Can school's ban certain foods?

[tellow]

Can a school actually ban children from bringing in Chocolate, cake, crisps, sweets etc?

I understand nuts being requested to not be brought in but still I'm unsure if this can be enforced?

Yes. Promotion of healthy eating policy. Provided you know Nutella sarnies are confiscated, and you know what the rules are.

Yes and is routinely enforced. My children go to a primary school where chocolate, fizzy drinks, and other similar items are banned. If they're found in lunches/bags they're put into a food bag and labelled with the child's name and the parent/carer is free to pick it up from the office at their leisure. It's all binned after so many days.

If a child has the bulk of their packed lunch confiscated (Nutella sandwich, family bag of doritos, rolo pudding, and a can of sprite for an extreme example) they're provided with a school lunch and the grown up is called to explain what has happened and why.

Ours does and I have seen a parent presented with the food share bag of Haribo confiscated from their childs lunchbox.

We don't ban foods but talk about a healthy balanced diet. I'm recovered from an ED so am always uncomfortable about ascribing values to food. Saying that, you should see some of the shit some kids eat.

Lots ban crisps due to seagull attacks in the playground!

What happens if it's all crap? Eg Nutella sandwiches, crisps and a tin of Fanta. Would the kid have to go without lunch or would the school provide an alternative?

Children shouldn't bring in Nutella sandwiches due the risk of someone with a nut allergy. Most schools ban all nuts and products containing nuts.

Our school is starting to do this, no chocolate etc in lunch boxes.

What makes me laugh though is that if you have hot school meals... you get a pudding!

Banning certain foods like crisps and chocolate doesn't solve the whole problem. Compare the fat and sugar in an Alpen or Special K bar with choc (not allowed) with a granola bar or flapjack (which are allowed) and you will see! It would be better to give a per 100g limit on these.

What can the school do if I don't choose to follow their requests? Isn't it our choice as parents to give our kids what we want them to eat?

They are only in school 6 hours a day, that leaves you lots of time to give them crap outside those hours.

They will confiscate the food, and if necessary give your child a school lunch.

Should you wish to feed your child food that isn't permitted you are more than welcome to them home for lunch and return them for the afternoon session.

It's not hard to have one meal a day without chocolate and fizzy pop etc.

Its been like this for years where I live.

No chocolate no crisps no cakes no sweets.

The school sends home snotty letters to parents that send these foods in.
I can understand why, child obesity is a major problem.

A school can put what rules it wants in place, if you choose not to follow them you break the home school agreement and you child can be taken off the role there, i.e. The child would need to find another school to attend. Food, clothing, attendance, lateness, behaviour, homework, if you decide not to follow you can be asked to leave. Yes it is your parental choice to give them what you want but it's the schools choice not to have your child as a member of their school if that is your choice.

Our local primary school allows children to go home for lunch.

Of course you can collect your children & take them home for lunch. It's a school, not a prison & they're YOUR children.

If you don't like the school rules, remove him and send him to a school you can support. Nothing worse than a parent who chooses the school and refuses to support the rules.

Yes they can enforce it. Regarding nuts, it could endanger a life.

I've never known any primary school where children weren't allowed to go home with parents for lunch. Children can't go out for lunch on their own buy every school I've worked in has some pupils who live nearby and get collected from the school by their parents to go home for lunch.

As far as banning certain foods is concerned I'm all for it. I previously worked in a school where junk food was only allowed on a Friday (and it was just to be one normal sized snack) and now work in a school where children can bring in whatever they like. We literally have children who eat full size tubs of pringles or big bags of haribo or 3 full size chocolate bars for their snack at play time. There is one child whose lunch everyday is a huge share sizebag of crisps and a bar of chocolate with nothing else (he will eat other foods but this is all that is sent in for him in his packed lunch). I in no way think that children should be shamed for eating anything and we need to make sure they have healthy relationships with food and their bodies but the current situation we have in our school means that commenting on individual children's foods and telling them they are inappropriate would be shaming them (so we don't) whereas a blanket ban would mean the food wouldnt come into the school in the first place.
A ban isn't enough as they should be educated (that's our job after all) about food and supported to make the right choices but it gives the opportunity for those healthy choices to be modelled in school and become the norm. It's not about aesthetics and what they would look like if they eat all this junk (in fact many of our kids who eat bring the most junk food into school are not overweight) but the impact this has on their current and future health.

it's not a prison so you don't have to obey rules."

That's not what the pp said? It was referring to you can leave for lunch, it's not a prison

What do you want your child to eat?

I used to take Nutella sandwiches, chocolate yoghurt and a chocolate bar to school every day for lunch in the 90s. I'd be fucked now.

Ypu should see some of the shit kids bring in
One child had a lunchbox that looked like a Christmas selection box
Lollipops, cola in a opaque bottle - yeah we still know it's coke parents!
The secondary kids make me laugh...using their dinner money to buy red bull and doughnuts at 8am 🤣
They are bringing in parentpay next week...our local co ops profits will go down 30%!