Child didn’t have lunch at school

[Purpletigers]

Child doesn’t have a lunch with them at school and doesn’t inform the teacher before lunchtime or the supervisor at lunchtime. Parent phones the school after pick up to complain that their child didn’t have anything to eat . The phone call is the first time the class teacher is aware of the situation . Who is at fault ?

Why on earth didnt the child speak up?

Meh. I work with 8 year olds; the 8 year old is at fault: definitely old enough to tell a member of staff that they'd forgotten their lunch. It would have been sorted out had the child done so.

Parent and child at fault. Parent should ensure the child has picked the lunch up and child is old enough to tell an adult he has forgotten his lunch.

Don’t feel bad- 100% not your fault. The child should have told you at 8 years old! The mother clearly needs to help encourage ger child to be more independent. Why didn’t she notice her kid didn’t have a lunch? Touché!

I don’t think it was actually anyone’s fault but just one of those things .
Every child who forgets their lunch and perhaps only realised at lunchtime will be offered either a school meal , a sandwich or toast . No child is left without food ever .

Snuggy, I don't think it's necessarily parent's fault either, but the parent shouldn't have blamed teacher either.

No, not the teachers fault either. Just one of those things. I mean the child hasn't starved.

I do feel bad that the child didn’t eat but I genuinely can’t see what I could have done differently . It’s an extremely busy class with several statemented children and many more with some form of additional needs . There are fewer NT children than not .
I may have asked the parent if she didn’t notice and she has 1 child at school how she expected me to when I have over 20 .

@Purpletigers honestly, I wouldn't give it a second thought. The mum is probably feeling bad. It's easy to have a rant at someone else in a situation like this. Chances are they probably won't care next week and if they do, oh well. You haven't done anything wrong 🙂

Is she that parent?! I feel for you as I think teachers have enough shit to deal with.

I would have appreciated being informed of what happened so it didn’t happen again . To be blamed for what happened is what’s pissed me off .

That is so sad that a child went without food.

I used to volunteer in the lunch room and there would regularly be kids without lunch for various reasons.
This was a school gym with around 75 kids at each sitting (3). The lunch supervisors (2-3 of them) or volunteers would spot a child not eating or the kid (or their friend would tell them) and the kid would be sorted with food after checking the allergy sheet. Kids parents would be asked to reimburse.....though often a volunteer would treat them.....especially if they knew the family was struggling.
My ds and dd took a packed lunch most days and would ask for extras for the friend who never had lunch. I wasn't the only one who sent extra food in....and the kids were great for looking out for each other.
I'm wondering if people just don't have time to look out for others as much nowadays. My experiences were from 10-15 years ago and in the USA.....so might not be relevant.

When DD was 6, she had a reading test that ran into lunchtime. There are compulsory school dinners at her school. The teacher supervising the test didn't send her for lunch, neither did her class teacher. One of the dinner ladies, who we saw after school, said that she should have come and told her that she hadn't had lunch, but even now, at the age of 11, she'd be too shy.

I’m a teacher. I can see how this could happen and it’s certainly not clear cut. BUT school should apologise and take steps to ensure children are all eating lunch. It shouldn’t be beyond us to check that 30 children have some food in front of them.

It’s not the class teachers fault. They weren’t in the room nor should they be. If this happened to a child in my class I would remind children that they won’t be in trouble etc and to tell me if there’s a problem.

TA is at fault. Parent is at fault. Child is at fault.

As a school, this shouldn’t happen.

At 8.
Too shy to speak up independently - absolutely that could happen.

But that isn't the case here.

The teacher asked the child, and the child said he had packed lunch when he didn't.

That's a totally different thing.

Some of the people blaming the middays should actually come into a school hall and supervise over 100 children eating at the same time in 6 different sittings and then see how easy it is to overlook! Even in my current school where the children who are packed lunch eat in the classroom it would be easy to overlook. We usually have between 30 and 35 children eating in one classroom and some parent s only pack about three things - one sandwich, 1 piece of fruit and 1 cake that the child devours in 5 mins. If the midday is helping children to open food, clean tables and generally keep order then it could be easily assumed that the child had finished their lunch. In year 3 the only children I chec lunches for is those children whose parents often send just one packet of crisps or biscuits, so I can log as a concern and those on medication to check they have the right amount of carbs etc.

The parent is absolutely at fault. As a teacher, my reply would be that I would assume a parent would notice that they have not provided a meal for their child, and I'd be making a note of this for future reference.
In my school, this could easily go unnoticed as all the KS2 classes go o the o,ayground the. Get called in to the dinner hall on rotation. The dinner staff don't know who's off. They would assume little johnny was eithe rin the hot meals hall or absent.

But what was the child doing when everyone else was eating - how did no-one at school spot that they had no food?

Don't blame yourself. They said they had a lunch, so you thought they would eat that lunch. If I'm teaching little ones I physically count the lunchboxes in the morning to check it tallies with the lunch register, but I wouldn't dream of checking if a class of 8 year olds had told me the correct thing. If you'd have known, you'd have made sure the child was fed but you're not a mindreader!

I don't see how anyone is at fault. Presumably the parent didn't realise the child had no lunch and neither did you. The child isn't really at fault either. But one day without lunch isn't the end of the world.

@Happyhippy45

That is so sad that a child went without food.

Oh come on! If a child is routinely going hungry, that is certainly very sad. A child missing one lunch is hardly that big a deal!

Sorry I'm still confused, was the child supposed to have a school meal or packed lunch on this day?
Did the child forgot to come to the dining hall for lunch?
Or did the child forgot his lunch bag at home/in the car?
Or was it not enouh food for this child? ( and believe me it happens...)
Does this child have one to one supervision at lunch time or is it NT child?

I wouldn't be blaming the staff particularly but would be massively concerned that neither the child nor one of their friends told a member of staff they didn't have any lunch. The fact that none of the kids knew to alert the staff there was a problem is really worrying actually.

Sounds to me like your lunchtimes need a rethink..

Parent and child messed up here.
The child said they had their lunch. At 8 they would know if they'd put their packed lunch on the trolley or not.
Teacher wasn’t present in the room at lunchtime as had marking and photocopying to do
Even if they didnt, teaching staff aren't on lunch duty unless they opt in to do them.