Do your children have to take a morning snack to school?

[Longwhiskers]

Just curious what other schools do. Ours requests a morning snack sent in for the children. My younger one is not fussed what they’re sent with but it causes tensions with the older one who is easily influenced by what others have (they claim classmates all have crisps and expensive snack bars) whereas I try to send mine in with fruit or homemade muffins etc (not cool apparently!). I’m fed up with the whole thing. The cooked lunch is often rubbish so several days a week we have to send in packed lunch so it’s a faff.

We did at primary school, but it had to be a piece of fruit.

They don’t have to but I always give my child something in case she feels peckish, usually biscuits

Free fruit provided for ks1, then in ks2 they can choose to. Fruit only though. My dc don’t bother.

A snack isn't enforced in my children's school but it's assumed that they will be given a snack. They are given points as a class if they bring healthy snacks so it encourages them to only bring a piece of fruit so that their class can win the "award" that week. On Fridays they are allowed to bring unhealthy snacks. I wasn't sure about the system to start with but it actually works quite well because it's taken as a given that everyone will just have a piece of fruit most days.

In England, all eyfs and ks1 children are provided with a fruit snack.

In our school ks2 children can bring a fruit snack but many don't bother as they want to run around at break!

A muffin unless it’s in a tub would be a pile of crumbs by the time my son got to it. He has pombears - I get them in Poundland and sometimes a fudge often it comes home but it’s there if he’s hungry

Optional at KS2. So called healthy snack

DS6 usually takes a snack box (as do all the other children in his class) with a few things in. They have snack break in the morning before playtime and then another snack break in the afternoon before hometime. They get a cooked lunch at school as well.
Sometimes, he's hungry and it's all gone (especially if he didn't like lunch) and on other days, it comes back with most things untouched.

KS1 get free “fruit”, though sometimes it’s a carrot. KS2 can bring the same - mine doesn’t bother and nor do any of their friends.

Snack bars, muffins etc all not allowed.

I like the idea of it having to be fruit. I’m trying to watch their sugar intake and as my eldest can be very difficult and wants to be the same as others always wants crisps or chocolate bar or something. I hate the whole thing, they don’t have a morning snack at home normally and survive ok as they’re big breakfast eaters and have a large appetite at breakfast.

KS2 can take fruit if they want to, both at the school I work in and my DC's school.

DS10 takes fruit or veg as a morning snack. When he was mid growth spurt I put some cheese cubes in a pot with cucumber sticks to keep him going til lunchtime.

He tells me others take biscuits or crisps (& he'd like to as well) but we stick with the above. He gets a treat of some sort with his packed lunch.

No, DD had a good breakfast and survived until lunch with no problem. They all preferred to run around during break and not sitting down eating.

Mine take the tiny bags of haribo or similar fun size stuff.

I wish school would encourage more healthy stuff but it cracks me up that morning break which I knew as 'playtime' has been renamed 'snacktime'

Yes it’s a pain because they want to have the same as their friends, crisps or biscuits but then what do you put in their packed lunch? There are only so many healthy things you can use. I put fruit or salad in the packed lunch so don’t feel they need another at snack time as they have fruit for breakfast too and i think it would just be wasted and not eaten if I put it in for snack.

I would prefer school to sell a piece of toast or half a bagel like they used to for 10 or 20 p.

Why not give them toast or bagel for breakfast and fruit for snack.

I can't imagine how hard it would be for schools to be doing hundreds of bits of toast. And kids would use their entire snack time queuing for it.

Our school provides fresh fruit for everyone. I think you can send in your own snacks, but I’m not sure many do. I have on occasion sent them in with some crackers or an extra piece of fruit if they wouldn’t eat breakfast. Definitely no expensive snacks as far as I know or at least eldest dc would probably ask (and I’d say no).

They eat big breakfasts eg porridge and stewed fruit (apple or plum) and then toast and PB. I’ve been making healthy stuff like wholewheat banana muffins etc for them to take in for morning snack or giving them cheese oatcakes or those healthier rice cakes but often is causes a meltdown by my eldest who feels he needs to fit in with ‘cool snacks’ (this would be crisps or a choc bar). There is no way I’m giving them sweets day in day out and I put a treat in their lunchbox like crisps or biscuits. I do think I’m quite tough on what they eat and try to avoid heavily processed stuff, perhaps I should relax and just resort to stuff in wrappers! My younger one is 98th percentile for weight so I do need to be careful with her.

Where I work everyone except primary 1 are expected to bring a snack and tbh most of them do have crisps or a chocolate biscuit. We confiscate sweets though. Not sure why anyone thinks haribo is a suitable mid morning snack 🙈

Bloody hell - that's more than my sons packed lunch 😂

Why is a chocolate biscuit or crisps more acceptable than a tiny bag of haribo?

My eldest is KS1, they get fruit provided for morning break and she has marmite rice cakes or oat biscuits plus a fruit yo-yo for her afternoon break. Crisps, sweets and chocolate not allowed.

My grandchildren have to take a snack and a packed lunch.

the snack is usually fruit, cheese and crackers or fruit and a small sandwich. Lunch is more substantial and could even be pasta or shepherds pie or the likes in their flask.

Because they actually have a bit of nutritional value hidden in there among the junk and do help with the hunger - unlike pure sugar!

To be fair, we leave the house at 7.15am and he doesn't eat breakfast. He's then usually in after school club until 5pm, so it's a long day.