DS having school lunch sat on the floor, AIBU?

[Honeybadgerdontgiveashit]

Long story short, building work as DS school has over run massively during summer holidays. Class rooms and hall remain unfinished.
Fair enough, no surprise, but these things happen.

School dinner pupils are eating in the halls, packed lunch pupils are eating packed lunch sat on the classroom floor.
This could go on until christmas.

His teacher was unable to offer an explanation as to why they could not sit at tables and chairs in the classroom. I suspect just so it saves them wiping them afterwards.

AIBU in thinking this is a bit off? He is in year 1, I'm not usually a germ freak, but this doesn't seem right to me. When I asked his teacher if she would eat her lunch sat on the floor everyday she said Yes! Of course I would and looked at me like I was mad!

Please tell me if I am being unreasonable, as I have PMT, and I am really not sure.

Thanks

I'll wager the Head is well aware of food hygiene and environmental health, and has probably had to risk assess this to within an inch of its life

It was perfectly acceptable to Ofsted during the last inspection, in May, they praised the "community feel" of lunchtimes. It is an Ofsted rated "good" school.

They are selling food in the hall for hot dinners - these have to meet food hygiene and environmental health standards - and do. Packed lunches are provided by parents and are outside of this. We are not "serving" packed lunches.

A smooth, low pile carpet swept with a rubber bladed broom is just as hygienic (if not more so) as the grass/dirt outside where the kids eat when it is dry.

But not as clean as the tables which are available and don't need any alternative staffing being in the same room.

Surprised re the food hygiene as when I was childminding you had strict criteria and could expect a surprise visit from environmental health at any time.This was for consuming food as ?ell as preparing,ditto pre- school.

Are there sufficient tables though? I thought that was up for question?

no there are not, nor the room for all the kids if tables are used.. but it has become a circular argument, so I'm off.....

I know - it's become one of 'those' threads, hasn't it?

If I was an eye-roller I'd be rolling my eyes

I sometimes read threads on Mumsnet which make me think I must have a bit of brain missing or something, I just cannot begin to imagine, however hard I try, how anyone could possibly object to children sitting on the carpet where they probably do several lessons during the day with their lunch boxes on their laps, eating their sandwiches. i just can't. And I am go smacked that a thread about to should produce such rudeness and covet racism too!!!! Bizarre.

Curlew-I'm missing the same bit of brain too

Yup, my brain bit not there either.

I just popped back to see if the OP had returned after being so rude about the posters disagreeing with her. I thought she might feel like apologising, but nope.

'Staffing levels at schools are NOT the same as 20/30/more years ago.' This is true. The number of support staff is typically much higher than it was many years ago. The myth of staff shortages is, in most cases, just that: a myth. Many schools now receive significant amounts of extra funding for their 'pupil premium pupils'. They are supposed to explain how this is spent on their websites.

I'm not sure that PP is spent on dinner ladies in many schools, and if it is I'm sure it's for one to ones with statmented children, not on table wiping

Love the idea of the pp being spent on dinner ladies so that little Jocasta doesn't have to demean herself by wiping a table, or by sitting in the floor like foreigners do

People who think that Pupil Premium should be spent on dinnerladies to wipe tables do not have children who qualify for Pupil Premium.

As long as children are being provided with a space in which to eat, I just cannot see why this is a problem?

This thread is hysterical as are some of the comments on it and YY to Curlew's comment about covert racism.

The children will be fine and will probably consider it an adventure.

At my school children always eat their packed lunches at classroom.tables, a bowl of hot water and a quick wipe by the lunchtime assistant after they have finished sorts out any mess, so yanbu

I was going to say that we sat on the ground outside or the floor inside to eat our lunch all the way through primary and secondary, but I see that as I grew up in Australia I can't have an opinion, since we are considerably inferior to British people.

Must be why everyone I went to school with went around using no manners and contracting illnesses from all those deadly floor germs.

Oh, wait...

marriedinblackandwhite "Time I became a governor at my local primary I think."

As a former chair of school governors I have to say you really aren't the sort we're looking for to join us.

"Time I became a governor" must win the 'Most Wankish Post on this Thread' award. It really was toe-curling in its awfulness

As married has disappeared I assume she is filling in the application form

Not sure if a lot people know what a school governor does

They fight to ensure that Standards are Maintained, and that children don't have to suffer the indignity of having to eat their packed lunches while sitting on the carpet, Rufus

Shit, should have listened better at governors meetings

i've just been told today that my two kids year 3 and year 5 have been eating on the floor all the time and thought it not all that bad , till i was also told outside in the rain (outside classroom ) on a dirty wooden decking which i know is not the nicest places to eat "demeaning" lol more like disgusting let alone the health and safety risk's of it
so far i've been told on little girl got possible food poisoning because her packed lunch was stored by hot pipes next to a radiator
and one boy suffered a bad reaction to a wasp sting and had to be taken to A&E.

by the looks of some of the post's on here, all the one's say it's OK to eat off the floor , oh it's the same as a picnic ....... hell would you really eat sitting on the floor knowing where you just put your hand (like a child would) down, palm flat down that 5 min's early a boy walk that same spot just coming back from that wet floor in the little boys room ...

if so you still think it's ok then you must be a teacher who cant be bothered what happens to kids as long as you don't get disturbed drinking your black tasteless coffee and your wholemeal jam sandwich from the comfort of the a warm chair in the teachers rest room lol

forgot to add the bit's about the possible food poisoning & wasp sting are/where due to the poor kids having to have a packed lunch because the don't like school dinners/or most school dinners are not healthy and are treated like 2nd class to the one who have paid for school dinners
and because of this they have to eat outside, wind rain or shine