To be sick to death of the school pushing crap school dinners?

[Helphelphelps]

Ever since the free school meals came in, DS1's school has been trying to get everyone to sign up (all years, not just KS1).

This includes a weekly 'competition', the winner being whichever class had the most uptake of school dinners, and various 'special days', where they get to eat with their teacher or have a theme.

I wouldn't mind so much, but the menu is total crap. DS1 had to have school dinners for a week when i was in hospital last year. Being vegetarian, he's quite limited to what he can have anyway, but for £2pd, he had the following:
Pasta, courgette, chips and beans
a roll with cheese and spread in (nothing else, that was the whole meal)
cheese pizza and chips (again, nothing else)
jacket potato, cheese and beans

These were accompanied by a sweet pudding (sticky toffee pudding, brownies, muffins etc) or fruit. DS says nobody chooses fruit because the puddings are yum!

The water jugs are always empty and apparently it's very difficult to get the supervisors to refill them.

DS always pesters me for school dinners because the food is basically junk food and he wants his class to win the school dinners competition.

It makes me so bloody mad, i just can't understand why they're doing it!

I think they work vegetables into all sorts of things - chocolate sponge often has beetroot in it for example.

Linerunner - afaik, the receipt of Pupil Premium depends on parents registering with the school to confirm they are in receipt of a qualifying benefit. Previously, provision of a free meal depended on registration. Now free meals are universal in KS1 there has been a dramatic reduction in families registering in some schools leading to a decrease in the amount of pupil premium received.

Would be interesting to know how much the cost of providing free meals compares to the reduction of pupil premium payments being made.....

On a Friday my LA serves up burger or hotdog and chips in a paper bag with a choice of choc muffin or doughnut for pudding.

No way would I let my kids have school meals

I have worked at our school at lunchtime and though its a small school and the lunches are dictated to them by the local authority they are generally ok. The meat is good quality and mostly roasted so not dripping in saturated fats or greasy at all. There is a good variety of veggie options which change daily and in addition there is a sandwich or salad bar option. Each main diah does come with two veg, though often they just choose one and there is a salad table with at least four different salad items plus raisins for them to choose either in addition to or instead of the veg on offer with the meal. The cook is brilliant with the more fussy eaters and will try and give them food they oike whilst also encouraging them to try a little somethng new every time.
For the £2 a day we are charged i'd say its fair enough value. I do however hate the puddings and at least two of the meals offered a week are what i'd consider 'junk' so my two have pack up twice a week.

My DS loves Fridays when he has a hot dog (sausage from local butcher), chips, salad and dessert. The rest of the week he has really healthy meals -Monday he had salmon with baby new potatoes and peas, today tomato pasta, tomorrow will be a roast with three veg. Always at least two veg, salad and jacket potato as options. He will have whatever dessert he fancies - yoghurt, jelly, cake, fruit ... Your school must be really unlucky OP as every school I visit or have worked
In have similar to my son.

Pupil premium is related to the number of children signed up for free school meals.
As said above now all of KS 1 get free meals anyway many people aren't bothering to sign up, and understandably so.

Coming up is census day, this means that the school's funding for the year is based on the number of children that are on free school meals, have SEN etc. If it turns out that there are less children than the school declared at the beginning of the year then they claim the money back from the school.

Our school meals are really poor (made off the premises and shipped in by LA) but we've not been pushing them like that. Many parents now want their children to have free meals but the children don't like them (nor do I!). Staff are trying to put together something they will eat such as a banana sandwich but children are being left hungry.

How did the Lib Dems, who are in Government, manage to promote both Pupil Premium and free school meals for infant schools, without working out the bleeding obvious??

Yes it is pupil premium.

It is a lot of money per eligible child hence the push from school.

The government have fucked up deiberately meaning they can pay out less because it means the onus is on schools chasing those who were eligible for free school meals to get the premium.

I can also add our menu will have things like organic beef button however my DS will come home and say he has had a burger... So trying to look better than they are.

Yes our school did a lot of letter encouraging people to sign up for fre dinners las year not heard anything about it this year

My DC have just started having school meals as they are now free in Scotland. Both have food allergies which is why we have never attempted them before. I really wish I had now as I'm absolutely delighted with the food they are having. I went in to speak to the staff and sampled some of the food.

They have vegetable soup to start, then something like chicken casserole, spicy beef with vegetables in pitta pockets or roast dinner. Then fruit and yoghurt for pudding.

DS is eating miles more veg than he would do with a packed lunch as he always picks out any salad and never touched the carrot sticks or fruit I put in. He's also eating a lot more which is great as he's underweight.

I teach in a secondary school. Our menu looks lovely.

The reality of what is served is quite different.

