No food left for older children at school

[Kacee29]

I’ll probably get told I’m moaning about nothing here but here goes.

I have a Dd in infants and a dc in year 5. Dd gets free lunches as they all do. We pay for DS’s lunches as over the years he’s really enjoyed having school dinners. He’s willing to try a lot more food there (he has asd and issues with food). Plus he doesn’t really like packed lunch foods. So yeah he’s always had the cooked lunches.

Now he’s in year 5 he’s the second to last in to get have lunch and on a few occasions he’s not had much for lunch as there’s nothing left - he’s ended up with something he doesn’t like or something like a sandwich which I could make for himself anyway (nor do any of the other children as it’s the last things left 😫) I know I’m sounding precious but he will simply not eat anything that’s given to him.

Aibu to think they should make enough so the children in the older years can eat once they get there? We pay for his lunches but some children get their lunches free if on a low income etc. It’s even worse for those children receiving free lunches as it might be the only substantial meal they get in the day. I know that DS can come home and eat, others might not.

But then I think we pay nearly £45 a month for him to eat. So it’s not really good enough not having enough food?!

They know how many children in the juniors are going to be having cooked food in the morning.

So yeah aibu to be annoyed. Thinking of sending him packed lunch but he generally loves the cooked lunches. This has been an ongoing problem since September. I think the issue lies with that before covid not all infants would take up the free lunches - some took packed lunches. Now the school won’t allow those who get free lunches to take a pack lunch because of covid plus he’s one of the last in!

It makes me so sad when he comes home and says he hasn’t really eaten much so packed lunch it is! 😭

I'm sure they can come up with a way of working out how many of each thing they need. I think at primary they used to have to get a token from the teacher and put it in the right tray according to what she wanted to eat. All kids eating school meals got tokens whether free meals or not.

In many schools the kids choose a meal at registration and meal choices are electronically
sent to the kitchen. No excuses. Piss poor management

YANBU.

You are paying for your child to have a decent lunch not leftovers. It doesn't matter how much you pay or when he goes for lunch, he should have the same choices as everyone else.

This happens in dc school as last year in don't get choice in hot food, just what's left. School make it fair though by rotating the year groups who go in first,

We have a 3 choice option at our school:meat,veggie and a packed lunch choice -the kids choose their meal either the day before online or during register. Due to covid all hot dinners are now plated/covered and collected by the Teaching Assistants and eaten in class.

Quite a lot of schools have an app where children order their lunches the night before or in the morning. They get a ticket with their order on before they line up. I think this is a great idea. If I were you, I’d just make him a packed lunch. At least you’ll know he has enough food then.

When the teacher takes the register, school dinner pupils have the days choices on the white board/ projector in D Sis school. teacher takes it down and passes to office who calculate each years choices and passes it to the kitchen by 9.30. Simple!

My kids school ask them what they want at register too, so that they can prep enough for all. At the moment only reception are eating in the hall and can have a hot meal every day. The rest of the school take it in turns, 2 classes at a time to have hot school meals on a rotating pattern. The rest eat packed lunches or a cold school meal on their classroom.

My sisters kids school choose 3 weeks at a time in advance what they are having.

*in 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

They should be able to put a system in place for him due to his ASD. Put a plate by or something. Ask to talk to the catering team to resolve.

You ANBU. You’re paying for a lunch for your child and are entitled to get a proper meal. At my daughters school we have to order meals at least the week in advance and then they prepare what is needed with a bit extra ‘just in case.’ There’s always a cold option with 3 hot choices And at least one is vegetarian. Always a jacket potato as one of the hot choices. They do use a local catering company that work with the school to make sure every child is fed appropriately.
I would complain to the school - they should also be aware of your sons asd and it’s associated needs so I’d be surprised if it came as a shock. Good luck x

Yanbu but this government aren't that bothered about feeding kids.

This is why we gave up on school dinners a few years ago in Y5. Nothing much left after the other years had eaten and stupid meal ‘options’ offered, often something that most kids love partnered with something unusual and never any of the popular one left. There were always sandwiches as well so I was paying over £10 a week for sandwiches. I raised it several times in the proper ways, parent forum etc. Nothing changed. Packed lunches it was, then. I’m so impressed to read about schools organising this by prior choice and catering accordingly. Makes sense.

Yanbu. This shouldn't happen.

In my child’s school, and attached nursery, the children order their lunch each morning and the order is delivered to the kitchen, the dinner ladies make exactly the right amount of each option. It is a middle sized primary school, 300 ish pupils, and works very well. I am actually surprised this doesn’t seem to be ‘usual’ and would not be happy to pay for my child to be offered limited and less popular choices

I’m a dinner lady. I think you should bring it up with the school. It can and should be sorted.

At most of the primary schools I have worked out they ask children/ parents to ore order and choose meals which minimises this problem ( they them get coloured bands correlating to that day’s choice) Saves on waste and makes sure there is enough. Older children are of necessity eating later at the moment so the little ones can go first due to “ bubbles” having to be separate - but if this has happened ( running out of food choices) more than a couple of times it sounds like the school needs to plan more carefully. Year 6 s can be notoriously ravenous - and as you say, for many it can be the meal of the day , so not unreasonable to want some choice!!

@WillSantaBeComingToTown

Catering in covid times is a nightmare for school- both in terms of food prep and socially distanced serving and eating. They can't have all the children eating at the same time as before. Many are still not offering any hot meals

Don't be that parent.

This was happening when my kids were in primary school. My daughter is at uni now so it’s nothing to do with covid.

No you definitely are not being unreasonable. Same here when my twins were in year 5. They also had lunch duties to help with the littler ones who were in first and said they would throw most of their food away as they never ate it. Come their turn, there was hardly anything left. We complained and nothing changed so we put them on packed lunches.

Changing to a system of ordering in the morning also showed one school "cook" in a school I worked in that her "signature creation" pasta, that she insisted was loved, really really wasn't

It also cut waste massively, and brought a massive uptake in dinners (and the bigger in bulk they buy the more cost effective overall dinners are)

At our local primary they publish a menue in advance and you have to pre book your choice in advance. It's cooked off site so only the exact amount is delivered to the school. Downside is that pupils can't change their mind and that there is nothing left in case someone has forgotten their packed lunch.

You are not being unreasonable at all. If you pay for a decent meal your child should get a decent meal. I wouldn't accept it. As other say, contact the school.

@NellyBarney

At our local primary they publish a menue in advance and you have to pre book your choice in advance. It's cooked off site so only the exact amount is delivered to the school. Downside is that pupils can't change their mind and that there is nothing left in case someone has forgotten their packed lunch.

They should always be cooking a few spares in case they, or a child, drops one. Or in the case of a forgotten (or spoiled) packed lunch.

There really is no excuse for having such tight planning.

Yanbu I work in a school and my friend does the catering. The options each day are a sandwich, jacket potatoe or a pasta dish. As long as the meals are ordered by 9am each day each child gets what they have ordered. The meals come with a pot of salad, piece of fruit and cake or jelly. All delivered in individual bags to their classrooms.

they could solve the wastage problem by asking what the kids want to eat and making a little bit extra - older kids need more food, not less! yadnbu