeerkat]

My LO is in nursery class at a school at the moment and will be joining reception in September and they get free milk at snack time.

If we had to pay for it I wouldn't because she usually has a glass of milk at home with breakfast and before bed so gets plenty of calcium. I'd probably send her in with some juice or water to have instead.

I understand that schools provide primarily for kids who don't get any at home but why pay for it if it's cheaper to provide at home?

[Oopsy41]

My sons 11 (year 6) and drinks his milk everyday but normally comes out of school with an extra bottle because there's always loads left. He loves his milk at school but I agree that there's probably alot of parents buying it for kids that don't drink it

[Gaspodethetalkingdog]

We used to have school milk and I hated it! Never drank it - it is a total waste of money, better to give children water.

[echt]

Drinking milk is for babies. true but drinking milk is an easy source of calcium. Other more natural options could be eating termites and clay. Personally I prefer to leave that to the Chimp

Milk drinking by post-weaning humans service the dairy industry, and nothing else. Options other than are termites green vegetables, beans, fish. All eaten by humans for millennia.

[Witchend]

Why have you concluded that everyone should ditch school milk from that?
Suggest you check with your dc that they're drinking it, fine, but why should everyone ditch it because your dc don't drink it. Some children love it.

I loved school milk when we had those little bottles, and there always was competition for any excess in my class.

[SurfingSally]

Milk is provided free up until Year 2 here.

I've never seen it wasted, the kids all loved getting their milk and the box containing the spares would be surrounded by kids like a pack of vultures on second play time!

[ferrier]

My strapping teenagers drink pints of milk a day. It's comforting to know that their nutritional needs are being almost entirely met with just that. It doesn't 'service the dairy industry' in the same way as eating fruit doesn't service the fruit growing industry. My kids choose milk of their own free will.

And yes, some of them chose milk at school but some chose fruit juice. I know which of the two is healthier.

[FrangipaniBlue]

Why on earth are parents giving glasses of milk to children? Drinking milk is for babies.

no mammal past the need for mother's milk drinks it. Humans don't need it either.

Milk drinking by post-weaning humans service the dairy industry, and nothing else.

I'm assuming your diets consists solely of vegetables, limited meat (if you're not vegetarian) and a few pulses yes? after all if we're only supposed to eat what we NEED......

I don't need alcohol, chocolate, crisps, sweets, a morning fry up, a Saturday night bbq, ice cream, the list goes on but I quite like all of these things so I think I'll go on consuming them thanks.

DS still has milk and when I asked him he said it pretty much all gets used in his class.

That said, MIL works at a school and was telling me this week that they throw heaps away because the teachers simply don't bother to go collect it from the kitchen and give it out

[Pinkvici22]

Unihorn it must vary from LEA’s - we’re in wales and have school milk