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?

I'm a finance director in a multi academy trust. A school is not able to enforce charges in this way (academy or not). There are really strict rules around what we can and can't charge for - even the vast majority of trips should be voluntary charges although most schools don't properly adhere to this.

If my child attended this school then I would complain to the Chair of Trustees and the Department for Education.

A couple of local new schools round here have that policy. They also have an earlier start with breakfast and a later finish with compulsory clubs or homework time. It's one way they've decided to 'keep kids out of trouble' based on the areas they are in. However, it doesn't work for everyone and it means some kids would have to stop ongoing after school activities they do. A friend's ds was allocated such a school last year and she successfully appealed to have him go elsewhere.

DD's school did have compulsory school lunch in year 7, but not beyond. Her primary was compulsory lunch too. Both independent. It was fine for us, but Dd took paxked lunch - her choice, we preferred the not having to faff making lunches personally - from year 8 onwards. Now she's at sixth form we can go out and about and get her own lunches.

That's very reasonable tbh. I doubt you'd manage 3 packed lunches for that amount.

Families that can't afford it will be on FSM.

I would not be happy with this.

Packed lunches could definitely work out cheaper, depending what you add but a basic sandwich, fruit, veg sticks, crisps and yogurt would not cost £2.50pp

Also with no choices there's a chance your child could end up eating no lunch. Everyone has foods they don't like so even a child who isn't "fussy" could easily come across a disliked food.

Having compulsory lunches also would make me wonder what else is compulsory that you haven't been told about yet

As the parent of a coeliac child who reacts violently this wouldn't work. I'm sure they can provide gluten free food but if the kitchen handles gluten containing food I would not trust the cross contamination issue. We have separate pans, utensils, baking trays, etc for dd and I would not trust a school kitchen to adhere to this.

She's also vegan and intolerant to too much Quorn (most people are).

My dd would hate that. She does sometimes eat school lunches, but much prefers to take a packed lunch. I prefer it too, because it's much healthier and it's cheaper too!

I manage 3 x packed lunches for much less than that. We can’t afford it and are nowhere near fsm. Certainly can’t afford the money going on panini, sausage rolls or pizza slices. We like to eat our main meal together too.

We only go through the hell if packed lunch making because we have seen it save a lot of money, I reckon £1 per lunch so £15 a week which is £60 a month. Sorry but that is too much to lose.

I think you just budget for it and try to adapt your weekly budget, if they have a main meal for lunch then you might get away with something smaller/cheaper for dinner. £1500 to feed 3 teens is not bad IMO. I couldn't think of much worse (in school admin context!) than having to make 3 packed lunches every day tbh!

YABu because 1- there’s no way they cost that much 2- the school is supporting healthy eating habits AND keeping it simple for you. If you don’t like it choose another school.

I see the teenagers from 3 local schools in our petrol station/local Sainsbury in the morning and buying energy drinks, bags of haribo and other shite for their lunch. I’d be delighted if the schools brought in compulsory meals instead of giving them free rein. Though as half of them stink of weed perhaps school lunches are the least of their worries.

Ours cost more, the £2.50 was for the main meal only.They put alternatives such as I’ve listed so hardly any buy the healthy hot meal or have spent their money before lunch as starving.Compilsory charging would never work.

My dd1 goes to a school which has this policy. The headteacher explained to us that compulsory school food was one of the ways they counteract the competitive noneating they had previously had at the (all girls) school. The staff also have to eat amongst the girls. There is an old fashioned emphasis on eating together. They have a selection of foods like a work canteen, with filled baguettes etc for those who need to grab and go due to clubs. There is also a break time snack option. It has worked well IMO.

And not sure why other parents should pay extra to stop kids sneaking out of school. That is the school’s job to regulate.

If school forced us to pay the extra £60 a month they would have us paying less on all the other things we get clobbered for on parent pay. Parents are perfectly capable of balancing their own budgets.

Your school must have very wealthy parents. I couldn’t afford the money we had to load up their cards with on baguettes at bresktime which is what would happen. Aside from anything i coild provide baguettes for half that amount.

Would love to know legally how they check who has a packed lunch and force parents to pay for food you don’t want or haven’t eaten.

Its not about having really wealthy parents, it's about having parents who are so set on having a child at a school with this ethos (it"s not just the meals, they're part of a whole package) that they find a way to make it work. Parents who don't want that package (I'm one of them) send their kids elsewhere.

I teach abroad, where school Lunch is free and compulsory - allergies are coped with quite well. There is a salad/ vegetable bar, and then usually a meat option and a veggie option (sometimes all the same EG Macaroni cheese). If the meat is pork or beef the children who don't eat it have the veggie. Allergies eg quorn, coeliac, and also vegan have separate main meals but you need a doc note. There are always crackers available, and there is enough variety you would have to be beyond fussy to be hungry (we do have children who might only eat carrots, crackers and milk some days, but there is plenty quantity wise)

In a lot of areas it’s not as simple as “send them elsewhere” though.

Wow re ethos I thought schools based it on behaviour, work ethic, manners etc not being forced to pay £2.50 for s crummy baguette at break time.

My dd takes fel a fel and hummus. Her friends take in a variety of vegetarian curries and multi cultural food which they often share. My dd has had a mum send in extra dishes for her to try.

Fed up with this school food equals healthier stance, it often isn’t. Teens also like some control over life basics, same as adults do.

We are vegan so my ds who is in 6 th form has always took packed lunch ...I would not of been happy about this ..but I’m not sure you can actually do anything

But legally how can they force you?They can’t force you to pay for trips.

I've never heard of this either. Would have been a nightmare for me at school since I'm gluten free and the lunch hall only served sandwiches, breaded chicken and pasta 🙄

@Babooshkar what makes you think that vegetarian food isn't healthy, varied and has enough protein?

We don't need to eat meat, end of. It's just bullshit that we've been told our whole lives that we must have meat to reach protein goals.

We're a family of vegetarians- 11 month old DD included and she's doing just great.

I think it sounds heavenly to be honest, I'm dreading the whole packed lunch saga. I'd be much happier knowing DD had a nice warm veggie meal in her at dinnertime, makes teatime somewhat easier too.

I also don't remember anyone with packed lunches at my high school (although I left 14 years ago so things may have changed).