To think secondary schools shouldn’t have compulsory school dinners

[HitMissBowl]

DS is going to be starting a new secondary school in September. He will be one of the first set of pupils in year 7.

The school have stated that they will have compulsory family lunches, so nobody will be allowed to bring in packed lunch or any other type of food into school. Sounds good? Except in a few years time I’ll have 3 children in the school and will be spending well over £7K a year on school lunches for them.

How is this even fair? Dh and I will be earning over the £16k limit for free school lunches so how will we afford it? Apart from this, and the school uniform, the school sounds like it will be exceptional and academic and suit DS.

Is it legal for schools to make school dinners compulsory?

Is it a private school? Apologies if you’ve already said otherwise. It’s not uncommon for private schools to insist on school lunches for everyone (not least because it’s extra revenue!).

I dont think I have ever seen a secondary age pupil taking in a packed lunch.

A packed lunch will not really cost much less than school lunches.

Private schools tend to do this. But they also tend to be quite aware of dietary/religious/cultural preferences and intolerances/allergies as a result.

I wonder whether this school has considered the implications of having to provide gluten free, nut free, dairy free and pig, beef and other animal free options at every meal?

I'd ask them.

It’s not private, it’s a free school and the lunches will all be vegetarian. No meat. So everyone will eat the same food.

They won’t even be allowed an apple. But I may have to sneak one in his bag for home time.

Also if they've had a hot 'family' lunch then you'll save money by not having to cook a big family evening meal.

I dont think I have ever seen a secondary age pupil taking in a packed lunch.

My Dc and their friends all take in packed lunches - as they don't like the queues for food plus a lot of families don’t have spare money here and the meals cost are slightly higher than quoted here.

I guess we’re lucky it’s not such an unknown.

Plus when you have more than one child to do pack lunches for the more noticeable the cost saving.

I dont think I have ever seen a secondary age pupil taking in a packed lunch.

Both my DSs did. DS2 has done right through to Upper 6th. DD would love to take a packed lunch but isn't allowed.

If it's compulsory, I'd expect good food with plenty of choice. School dinners at my DC primary school are like pig swill so I'd not be happy if they were compulsory. I'd want to know their justification for this.
I do think you'd be hard put to spend much less than £2.60 on a good packed lunch though.

If it's along the same lines as our local one - its mostly because it's starting with just year 7s. There's not a big enough population yet to justify kitchen staff if everybody doesnt take the meal.

Personally I'd steer clear of a brand new school but it's personal choice.

All vegetarian sounds pretty restrictive and potentially not that healthy unless they are going to make an effort and properly balance meals with enough protein.

Not being allowed to take on your own snacks, esp fruit is ridiculous!!

I’ve worked at a school with compulsory meals and it was great. You had to go in the dining room with your class and they sat at tables and there were serving dishes and the dinner staff, teaching staff and TAs all helped the dc serve themselves. If you wanted, you could sit with the dc and eat with them. The food was nice and all cooked on site.

At least the school will be responsible for any food related illness. This way it means they all get a hot meal. Food wont go off, get thrown around or pinched. Diabetics and those with added needs might need extra food which is something that needs to be discussed. I'd rather they had veg than a greasy burger.

Ahh it's a free school.

Tell us more batshit rules OP.

What about dietary requirements?

We’re vegan, but I also have a severe kiwi allergy, so they would need to guarantee nothing had been in contact with kiwi, as holding my sons hand/kissing would be enough for me to have a reaction.

That is not something I would trust school catering with.

Michaela academies do this. And if a parent forgets to pay or their free school meal entitlement is delayed then the child cannot sit at the "family lunch" table and is given a basic packed lunch www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jul/29/headteacher-defends-policy-of-putting-pupils-in-lunch-isolation

Whilst I agree, schools dinners would be a lot easier for a secondary pupil. I was never allowed them, had to take a packed lunch. By the time I got it, it was invariably warm and not particularly nice. And we were lucky enough to have lockers to leave stuff in.

Instead of seeing it as an additional expense, could you mentally justify it as part of your child's weekly allowance? They might not even spend £2.30 a day. Our choice of secondary uses biometrics to pay (so no losing dinner money or being made to buy someone else's lunch) and a programme which shows how much has been spent which parents can access to top up funds.

I do get it. My youngest 2 come off universal free meals next school year, just as eldest starts secondary school. I've seen the last 3 years as a bonus but there's no way I'm paying for 4 schools dinners a day until I have to or on days I absolutely need to.

I feel your pain OP
Dd has compulsory school lunches at £5 per day. She’s a vegetarian and 3/5 days the veggie option is Quorn, which she is allergic to
Basically I pay £5 a day for a cheese sandwich or a jacket potato most of the time.
We can afford it but it’s annoying

@sallyscallop

No compulsory meals makes sense.

Clearly the amount is wrong as most schools it’s £2.10 a day

I hated school meals and often didn't like what was on offer. Then got in trouble for leaving food, and so on and so on.
Will there be choice? OP mentioned vegetarian - will there be vegan options? And food allergies?

PP mentioned not needing to cook a family meal at home? Nope. Family mealtimes were really important to us - I'd change schools, tbh.

Not great for DC with 'fussy eating' due to autism or similar, either.

I agree with the poster who said you won't save much doing it yourself anyway.

I threaten Dd with a packed lunch if she loses her lunch card. It’s social death at her school.

I know a school that does this...my nieces went there and you pay upfront for the meals every term.

I think it's a money making thing personally.

It means even if you're off sick, you still pay. No refunds.

I would love to see how they would enforce it with children like ds who have restricted diets, or those with allergies or who can’t eat the designated meal for whatever reason.

No way would I be paying for a school dinner I knew wouldn’t be touched!

Well they’ve asked for all allergies and food intolerances in the forms so it must be being taken into account somehow. But agree it will be really hard for someone who has multiple allergies.

Someone mentioned the Michaela schools and it seems like a lot of the ideas about discipline and ethos have been taken from them, but not enough to make it completely batshit.