or have the school gone bonkers?

[ohballs2013]

got a letter last night, in the new teacher info pack.
the school have said that as of the new school term a few more items have been added to the not allowed in lunch box list.
we already had the normal,
no nuts
no fizzy drinks
no bars of chocolate

now we also have

no bananas
no berry fruit, including anything containing berry fruit, such as smoothies, youghurts, cereal bars etc
no fish
no eggs
no crisps
no citrus fruits
no peices of meat, ie chicken legs.

now i get that you have to protect as many kids with allergies as possible..but WTF. is it not going a bit mad?
my own child has coeliacs, so i know all about limited diets, but im astonished at this.

Wow, that is extreme!

Cheese sandwiches and an apple for lunch then, maybe some water on the side.

I find myself getting more and more annoyed with schools as the weeks go by atm.

I would disregard it all, apart from the nuts, as someone may have an allergy.

What a ridiculous list. They can fuck off.

I guess houmous would be allowed - unless they're worried about sesame seed allergies.

so no food then what are they supposed to eat yes it is bonkers

ive just realised just how this will affect my dc. ( bit slow on the uptake this morning) no gluten containing products...and all that..erm right. so a block of cheese and an apple for lunch.

If there are any children in the school who are allergic to all on that list they should be fed in isolation, surely? Preventing kids eating chicken and fruit in particular is

The school needs to give an explanation for every item on the list. Because there are some foods there that people are advised to eat, eg my mum has been told to eat more bananas for the potassium.

As it isn't always easy to create a packed lunch that a child will eat, the school needs to be able to show that the items on the list are a real problem, not a "just in case" issue.

AuntieStella they can't have hummus. It's got sesame in. Falls in the nut trap at most schools.

I'd bet my last pound school dinners will be allowed to use that stuff

pictish you put it better than me!

i've often wondered how schools can get away without providing refridgeration for lunch boxes. leaving food out in this heat for 4 or 5 hours must surely lead to potential food poisoning.

That's the maddest list of banned items I have ever seen. I can just about see no crisps as being reasonable but the rest of it is totally barmy.

Are you asking the school what happens to the hot dinners too?

If they try to justify the list on allergy grounds, then the hot dinners should also be treated the same.

Schools sometimes think that parents have nothing better to do than base their lives around the school year, and all things pertaining to that.

This list is a good case in point imo. Because we all get up at the crack of dawn to construct a meal for our child that meets the school's approval, of course.

No - we do the best we can in the time we've got, and they can suck it up.

A list like this is really stupid as it just encourages parents to ignore it. It's so ludicrously restrictive. And, yes, there is absolutely no way that the school dinners will conform to it.

It sounds like they're trying to force you into school dinners by making it impossible to produce a lunchbox for your children.

No berry yoghurts, cereal bars bars or smoothies and no strawberries!

I can really see DD2 sticking to that

What the hell? Processed meat and apples then. My dairy free dd would starve especially if she couldn't have hummus. She quite often takes chicken drumsticks. Would no meat pieces go for sausages to? And poor kids not being allowed a home made blue berry muffin or something.

I commend the school for trying to protect the children and good on them for taking allergies seriously as many focus on just nuts but that list makes life very difficult and what about fussy eaters? Especially autistic fussy eaters as its not just a case of "well they have to eat it or starve"

Anyhow, school dinners won't be fishfinger, egg, etc free surely?

And school dinners consist of?

I have always thought that this kind of thing was a ploy by schools to make parents pay for school dinners cos it is such a faff it is easier to give children lunch money

If worry about the quality of the school dinners tbh. If they are worried about choking on fish or chicken bones then does that go for using actual joints of meat sliced?

I would be a real PITA and ask for a written explanation for each individual item as to why it is not allowed
I would also pint out, very politely that if they feel they can justify this list then they MUST remove all the forbidden items from the food they serve on the premises.
When I have this info I would go to the local newspaper/radio station etc.

You need to ask the school on what grounds they are banning the different foods for. Also ask them if they are banned from school dinners.

YANBU