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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get annoyed with the hypocricy of schools lunch policy.

81 replies

GossamerHailfilter · 17/03/2014 07:31

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?

OP posts:
tedmundo · 17/03/2014 09:30

The school needs to be spoken to by a dentist as they recommend a cube of cheese to stabilise the mouth acid after a meal!

Ha ha at cheese, not smack!

Grrrr on behalf of the pp and whole milk / semi milk debate. Blue top all the way in this house.

My dss have gone to school with a bounce his morning as I agreed to let them have school dinners... Pizza and shortbread for pudding. They can't believe their luck.

Healthy eating my derrière!

Gileswithachainsaw · 17/03/2014 09:30

My dd ended up very pale, and bloated.and Her eczema and asthma flared up a lot.

She's not the kind of child who could eat two main meals a day so it wasn't till weekends when she would beg me for stir fries that she would actually eat anything other than the carbs and a bit of the meat. Oh and of course puddings.

soverylucky · 17/03/2014 09:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Gileswithachainsaw · 17/03/2014 09:32
Shock

That would buy you a whole pack of baking potatoes and a block of cheese in aldi!!

Gileswithachainsaw · 17/03/2014 09:35

Mainly she ate the bread and pudding though. Sometimes she would eat parts of a meal.

AurorasDownTheRabbitHole · 17/03/2014 09:35

This is all something to look forward to. DD starts school in September. It all sounds crazy to me. Who decides what is healthy and what isn't in school? Is it the teachers. dinner ladies or head? One person might think something is healthy and another might think it is not. Confused school dinners used to be lush when I was younger

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 17/03/2014 09:37

Sirzy the pudding is the way of keeping the cost down. Much cheaper to make huge trays of cheap sponge/biscuits/custard than it is to increase the protein and fresh vegetable component of a meal.

Anniegoestotown · 17/03/2014 09:43

What happens if you get 2. 3. 4. Or 5 red cards?

Housemum · 17/03/2014 09:45

DD2's previous junior school had a healthy lunchbox policy - and they got the Year 6 children to check the lunchboxes! Tell me that's not a way to help bullies - DD2 would sometimes be terrified that she'd get told off by a big kid for the wrong thing in her lunch. OK, I probably don't pack the greatest of dinners, but she never has sweets/chocolate (unless a slice of chocolate flavoured cake) but she was worried that a piece of malt loaf would be too sweet!

Luckily, I didn't like other things about the school and she moved to a much better primary school. Where they are still allowed to do things like give out sweets at pick up time if it's their birthday. The only lunchbox rules are no nut products (fair enough) and no sweets. They concentrate on more important things like actually teaching the children Grin

LtEveDallas · 17/03/2014 09:46

DD had the same issue with cheese cubes, but thankfully, after reading a few MN threads I had already primed her to say "The dentist says I need to eat the cheese last because it is better for my teeth" and she wasn't pulled up again.

livelablove · 17/03/2014 09:51

Another problem is that if a child doesn't like the healthier parts of the hot meal they just leave it. Dinner ladies can only encourage them to eat it, not force them. So they could leave all the veg and meat every day and fill up on the bread and pud as a pp said.

WilsonFrickett · 17/03/2014 09:58

I too am interested on what happens if you get, say 5 red cards. I might even be tempted to send in a completely shit lunchbox, just to see what might happen. You might lose your golden time OP!

OpalQuartz · 17/03/2014 10:02

Red cards is so patronising! Do the parents who send a packed lunch that the HT approves of get stickers on a sticker chart?

Gileswithachainsaw · 17/03/2014 10:04

Don't a lot of schools also already have problems where parents are paying for the meals which look fine on paper but depending on the sitting the kids are on some end up with bizarre combos as that's all that's left. Not sure how jacket potatoes pasta and spaghetti hoops would constitute a balanced meal. If schools can't handle the numbers that have already what's going to happen when try increase in September

Notcontent · 17/03/2014 10:13

I was just going to say the same a Alibaba - having a pudding is a way to keep costs down.
That's why my dd doesn't have school lunches anymore. They sound ok on paper, but in practice they are not nice, they are always running out of stuff, and a they always have really sweet unhealthy puddings on the menu.

