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Original poster

Son had no lunch at school.

20 replies

smellyhouseelf · 09/02/2017 17:58

My Son is 11. In year 7 at school. Today he and some other boys had raced to get in the hall for dinner. To be told to go to the back of the queue for running (I fully support this if that's the rule). As soon as he got into the hall, the bell rang for afternoon lessons and he was told it was too late for dinner. So he went hungry. He was upset, very tearful when arrived home due to being hungry. Overall, I'm not really angry, it won't hurt him, and he won't be running in the queue again. But, I feel I should maybe send an email to the school, because someone has to be last in the queue, so behaviour aside, the last few kids missed their dinner today. And as far as I'm concerned, everyone should be fed. So what would you do?

OP posts:

longdiling · 09/02/2017 18:01

How big was this queue and how long do they get for lunch?! Either through queue was insanely long or they don't have long enough for lunch. Or perhaps there was more to it than your ds is saying? I would email to verify how long lunch break is and ask if this is a known problem. I'd also give him some emergency snacks to take in.

BlahBlahBlahEtc · 09/02/2017 18:02

That's really not on in my opinion. It's a basic rule that students are to be fed in school. They should make sure there's enough time for students to get their lunch and eat it!

VintagePerfumista · 09/02/2017 18:04

Of course everyone should be fed, even the last in line.

I'd make quite snotty enquiries.

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Sirzy · 09/02/2017 18:05

Why was he only going for his dinner right at the end of dinner time?

PUGaLUGS · 09/02/2017 18:07

I reckon there is more to this. Did it get to his turn and there wasn't anything left that he liked?

EduCated · 09/02/2017 18:09

I guess it depends if there was a queue for the whole time - i.e. If they had gone in 15 mins before there may not have been a queue, but a couple of mins before the bell if a large group turns up then there may be a queue, if that makes sense?

If this happened at the start of lunch and there had been a constant queue and the back of the queue hadn't been served, then I would raise it with them.

longdiling · 09/02/2017 18:10

I really really wouldn't make snotty enquiries. This sounds like an odd tale to me and you'll feel a right plonker if it turns out your son had wasted most of lunch faffing before hurtling into the dinner Hall 5 minutes before the bell was due to go. If the school ARE at fault you will catch far more flies with honey than with shit.

RacoonBandit · 09/02/2017 18:12

Sorry OP it does sound like your DS didnt go for lunch when lunch time began and then raced to get something close to the end.

Tell him in future not to mess on and he will get time to eat.

c3pu · 09/02/2017 18:12

So he ran to get to lunch, but was told to go to the back of the queue? Did he not join the queue at the back in the first place? Did he push in?

scurryfunge · 09/02/2017 18:13

Sounds like he may well have faffed around at lunch time, decided he wanted food rather late and didn't have enough time left to get his arse into the the canteen. (I had a teen just like that btw).

Costacoffeeplease · 09/02/2017 18:14

Sounds a bit suspicious to me too, I'd hold fire on the 'snottiness' until you get the full facts

noblegiraffe · 09/02/2017 18:15

Unlikely that he raced to the dinner hall at the start of lunch to be still in the lunch queue and denied dinner at the end of lunch - how long is the lunch break?

They have to shut the canteen at the end of lunch otherwise you'll get kids nipping in at the end and using it as an excuse to bunk lessons.

Either the lunch break is way too short or (more likely I think) your DS left it till the last minute to get his lunch and ended up missing out.

Sparklingbrook · 09/02/2017 18:16

Do they have sittings for the different years? He must have known what the time was.

I would definitely be asking exactly what happened.

Gaaaah · 09/02/2017 18:19

Our year groups had sittings when I was at high school. People who bought in their own lunch could eat straight away but canteen users had to go in bit by bit to allow for space. Last sitting was always the unlucky slot who got about 5 seconds flat to breathe in any food they managed to get hold of. Yes, we used to run in order to get in the queue.

Maybe that's what happened here.

5moreminutes · 09/02/2017 18:21

Hmm

Did he run to the hall right at the start of lunch time and spend the entire lunch break in the queue?

I once worked in a school with quite a difficult intake where this could have happened - they had the absolute minimum amount of time for lunch, with the two halves of the school (each year group had two halves) never overlapping so lunch was two separate sittings, and one very short break to avoid trouble/ fights which had previously been a huge problem when there had been a full hour for lunch. It did mean the last in the lunch queue had to inhale their food in about 5 minutes.

It depends on what actually happened.. but it could be worth him taking a sandwich in future...

Original poster

smellyhouseelf · 09/02/2017 19:48

As he has described it to me, the whole school lines up in their year groups at the start of dinner (except packed lunches who eat elsewhere) and they are allowed in in groups, so 4 from each year at a time. As people leave, more are allowed in.
So he was queuing the entire lunch time. The adult in charge (a different teacher each day) said '4 year 7s'. Ds says the 2 lads behind him ran to push in, so he and his friends tried to run past them to get there first. The teacher said, 'no you lot go to the back' which they did. So now they were behind 10 or so other year 7s.
The school has 40 minutes for lunch and I haven't heard him complain before about time, but I don't think he's ever been at the back before. There was no faffing or messing about until the queue was asked to come forwards, and that's when the running/pushing in happened. I think I'll just write an email asking for the facts. I wouldn't be snotty about it, its more a case of this could be happening every day, just to different kids, and I think it needs attention if that's the case.
He had a packet of crisps at 11 so had at least eaten something, just not enough for the boy who cannot be filled 😊

OP posts:

longdiling · 09/02/2017 20:07

Fair enough op, I definitely think it's worth asking. 40 minutes for that amount of queuing doesn't seem right. I hope you get it sorted!

timeisnotaline · 11/02/2017 11:52

Lunch breaks are important for more than just food. I would require the school to have a system where 1. All children get lunch and 2. All children get a lunch break. These are very basic requirements.

Frazzled2207 · 11/02/2017 12:03

Yes what time said
School needs a system where there is time for each kid to eat lunch!

mumsiedarlingrevolta · 11/02/2017 12:13

At DS's Secondary School the queue was awful and boys would not have time to eat-DS started taking lunch because it was so frustrating.
I do believe that if you are at the end you may run out of time-perhaps that's why they were hurrying in the first place. It is completely unacceptable for children to miss lunch.
To be fair DS school moved to cashless system and queue much faster now...

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