Does your child skip lunch due to queues?

[Schoolcanteen]

DC’s school has 1,600 pupils. Lunch is at 1.20 -2.20 for all of them, so many are ravenous already. There is one period after lunch, so I understand why many might just wait until they get home or get something on
the way home, due to the queues and late lunchtime. The canteen opens at 8.10, but the playground line up to go to class finishes by 8.20, so it’s a bit pointless trying to get something for later. How hungry is your child and have you made the reluctant switch to packed lunches? Is our school an outlier in trying to cater for this many kids in such a short window or is this just how things are? There are also a few food vans dotted around, but the queues are very long too.

As in, you don't know how children in the past would have behaved with no "midday supervisors".

That's interesting.

See also: toilets.

It’s not just the behaviour of children that’s changed, it’s what’s acceptable to parents.

When I was in P7 I was the head infant monitor. 7 of us P7s looked after the 4 infant classes in the playground. The janitor moved between the two playgrounds, but there was no adult supervision.

We dealt with scraped knees and fall outs. Only reporting anything major to the school office (the staff there had lunch and breaks at different times to the teachers) if it was immediate or to the teacher after the break otherwise.

In several schools I’ve worked in it’s been discussed that actually the kids haven’t changed so much and the schools could use that system, but parents now wouldn’t stand for that kind of system.

There now needs to be adults around at all times, which does cause difficulties for schools as they either have to find and pay people to do lunchtimes (which isn’t easy) or they have to juggle round the staff that they have. Which means in many schools you have SLT and/or office staff covering the kids on breaks and then

Ah yes the preparation fairies do all their work for them and send all emails! ha ha!

Thanks.

It’s weird how such normal things - eating, going to the toilet, thermal comfort are treated as such difficult mountains.

DS is 17 and has never eaten any lunch at secondary school as he hates the noise and busy-ness of the canteen area.

He leaves home around 8am and gets back about 5pm absolutely starving. He won’t take water, snacks or food with him so he just copes.

A few times he fainted during PE but he doesn’t do PE since 3rd year, so that’s a bonus.

Yes DD is in year 9 and the queues are horrendous. She takes snacks like crisps and party rings then has some toast as soon as she gets home

Sending a few emails while you enjoy a lovely lunch isn't the same as standing outside with an empty stomach.

You don't get a lovely lunch. That is the issue. Do you think eating a banana while standing up is a good lunch to have during a 10 hour working day plus commute? Why are these kids not taking food to school? Being outside is good for kids. Stop being a snowflake about them being outside in the fresh air.

Because many schools don't allow children to bring any food. Including packed lunch. So they starve all day while the teachers enjoy snacks and refreshments as and when they want. Nobody searches their bags for food they might have brought in.

We had this at school. Something like 1,400 students, split between three half-hour lunches. By the time you'd collected your lunch and sat down at a table, the bell would ring and you'd be expected to rush off to lesson. Some people had packed lunches, and others just didn't eat at school (in my case, it was partly that, partly because of food intolerances, and because I was too anxious about eating in front of other people).

Right. How many secondary schools have you worked in, and helped to manage all of this for c1,700 teenagers?

Where are these schools that dont allow packed lunches?

Why doesn't he take anything? He could take water, cereal bars, fruit, wraps..eat something at break and something at lunchtime? That's what lots of students do.

Many of the academies near me do not allow packed lunch. All kids have to have school dinners.

This all sounds insane.
I started secondary in the late 80s, there were two canteens for 1100 of us, and priority changed every month so everyone had a good turn of going second, sixth formers were always first.
We were also allowed out for lunch.
What's gone so wrong now?

Lunchtime has to be reduced because that's when the worst behaviour occurs and there's never enough supervision.

It was like this at my school, plus we were not allowed to eat inside. I once nearly choked on my cheese sandwich trying to eat it quickly, and I’m sure it encouraged my bulimia. Terrible!