To get annoyed with the hypocricy of schools lunch policy.

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At our school we have a system of 'red cards' if you send something that is deemed to be bad. Its a new system that utr new head had implimented.

on Monday I sent DD in with some cubes of cheese - got a card, but on the school dinners menu was Macaroni Cheese. FriDAY I sent her in with a packet on animal biscuits, again a red card but pudding for those on HSD was pineapple upsidedown cake and custard.

AIBU to think it doesnt balance and doesnt make any sense to punish one set of children while doling out treats to the other, especially if they will all be eating it come September?

I would take it up with the HT and ask what these stupid rules are about?

What is wrong with cheese ffs?

Same at our school.

Healthy eating school.
Staff room is stacked with cake and biscuits!

No that's ridiculous. Definitely talk to someone at the school.

What's wrong with cheese cubes? Yes they are high fat but have calcium too. Someone told me their kids were told not to bring marmite sandwiches in as they are high salt, yet on the school meals there will be fish and chips. Our school isn't so ridiculous though, you can bring anything except sweets. You are not being unreasonable!

This is why the healthy eating policy never materialised at ds school.

So many parents pointed out that children who have school meals get pudding every day.

It's crazy. It's cheese, not smack.

Gosh, I'm glad this doesn't happen here in Scotland (yet!). Children need fat fgs. The world is going crazy!

Completely agree, I've never heard such nonsense! Is the school trying to get Healthy Schools status? Or is it run by North Korea? Red card for cheese Pah!

If they want to give red cards they ought to have a clue about healthy diets in the first place. There is nothing wrong with cheese.
I think that I would be inclined to bake a pineapple upside down cake and put a wedge in her lunch box. If she gets a red card write to the Head and governors and point out the ridiculousness of it!
Thinking about it, rather than complaining,I would get the school menu for the week and replicate the pudding and see what they do. It would be most interesting if the serve something like chocolate fudge cake.
If they have macaroni cheese send her in with grated cheese and point out that it is the exact portion you would expect the school dinner children got.
Be subversive and have some fun with it!

This is beyond ridiculous. Talk to the HT. If it was me I would be telling them to stuff their red cards where the sun don't shine!

YANBU at all, the double standard really fucks me off tbh. All the school puddings are sugar loaded crap but send a child in with a slice of homemade cake and some jobsworth decides it's not acceptable.

That is why you can have fun and produce the same as the pudding , so much more satisfying than writing angry letters. They have no sane response to it so you can sit back and enjoy.

You can then write a very innocent and baffled letter and ask them to point out the difference between pineapple upside down cake in a dish and in a lunchbox.

School dinners may not be super healthy, but they do meet government nutritional standards for school age kids. They are developed to contain sufficient calories, correct levels of fat and reasonably low in salt, they do allow sugar but they have a set amount that is agreed with nutritionists. I think the idea behind it is that children who eat this as their main hot meal everyday should be healthy, get all the calories and major nutrients they need, as well as enjoying their meal. This means that schools who try to force parents to make the lunchbox healthier than the hot meal are really going over the top. It should be a personal choice for parents if they intend to totally cut out sugar, some people think this is essential for good health but it is not government policy so schools need to go with that.

I have never understood why school dinners have a pudding every day. Nobody needs a pudding ever day and surely it would be a great way to keep costs down?

Provide presh fruit if children still want something after they have eaten.

If you produce the same they have no possible argument, that is the fun of it!

I wanted my DS to have school dinners but when I saw the menu I soon changed my mind - no-one needs pudding every day and as far as I could see there was one day with a healthy meal (roast and veg) the others were pizza, mac n cheese, fish and chips etc.

thankfully for me our school is relaxed about lunchboxes as I found out when DS accidentally got given another child's lunch (they have the same box) and he gleefully told me he had a jam sandwich, crisps, a chocolate bar and squash! cant imagine what the other child thought being faced with DS's tuna mayo wrap, veg sticks and an apple!

I would write to the head and complain, they are taking things too far. it also seems like they are trying to use an adults 'healthy' diet as the template - kids need different things to adults such as cheese and full fat versions of food.

I'm not a fan of reward systems that the child has no control over.

Red card for cheese!

Out of interest, what happens if you get red cards? Is there a limit to how many you can get before some dire consequence happens? Will the lunch box mafioso visit your house to sort you out? Will you have to go to the school for compulsory re-education? Will DC get put onto school dinners whether you like it or not? Will you get a dressing-down by the headteacher - even public humiliation in assembly? Just wondering where the policy goes.

I'm madly giggling away at "it's cheese, not smack."

What really annoys me is that here is all this fuss and stress at primary and yet it all goes totally out the window at secondary.

Just as DCs are making their own choices they are faced with such insane queues for hot food that they grab bacon butties at brunch, sweets on the way to or from school or over priced pasta pots and sandwiches.

Lunch hour has been shortened so on choir or hockey days the often don't even eat packed lunch.

No doubt many then get home before their parents and snack on god knows what.

what's the point of the red cards? what happens if you get, say, 5 in a week?

i wouldn't even bring up the hypocrisy with the school dinners, I'd just be telling them to shove their red cards. They do realise they're dealing with parents and not 5 year olds?!

Give THEM a red card. You have just as much right!

My DS has to see a dietitian and she has suggested cubes of cheese to up his calcium intake!

So what nutritional qualification does the HT have In Order to implement this new system? I think we know the answer to that one.
I'm in Scotland too so don't have this daft ness to contend with. Of it were my child, I'd carry on with the balanced lunches you were providing and invite the HT to have a "discussion" about these red cards. Then wipe the floor with him/her

Ruprekt, if you are a teacher, I am very envious of the snacks in your staff room!

If you're a parent, how do you know what's in the staff room?

The school is quite obviously going crazy in their quest to improved the quality of packed lunches, but I suspect it's been done because some parents really do send in some shocking lunches on a regular basis. I know they do at the school I work in, but we just let them get on with it. Their children, their choice.

I don't think the comparison to school dinners that is often made holds much weight as an argument against it though. The puddings my school offers are always very low fat and sugar, they are nice, but they are nothing like normal versions of the same thing and there is always some fruit or veg in them somewhere.