I wonder whether anyone has analysed how much sugar is contained in a standard school lunch?

addictedtosugar · 17/03/2014 10:14

QueenofKelsingra the biggest issue I have with the semi / full fat milk is DS1 brought a leaflet back from school with NHS plastered all over it suggesting we should switch to semi milk, and low fat yoghurt/cheese, so in some cases the school is just spouting the (for most kids) nonsense that came from someone we should trust - NHS.

They also suggested diet drinks in place of squash....

I wasn't impressed. It went straight into the recycling.

JennyOnAPlate · 17/03/2014 10:16

Luckily the lunch box police are fairly sensible at dds school. The only rules are no sweets and no sugary drinks.

We tried dd on school dinners for a couple of weeks but she was coming home starving hungry. I don't know what the portion sizes are like but it clearly wasn't big enough for her (she is a very tall, very active 6yo).

Original poster
GossamerHailfilter · 17/03/2014 10:27

Sorry I havent come back, been out doing the school run.

The red card doesnt have a consequence for DD (thank goodness), its just a warning for me (which I am shaking in my boots about obviously!).

I tried to find the head this morning but she wasnt in the playground. In fairness to her she has let DS (who has SN) slip under the red card radar because he only eats jam sandwiches and fruit flakes.

When the system was introduced we got a letter telling us what they thought a 'green' lunckbox was. It suggested tuna pasta made with light mayonnaise and raisins Hmm

OP posts:
ClaudetteWyms · 17/03/2014 10:32

addictedtosugar we had that leaflet last year when DD was in reception, I didn't say anything at the time but will do so if we get any such crap home again. Also went straight in recycling Grin

YANBU OP.

Our school has no policy other than no nuts, but DD tells me kids are told off for chocolate or sweets in lunch boxes and asked not to take them again. Although penguins are OK Hmm And kids who have school dinners have sweet puddings (cake, custard etc.) every single day.

I agree the whole thing is a farce. DD has packed lunches as when she had school dinners all she would eat is plain bread and a pudding!

Pootrouble · 17/03/2014 10:34

My dd2 is in reception and she says a girl in class regularly brings coke in her packed lunch!!!

MackerelOfFact · 17/03/2014 12:38

At our school this scheme is 'policed' by a midday assistant who is probably on Weight Watchers or something and equates food that adults should eat to lose weight with food that is 'unhealthy' for children.

It makes my blood boil. Children shouldn't be aiming for a low-fat, preservative-rich, low-calorie meal to see them through the day!

Cheese is perfectly healthy for children.

haggisaggis · 17/03/2014 12:58

Our council publishes an interactive school meals menu where you can find out the ingredients of the meals. Macaroni cheese has something like 35 grams of cheese per portion - chocolate brownies contain no chocolate, just a cocoa powder cake mix and added courgette / carrot / beetroot. (last year the "roast beef" appeared to be 100% pork but I think that was a mistake...)

Anniegoestotown · 17/03/2014 13:02

So no consequence if you get 10 red cards or more. Myself and dc would be having fun with this. Think we would see how many red cards we could achieve. I know my two would think it was pathetic and think it was hilariously funny to get given a red card that didn't mean anything.

We are vegetarian so the idea of tuna is horrible and cheese would be the sandwich of choice.

Dinosaursareextinct · 17/03/2014 13:07

I'd also ask what powers the school has. Will they report you to SS if you get too many red cards? Nanny state gone mad.

BirthdayMuppet · 17/03/2014 13:17

Side note about cheese, it's not just the fat that's good for children - it's one of the easiest ways to get a decent chunk of protein into them at midday, it has as much protein as fat. A cheese sandwich on a seeded/multigrain type bread is a fabulous balanced main part of a packed lunch for children.