to think schools should allow flexibility between packed lunches and school meals?

I’m in Scotland and she either takes a packed lunch if she doesn’t like what’s on the menu that day.

if she’s school dinners, they take the order on the day with the register.

Ours just go into school and the first task each day is to highlight their name on the interactive board in a certain colour which corresponds to either lunch box, or a pick of three school meals available that day. They do it on the day, each day.
We just upload money to an app for school dinners. If you’ve forgotten to put money on, the kids still get food, your account just goes in to the minus until you upload money.

We have to book in advance, I think by midnight on Sunday, but I've usually mine booked a few weeks ahead. They don't make the food on site, just bring it in from a central caterer and there's really only one option per day. My son has never had dinners (awkward fussy eater!) my daughter's had dinners every day, but after a year has suddenly decided she doesn't want the Wednesday curry any more so it's packed lunch for her. Would be a nightmare if it was all or nothing.

Do they not offer sandwiches as an option. My kids school had a hot meal meat/veg option, jacket P or sandwiches. As did the school I did a brief dinner lady stint in. I’d ask this question b/c if they don’t it may be worth suggesting if they could

Other catering outlets are not providing possibly 400 meals a day, all of which need to be served in an hour. It's not Brenda's Cafe serving 30 meals a day most of which are full English breakfast. On the miniscule budget allowed minimising waste is essential. As a country we spend more feeding a police dog than we do on a childs school dinner.

You lost me with 'I don’t think it’s fair to expect parents to fund a packed lunch every day'. You had a child but you don't think you should be responsible for feeding it? You think tax payers should be responsible for feeding your child? Wow.

That sounds unreasonable to me. In the school I work in, and the ones my kids go to, you just select in the morning if you are having a school lunch or packed lunch.

At DD's primary school they say during registration whether they're on packed lunches or school dinners.

Most of the primary schools round here are the same, or parents fill in an app at the start of the week. You can mix and match though.

I get what some people are saying about fussiness but DD ate everything put in front of her at nursery but school dinners are not of the same quality so a few weeks into reception we switched to predominantly packed lunches. This way I know she's eating a balanced meal and has a full tummy for afternoon classes.

Both DC have total flexibility. 1 DC chooses their option in the morning, the other just says if they are having a school dinner and then chooses in the lunch hall.

Both schools now offer a main, veg option, sandwich or jacket potato. One school also offers pasta too.

Our school doesn’t ask for a choice. Kids can do what they want day by day. I don’t know how they make it work.

We can decide on the day. I would say the downside to this is not much is prepared on site. Instead all the orders go to a central kitchen and then food is shipped out to thousands of pupils in dozens of schools in Insulated hot boxes. I do think if they were preparing on-site then knowing numbers a week in advance is fair. I think you should be able to have lunch / packed lunch as you choose.

Our schools do. When they do the dinner register in the morning they just have to say pack lunch or hot dinner and can change on a day to fay basis if they want (as we often do). We are in Wales, if that makes any difference. All the kids in primary school get free hot dinners if they want them.

Ours have this flexibility. We are provided with the menu at the start of term, the menu has a choice of hot meal or sandwich/jacket potato each day. The DC that do not turn up with a packed lunch are asked if they want the hot option or sandwich/jacket potato option at registration.

We can change day to day. Have to order by 9am for that day.

Our school is totally flexible. It use to be a little more rigid but can now book up to the night before. Mine mainly have packed lunches with a Friday school dinner. We have odd days that we book a school lunch if we need it.
When my son was on fsm we had to still provide additional food, as the lunches weren't big enough to fill him up!!

Not heard of this before. I work in a large primary and our kids just choose on the day from. 3 meal choices or they have their own packed lunch. My sons school the same, sometimes he'd have packed lunch sometimes school dinners. The exact same at another school I worked at it was all done on the same morning during registration.

We use ParentPay across all schools in the authority (in south Wales).

Universal Free School meals for all primary school children, just book on the website by about 8am or most schools double check in the morning if anyone who hasn’t ordered has a lunchbox.

Theres one main option, veggie option and either pasta/jacket potato

Both my kids went to different state primary schools and we simply had to have chosen the meal we wanted by 8am on the menu app - we can pick from a choice of hot lunches or a sandwich option. If we select nothing then you have to send in a packed lunch.

I’ve no idea how they manage to cater for it so last minute, but ds always gets the meal he has asked for.

In reality i book all ds’s lunches for the whole half term, so that I don’t forget- and I expect most people do the same so the school will know roughly how many portions to make of each meal and then make allowance for a few stragglers who book last minute.

Same as my school.
Very small rural school with our own chef.
We have ParentPay and ask people to book ahead so we have a rough idea each day how many are going to be eating a school lunch. But we also double check and do a lunch register each day. Sometimes kids have got a packed lunch but really want the school dinner so we phone home and check. Sometimes they forget their packed lunch so we give them a lunch.
There aren’t really any options - ii’s the one choice (or the veggie version.) We do offer jacket potatoes if you don’t like the main but we strongly discourage choosing them because you fancy a jacket! We just don’t have oven space for loads of spuds.

Dinners are compulsory where I teach (secondary) as there is no where to store pack ups. They are mostly fsm and most eat - breakfast, cereal bar at break and a lunch. For a lot it’s the only meals they get.

He has white bread and butter with ham. He'll eat things with it too but the likes of plain crisps and a chocolate mini roll.

I'd move my son if only school lunches were allowed too, it would be a nightmare.

We have flexibility to choose up until the day before. My child complained that when he was having school dinners he missed a lot of play time waiting for the hot meal to be served so he now just takes in sandwiches (along with the majority of his friends).

In his previous (and much smaller) school he just had to tell his teacher what he wanted for lunch during morning registration, no pre booking required.

I've taught for decades and in all schools I've been in, the children choose during the morning register what they want for dinner that day.

Ours they decide when they go in on the morning.
I can literally decide the night before if I’m making a packed lunch or not. Always been that way