Why is food in schools so bad the U.K.?

[workwoes123]

This may count as a TAAT but it’s more a thread inspired by a thread .

I’m British, I remember fairly crap school dinners in the 1980s. fizzy juice on tap, chips most days. But that was 30 years and an obesity crisis ago.

I live in France now and my kids are in french schools. There are no snacks, no breakfasts, no vending machines, no play pieces. School dinner is a salad starter, a main course with meat / fish / chicken plus veg and carbs, followed by cheese / yoghurt and fruit / occasional dessert. That’s it, for a school day that starts at 8am and finishes at 4:30pm. Today the menu was:

Green salad / tomato pasta salad / beetroot salad
Beef stew / cod in curry sauce with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables
Cheese or yoghurt
Fruit or isles flottantes (meringue on custard).

I’ve just been on a thread where children in a U.K. secondary school are being offered chocolate croissants for breakfast, bacon / sausage sarnies as a snack (a snack!), iced buns as an afternoon snack. Is this normal? All of this is in addition to a the actual school lunch? Why are the children so hungry that they need snacks as well as a meal?

Did Jamie Oliver not sort all this out? I had this vague idea that school food in the U.K. had improved since I were a lass - has it?

Goodness people are easily shocked.

‘Gobsmacked’ or ‘the mind boggles’ so much of the time.

Must be very uncomfortable .

There’s also the fact that PPA time for teachers (often a whole day each) is covered by agency staff, and this costs at least twice as much as it would if someone was employed directly by a school. Most of the money goes into the pockets of the greedy agency owners, who are nearly always ex-teachers.

Ppa is half a day and generally covered in house or by supply staff who have a regular contract and are employed directly, not through an agency.

I get 2 50 min PPA a week and in secondary school it’s not covered by anyone, my a level classes have a library session- where they have to go to the library, sign in and work silently.

My kids primary teachers have an afternoon a week covered by the class TA

People like to make up shit online, I’ve never worked in a school or hear of one where a teacher gets a whole day PPA and an agency temp comes jn- what bollocks, unless the cover is ill then maybe?

Very occasionally you might get a day because your time was missed a couple of weeks ago or because actually one half of the day is ppa and the other half is a course or subject leader release.

NRTFT but yanbu at all. Ds1 is in secondary school now and told me they have a free breakfast so went to try it out. It's waffles, croissants and hot chocolate every single day. Waffles etc are also available to buy daily during break which is what many children do instead of running about playing football or whatever. Lunch is pretty standard, not much veg available and always a sugary dessert. DS takes a packed lunch most days, and told me many of his friends pointed out and laughed at his healthy packed lunch. It's not particularly healthy, it's just that they take NO fruit or veg and have a can of fizzy and he has water.

Ds2 is in primary and it's no different. He isn't one to refuse junkfood but luckily hates the lunches provided, so prefers packed lunch. They're allowed a snack at breaktime and although officially it says only fruit, many kids take in a Penguin or similar. Kids don't need to snack, they won't get low energy levels. In fact it's the opposite! We've been fed so many food lies all our lives it's shocking.

EYProvider the percentage of pupils with an EHCP is nowhere near 10%. In the academic year 20/21 it was 3.7%. Gov source. Not all pupils with ASD have an EHCP either. And even if LAs are spending huge sums on maintaining EHCPs they spend far more hiring barristers to defend indefensible cases against unrepresented parents at Tribunal, the majority of which the LA lose. If the LA provided support sooner they would save money in the longer term.

Not RTFT but when I was at primary school school dinners were yuck. But they were perhaps not full of rubbish.

Secondary school was canteen style and not very good.

I actually thought ds had good school dinners at primary school (parents were invited in to try them) - the only problem being the portion sizes were the same from 4 years old to 11 ;) Secondary was again canteen style and not very good.

The problem really is that people won't pay for quality and expect decent meals for not very much money.

@Croissantly

It's representative of the countries attitude to food overall really, our supermarkets are full of crap, processed shite that seems to be a daily feature in many peoples diets rather than occasional treats as intended- absolutely not surprised this is reflected in school meals (sadly).

This really. It’s not just about funding but general attitudes to food. My dd goes to an independent school so funding for school meals is not an issue but the food is still pretty bad.

The problem is that if children grow up eating crap then they are very likely to develop weight and health problems in the future.

I worked in a variety of settings both nursery and secondary state schools. We need to stop comparing to other countries and look at our own. In general the food is subpar.
( independent schools are different)
School catering needs an overhaul and attitudes to food need to change.
We are not talking about " that one french family who only ate Mcdos" we are talking about 25 minute lunch slots in UK. Students are rushing through their food and the food lacks variety and freshness. Far too many puddings as well.
I volunteered in both nurseries and college in France and their food is much better!
Attitudes need to change in the UK
My state schools serves burgers, croissants, chips at morning break. How are they expecting students to eat a full lunch at lunch time?
The meals are not healthy nor tasty

Wow. I worked for a big nursery chain ( charging parents 2 K a month) the food was horrid.
Dry crumpets with tomato sauce, awful pasta dishes, everything without seasoning. No fresh salads, soups
And runny custard which was basically powder and water