Parents complaining about this in school?

Some children might be regularly sent with an inadequate lunch, which would be a safeguarding concern. A child might choke (has not been unheard of children dying) so yes, someone should definitely be supervising

I think an occasional eye to identify kids that aren't eating and talk about why / mention to parents is useful. DS had a little patch of not eating when he was upset, but moved school and he's been fine since. It would have been nice if the previous school had said he wasn't eating, or tried to help with the bullying in any way at all really, but worked out for the best as he's much happier now.

Primary level - vegetables and fruit encouraged

Secondary - yes food consumption is discreetly monitored to check for eating disorders

Kids need exercise. It's not fair to make them sit longer for no good reason. If they've finished then they should be able to leave to get moving and have a break. They'll be sitting down in the class room again soon enough.

What are your thoughts?
How old are the children? Are they going hungry?

Oh dear me! That's torture. I'm so so sorry

Who are you in this?

Personally I think it's fine, if the kids are hungry they'll eat. They'll soon work out if they're too hungry at the end of the day they should have eaten lunch.

It was a teacher in the early 70s who forced me to eat school lunches even when I vomited the it all back onto the plate! She patrolled Thursday lunches which was always some sort or roast. It took me years to get over it and I’ve never eaten cabbage carrots or mashed potato again and it took me years to enjoy a roast dinner and I’m still unenthusiastic about roast potatoes. Over 50 years later reading this thread brings the memories flooding back.

What a strange thing to say.

Exactly. One of my DC’s has additional needs and can be slow to start and eat lunch. Some days they come home distraught with hunger, only for me to find they ate hardly any lunch. As soon as they see their friends getting up to go out to play, they do the same (and are sometimes encouraged to by their friends). If they all had to sit there for a set amount of time, then DC and others
like them would eat more. I also don’t like the idea of some children being rewarded by longer playing time just because they can stuff their lunch in in 5 minutes.

Lazy journo?

They’ll eat if they’re hungry is a myth. Some children absolutely won’t.

Give them a good breakfast, healthy snack after school, good dinner.
Then they’ll eat lunch if they are hungry, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t.

How many dinner ladies is it going to take to police that? It's never entered my head to be honest. Even my fussy child eats when he's hungry and isn't underweight. Overeating on the other hand, combined with inactivity, seems to be a much bigger problem today.

When dd was younger, they were encouraged but not forced. This seems like a good compromise. Perhaps they do that at your dc’s school. Eating lunch helps to focus in afternoon lessons.

I think it is bad manners to leave the table when others are eating and it is not teaching table manners properly. It also means the slower eaters are left sitting alone each day. Should be a set time to eat and talk and then all leave after that set time. Prevents rushing and also teaches table manners when some have finished.

Bloody hell. I still remember our miserable dinner lady standing over me and refusing to let me go outside until I had eaten all of the revolting school dinner. I still remember crying because I hated the food.

I've got memories of screaming crying children being force fed in the 90s, so no I think it's far better to let them lead when it comes to eating.

Eating when not hungry is not a healthy habit. Why would you want your children to develop it?

I feel a bit conflicted about this, DD thought she absolutely had to finish her lunchbox (not Uk) so she would clear it out and then her teacher would say “I think she needs a bit more food” and I ended up bulking it up and then I realised she was stuffing herself with food to get her teachers approval. It took a year for her eating to return to normal and for her to stop eating so much she was creaking.

At her new school they do keep an eye but theres no encouragement to finish everything just to eat something. Now she sometimes comes home with a completely empty lunchbox and needs more food and sometimes she’s only eaten half and it’s fine. It really messed with her hunger signals and appetite. I don’t actually care how much she eats (she’s always been an enthusiastic eater) thats entirely up to her but her eating started looking really disordered to me.

I think it’s reasonable to keep an eye and communicate to parents if a child is just not eating but otherwise I’m really anti interfering with how much they eat or don’t eat.

Actually it is the schools responsibility to monitor food is a good standard, waste is reduced, children are eating and not storing food, food is not taken off a child, children have a good meal as some bring a bag of crisps each day, to ensure good manners, allows children to eat with friends and have a positive dining experience is created. FSM are likely to be bullied more than non FSM and may rush to get out or not eat to get out faster. FSM are the most at risk of cyber bullying and again may not eat well to get out of putting themselves in a situation they may be bullied about when at home online. They should be able to use a knife and fork and not spray children with food when they speak.

You can't do this without a whole-school approach, where you monitor the whole lunchtime, including those not eating, to ensure there is no problem lurking.

Ours have to put their hand up to see what has been eaten before they can have their dessert.

DD's school have a good balance imo.

They don't get involved with what the children eat or don't eat. However, the kids all sit in the dining hall for the full sitting (30 mins) and are allowed to read or chatter to friends when they're finished, but they don't get out into the playground until the 30 mins is up.

Dd used to skip most of her lunch to play. Now she eats it. Apparently a lot of the kids are the same

You can say to a child 'are you sure you don't want any more?' before they go. You can't force feed 90 or however many children. Nor should you.

Lots of children just don't like school dinners but obviously with FSM understandably lots are on them. Or children go off stuff or don't like the look of it. I'm afraid it's parents responsibility to provide something their children will eat. Just pack your child an extra snack or sandwich if you are that worried.