Dd2 has been having the universal FSM (not my decision - out-voted by dh & dd2) - they're also pretty poor quality, but she loves them. Luckily, she's in Y2 so it's back to healthy pack-ups like her siblings next year .

Meanwhile, the school's just sent out letters & texts begging parents who think they may be eligible for Pupil Premium to apply. The advent of universal FSM has dropped the applications off an entirely predictable cliff, costing them £1500pa/child who would be eligible but whose parents don't apply.

Given that under the 'ever 6' formula, that annual funding would be following them through the school & often on into secondary, that is a FUCK OF A LOT of money schools are missing out on in exchange for the dubious benefit of my dd2 & a lot of other middle-class kids having a free jacket potato & beans followed by sponge & custard.

Stupid, stupid policy.

In our school they did a prize draw this year. Anyone who filled in the forms for FSM (including the ones who were KS1) was entered into a draw to win 2 monogrammed school jumpers, which at £13 each was not to be sniffed at. The secretary said they got far more registrations that way, so they will be doing it again.

Bloody ridiculous that they have had to though.

I should add that they wanted everyone to fill them in on the basis that they would get some back that didnt know they were entitled, so wouldnt otherwise have filled in the form. It seems to have worked!

Ah fond memories of liver and bacon with sprouts and mash circa 1976!

No menu plans no choice.

You cleared your plate or you didn't go out to play,

Or you could argue and get smacked by the dinner lady.

Happy days!

Maybe you could suggest to the school that the prize is that the school cook a 'mum or dad recipe' from home.

Obviously it woud need to be checked for nutritional content but send them a couple of sample menus

I suggested the PTA to start with as if there was a significant group of parents they could approach whomever is doing the school dinners and try to iron out the problems. One parent complaining is no good it has to be considered a significant problem. That way if it is the pupil premium that they need the parents can help ?

linerunner iggly

How did the Lib Dems, who are in Government, manage to promote both Pupil Premium and free school meals for infant schools, without working out the bleeding obvious??

According to this former Special Adviser to the DfE it wasn't deliberate, or thought through, or costed - it was a Nick Clegg ego trip.

Call me cynical but there will be a civil servant somewhere who would have pointed out and then duly ignored.

Indeed Iggly, in my previous life and in a different policy area, I've been that civil servant.

Our LEA drives me nuts over school meals too. All our potato 'products' are supplied by McCain and so are all processed, there is never a plain boiled or mashed option that is prepared on site, by a cook, on the day. When you really look at the menu and really examine it, it is completely derivative and repetitive, highly processed and nutritionally unbalanced. Carbs on carbs on carbs. Very little high quality protein or good fats. And I don't believe the Leon brothers experiment will result in anything better either. It's mass produced, lowest common denominator catering. And until the govt are prepared to fund a properly equipped kitchen, trained cook, and sufficient budget for every school in the country it is never going to change.

Carbs on carbs on carbs. Very little high quality protein or good fats

Yes I agree. My ds is always really hungry afterwards!

It's a crap policy, this Pupil Premium thing.
Just don't confuse registering as being eligible - which brings in a significant amount of money for the school, with a child actually physically eating a school dinner.
Please register if you're eligible.
Then decide separately if you want your child to eat school lunch or not. Just because you register it doesn't mean you have to take the lunch!

We have noticed the complete opposite. On packed lunches, dd1 came out of school starving, grumpy, rude. Now she has school meals her behaviour has improved dramatically after school. She is also widening her tastes: she will chose things because her friends are giving it a go.

It has also made our lives simpler. We both work and having one less thing to do in the evening really does help us.

I am loath to admit this, but I think what she gets at school is better than what we sent her in with.

I was looking at a local primary menu yesterday thinking blimey, they'd never let you put that in a lunchbox - but then nationally the meal is primarily aimed at kids who won't get to eat much of anything without a free meal, I've worked with kids where dinner is a 79p chunk of shop cake handed in the packet to the eldest kid to share out between the siblings and breakfast club was feeding children for free to make sure they had eaten something. I suppose I can see those kids need the heat, the calories, a proper hot meal and a meal they would recognise and be willing to eat. I'd rather every possible primary kid had a good, filling hot meal once a day, and that comes before improving the quality to make it a decently healthy hot meal. It's just not a very joined up agenda.

The lunches at ds's school are good.

Monday - lamb casserole with various veg, fruit salad
Tuesday - butternut squash and feta pie, with peas and courgette. lemon cake
Wednesday (today) - roast beef, green beans, broccoli and carrots. Roast potatoes and yorkshire. Vanilla pudding

It's all organic were possible, and I think 99% eat school dinner. The odd one who doesn't is for weird allergies or parental preferences