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! 😭

They need a better system. Having a proper meal is so important - I personally would not be able to work in the afternoon if I didn’t have lunch. Not work using my brain in any case.

People on these thread always have a go at “fussy” eaters. In my experience the vast majority of the adult population are quite fussy. Many people will say they eat anything but then when it comes to it, it turns out that’s not really true! Many of us hate creamy/slimy textures, or strong tasting fish, or mushy/overcooked vegetables, - the list goes on...

Also, our school gets you to pick the menu options in advance, so that there is what the kids actually want on the day. Seems the best way, as there is no waste that way. They get a choice between shite (fish fingers and chips, pizza, etc), jacket potato or a sandwich. Maybe suggest they could do this and actually save on money/waste?

YANBU. Your DS has a disability and there are "reasonable adjusments" to make sure that he is always offered food he can eat. He could go in early, or be allowed to choose early from the menu and have some put aside.

He has autism and sadly he won’t eat everything on offer. He’s not keen on any packed lunch foods (not just sandwiches). It’s so hard. I have no complaints about the quality of food. They actually provide good food (just not enough). It’s all made from scratch. Just feel they should do something to determine who will want what in the mornings!

School (and the caterer!) need to step up. these sort of things can very occasionally happen, but not regularly. they either need to

• provide a menu to choose in advance (best option)
• rotate class groups on who gets in first, so at least its balanced
• provide the same for each yeargroup (e.g. every year group gets 60% non veggie meal, 40% veggie meal etc), so year 5/6 don’t always loose out

-potentially reduce options. our school has non-veggie lunch, veggie lunch, pasta, salad. that’s it. Veggie and non veggie lunch share at least 1 component (so rice with chicken and peas, or rice with vegetarian curry).

This makes me so mad. Same thing happened to my son hardly anything left, then they offered him a sandwich (he didn't eat cheese then) so they gave him bread and butter. I rang the head then and said if I sent my son into school with just B&B you would ring me up and say that is inadequate. Then one day he said he had sausage and mash I corrected him and said sausages and mash, he said no just one sausage!! Complain I would.

How do they not know who is eating?

At our school prior to covid the kids told teacher at registration if they were having school dinner, and filled in a form if it was a 'special' like a baguette or jacket.

Now parents have to do it online my midnight Sunday. If parents don't tell the office, their child doesn't get a school meal.

I remember it being similar when I was at primary school. But they would always change what year groups go in first each day so it would be varied. You would know if your last in it was a sandwich or a cold sausage roll 🤣

People on these thread always have a go at “fussy” eaters. In my experience the vast majority of the adult population are quite fussy. Many people will say they eat anything but then when it comes to it, it turns out that’s not really true! Many of us hate creamy/slimy textures, or strong tasting fish, or mushy/overcooked vegetables, - the list goes on...

Agree with this also. Most of the 'I eat anything, so my kids should too' people I know do avoid fods they dislike. But expect their children to eat everything

And yes, I know its a good position to be in, even having food you don't like, as long as there is something as some have nothing, etc. But that doesn't mean nooone should moan about their own problems. If we go down the route of 'X has it worse'..noone would ever be able to whinge about anything as theres always someone worse off.

Most schools ask you to pay for your preference, not a set meal. Some meals are more popular than others, and it's impossible to estimate.

And yet lots of school manage to estimate it well enough that the child gets their preferred meal, so clearly not impossible.

I think the problem is private firms cater so there is as little waste as possible , and there is no accountability for not providing a suitable choice .

YANBU

If the school can’t change the amount of food they could at least implement a system where it’s not always the same children who go in first or last (even just between year 3-6 would help).

It’s an issue that will be even worse for year 6 and it’s not only your DS that’s affected, it’s all the children who have school dinners, definitely not BU to raise it. Obviously not going in all guns blazing but nothing about your OP suggests that you intend to do that anyway!

I'm a teacher and think it's totally fine to contact the school - problems have to be sorted, covid or not! We always have enough for older children to have seconds (can't be offered to younger classes because of how we're currently running dinners) so it's not like it's an issue that all schools struggle with.

Yes this happens in our school too. Year 5/6s are left with the left overs, so they dont really eat them. For this reason I switched them both over to packed lunches.

He has autism and sadly he won’t eat everything on offer.

But there is hot food still left? Just not necessarily the food he would prefer?

YANBU
A child with autism is not "a fussy eater" (christ, some people), but in any case there is nothing fussy about not wanting a hot meal provided at lunch time when you've paid for one!

At DS school they have a rota so it's only one week in 4 that each class risks being left with the "salad bar", but tbh they always make plenty.

Not that DS cares, he's taken a peanut butter sandwich, pink lady apple and a packet of crisps to school every single day since reception.

Yeah its crap. They need to provide enough food for all the children. The meals have been paid for so the provider needs to make sure they're available.

@Fredthefrog

The year 6s in my school complained through the school council and now all of ks2 take it in turns to go first and last. If they are running out of food for year 5s that means the older kids are having a worse time and it isn't fair. I would complain .

My school did this too, it was much fairer for the older children. We started rotating all four KS2 years, but Y3 found it hard, particularly during the autumn term, slow eaters had to be chivvied along as they were still chomping when afternoon school was ready to start. In the end we only rotated 4 5 and 6 and it worked much better and was a lot fairer. The last sitting never got as much choice , but overall it worked.

To be honest we are having nightmares too. The kitchen staff are stressed and doing their best but there are complications and supply issues constantly. Food is sent in not fully made on site. I'd just send him with packed lunches for now - maybe something tasty and warm in a food flask or order the hot meal and send some extras for him to eat.

YNBU

We had this same problem when mine were at that age over ten years ago. They did rotate who was in last, always the older ones though, they would get some random stuff that you would never put together and not enough of it.

@LemonBreeland

Also to add where we are in Scotland school dinners are chosen at the beginning of the week and the DC get a coloured token for their chosen meal each day. This ensures they get the meal they want. Ours is done through parentpay online, but sued to be done via envelopes with the food choices on where you ticked the boxes.

Not read the whole thread yet but this idea sounds brilliant!

Clever Scots leading the way again! 👍👍👍

I think this is a catering issue, we dont have this issue at our school purely because you have to order there dinners at least 2 days in advance and can order up to 6 weeks ahead. I'm shocked that not all schools have this system or similar

Had the exact same issue, lunches were pre-ordered, checked at registration as per the norm in all schools I have worked in, then by time year 6 got served the chosen meal was gone around 4 days of 5. It was extremely annoying. The issue we had was they didn't rotate the year groups (years 3 to 6) as the year 3 were a needy group - I heard there were lunches thrown quite regularly according to a TA I knew at the school. When this was suggested they rotate as per all the other local schools, some of the support staff took offence and the head requested it was not discussed. They could have put measures in place to support the children who clearly weren't copinhg at lunchtime. We swapped back to packed lunches after that half-term - we were without a kitchen otherwise I would have given up long ago. The only advice is just to suggest rotating year groups to the school.

YANBU at all, that's awful! Of course the school should make sure all kids get a decent meal.

It's definitely an organisation issue.

Our school is big (two dining halls) and manage it by sending parents the choices before the term starts. You pick one per day, on a rotating 3-week basis - usually a meat/vegetarian/halal option. More importantly, any life-threatening allergies are logged as well, so kids with dairy or nut allergens are catered for.

If a child does not want their chosen meal, there's always a jacket potato option with the salad bar. It works very well, with little waste and my two have never complained about being hungry.