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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

Please, Sir, I want some - more?

20 replies

PrettyCandles · 07/02/2011 20:55

Dd is always still hungry after school dinner, the portions aren't big enough. I told her to ask for more if she had cleared her plate, but she was refused seconds. According to ds1 (2 y further on in the school), the only people who get seconds are the Y6s, because they are the last sitting.

What to do? The school only allow fruit snacks, which just aren't enough for dd.

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compo · 07/02/2011 20:56

Give her a bigger breakfast? Porridge etc

or give her a packed lunch

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wearymum200 · 07/02/2011 20:57

Think we're having this problem too. DS always starving when I collect him. Reluctant to go down the packed lunch route...,

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PrettyCandles · 07/02/2011 21:03

She can't manage a big breakfast first thing in the morning. Even though she likes porridge she just can't eat it 30mins after waking. Weekends, she is often up for an hour or more before having breakfast, and then she can pack away enough to keep her going.

I give her two snacks, one for break and one for before her after-school activity, and then often another on the way home.

I'm reluctant to give her packed lunches.

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EBDteacher · 07/02/2011 21:13

Having worked in several primary schools across my career I would say your concern over the portion size is not unjustified.

The catering companies are very concerned with minimising waste and will not give more than an 'average' portion to a child of any given age. They don't take into account how big the children are or how physically active etc.

IME you are unlikely to win a battle for her to be given more than her allocated 'portion' and you will have to find a way to get more calories into her at other times.

Can you raise the issue with the Head and ask for your DD to be allowed to eat a cereal bar or similar in the office or medical room before after school activities? Not very sociable but better than starving.

This sort of thing is one of the reasons why I work in Special Ed where we can be more flexible with each child. Makes my blood boil a little bit!

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UnSerpentQuiCourt · 07/02/2011 21:32

I agree, several children have complained to me at school that they are hungry after lunch and only the last table gets seconds. Worryingly, the dinner ladies often take home uneaten trays of food.

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PrettyCandles · 07/02/2011 21:40

That's an option, EBDTeacher. Though TBH what dd wants is more main course! From what you say there's not going to be much chance of that.

I wonder whether they have 'Lunchbox Police'? If not, thenmaybe I could give her a bun to eat during lunchbreak but after she has finished her hot dinner and returned to the playground.

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Catsmamma · 07/02/2011 21:42

at our primary you could pay for a larger portion...might be worth asking if that is possible.

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ninah · 07/02/2011 21:46

what is your reluctance about packed lunches due to?
i work in a school and only book a school lunch if I run out of bread or something
they look great on paper but really horrible on the plate

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torie1980 · 07/02/2011 21:53

i had the same problem, even though we are entitled to free school meals my DS came home hungry everyday as he hated what was put on his plate in the end i ended up givin him packed lunch so he was not hungry through out the day

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wearymum200 · 07/02/2011 22:47

Went for school lunches for a number of reasons. Firstly, he won't get a hot meal on days I work otherwise ,secondly, the school needs plenty of parents to support the school meals system, thirdly I would struggle to fill packed lunch with a baalnced sdiet i think. Ds is a v bad fruit eater, will eat every veg under the sun, but not generally raw and cold cooked carrots, sprouts, broccoli not very appeetising!

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LadyGlencoraPalliser · 07/02/2011 23:06

The portions at the DDs current school are fine, but in DD1s previous school I was shocked at how small they were. I switched DD to packed lunches because she was always starving - and she was only Y1 then. I'm not sure there is another solution TBH.

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Saracen · 08/02/2011 00:51

I think you should explain the problem to the school and push for children to be allowed to bring a more substantial snack than fruit.

My dd loved the school meals but didn't find them big enough, so she used to have a sandwich or cheese and fruit for a snack.

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Madsometimes · 08/02/2011 11:40

My Y6 dd says the portions are too small for her as well. My dd is as tall as many adults, and although she is thin, she does need feeding. We do not buy her children's meals when eating out any more.

The portions are just right for my Y3 dd, but she is much smaller than her sister.

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PrettyCandles · 08/02/2011 14:42

Essentially the same reasons as Wearymum's. Plus, it would be difficult to give dd pack lunches and then refuse ds1 pack lunches. But ds1 needs to eat school
dinners. He is a fussy eater and his eating has improved enormously with school dinners. During termtimes he is far more likely to try new foods or compromise over what is available. Were ds1 to take pack lunches he would probably accept only cheese-and-cucumber sandwiches for the rest of the year, and the next year.

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choccyp1g · 08/02/2011 14:59

UnSerpentQuiCourt Mon 07-Feb-11 21:32:38
I agree, several children have complained to me at school that they are hungry after lunch and only the last table gets seconds. Worryingly, the dinner ladies often take home uneaten trays of food

WTF?? That sounds like theft.

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GrimmaTheNome · 08/02/2011 15:05

DDs primary started putting out plates of brown bread and extra fruit so that hungrier kids could always have that to fill up on. Seemed sensible to me.

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pourmeanotherglass · 08/02/2011 16:50

our school allow seconds for Y3 and above - dd1 (Y3) often seems to have seconds, so the portions may be a bit small.

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UnSerpentQuiCourt · 08/02/2011 21:49

Choccyp, I wasn't really thinking of theft, rather that the portions are small yet there is food left over at the end.

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thisisyesterday · 08/02/2011 21:54

agree with choccy! if pupils are complaining of being hungry, and dinner ladies are taking home piles of food...... i would be "talking" with the headteacher about that!

prettycandles I think if this is a big issue for her/you then you are going to have to consider a packed lunch tbh

that isn't to say it isn't worth talking to the schoolk as well though., I wonder if they'd be happy for her to have both? so a sandwich or a roll and butter to have with her main? and an extra snack afterwards?

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PrettyCandles · 11/02/2011 21:12

Dd told me that Fridays are the only day when she is always hungry after lunch (they only get two fish fingers - at home I give them three), so I gave her a Marmite sandwich to have after lunch.

Not only did she eat her sandwich, but she was given a second helping of chips, and a sticker for being such a good eater!

I had assumed dd would eat her sandwich in the playground, but she ate it in the dinner hall. I can't help but wonder whether seeing this really drove it home to the dinner ladies just how hungry dd is when she clears her plate and asks for seconds.