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! 😭

the solution is simple, EVERY child should order their meal in advance, KS1 and Ks2, free meal or not. The the catering company can deliver what is requested, instead of basing everything on estimates and getting it wrong.

I am not sure why they don't do it.

That said, they need to make sure they have a record of each child order somewhere. Anyone who has ever organised a company meals where people chose their menu in advance knows that even adults can't remember what they have ordered

At our school children choose the meal at the beginning of the day and the correct number of portions made (plus a few extra portions to make up for spillages, etc)

I would be annoyed if I paid for a hot lunch and DC was given a sandwich or something they didn't like. We have packed lunches most days and a school meal of there's something they want to try.

waltzingparrot
Def YNBU. Email the Head now and say exactly what you've said here. Ask for them to explain what they are going to do about it.
Yes, ask them how they intend to single handedly end the pandemic

Erm, my child's primary offers the whole school hot dinners and they always have enough. It can be done, even during a 'pandemic'

YANBU. This is why DD & most of her year group now take packed lunches (Year 5).

Had similar when my son was at state school. A friend, a governor at the school, would regularly have lunch with them and she said she was appalled with the tiny portions and campaigned for an improvement. Unfortunately funds too tight.

My year 4 son would come out ravenous and I broke my heart, as I can’t concentrate when hungry!

Now... it’s a banquet at lunch and the difference in mood post school is striking (improvement)

Ours have a system where you book what you want in advance so they know how much of everything to order and everyone gets what they like. Maybe suggest a system like this?

@randomer

Raise it with the head and if no joy take it to the governors

No, write a polite email outlining your perfectly reasonable worries and wait a couple of days.

Isn’t that essentially what this poster is suggesting

As an aside- it is completely correct process.

YANBU. covid is no excuse.

They need to ask the children what they want in advance.
The teacher reads out what they've ordered and gives them a coloured token. They exchange the token for the meal, stops messing about. Saves wastage in the Kitchen and each child gets what they've paid for.

Absolutely ridiculous system and I would make a fuss about it!

You can't just guess a random amount of food and then just let the kids pick what they fancy Not when you're catering for 100+ lunches!

Both my children's schools you have to choose lunches at least a week in advance. My children actually choose for a half term at a time - there's a main option, veggie option, jacket potato or sandwich. Then they also pick a pudding eg cake & custard or fruit & yoghurt.

Caterers then know exactly what they're cooking for each year. Every child gets the meal they want.

I am presuming that as this is a primary school you pay in advance and you pre order the food option? Most primary’s will either get parents to select at payment or ask the kids when doing the register in the morning. The kitchen will get the figures in the morning so there is no excuse or to have the selected meal available for all the kids.

I work in school catering (I’m now in Secondary so slightly different) but this is a poor management issue. They kitchen should know the yield of each individual dish and stick to pre agreed portion sizes.

@Kacee29 do the children/parents pick a meal in advance or do they just ask for whatever is there at dinner time?

If the first,then there is no excuse.
If the second,it's a stupid way to do it. It's obvious the good choices or any choices will all be gone by the tome y5/y6 come in, especially if they are being "cautious " with portions.

Well if you pay for a service then yes you should get the service. YANBU.

It's not acceptable given the numerous methods available for planning meal requirements. Whether parents order online a week in advance or kids tell the teacher at morning register what they want, there are ways of ensuring that the catering team knows how much to prepare.

Secondary is a whole other ballgame and even though it pisses me off, I appreciate it's much harder to plan for demand there. But at primary there's no excuse.

Not necessarily a pandemic issue, unless the real issue is the cost, and they're too cheap to prepare enough food for their school children. It'll be cost saving measures.

We used to have a lot of waste at our school kitchen (the chef would generously give support staff leftover chips to nibble on during tidy-up time from time to time) but there's little to no waste now. They do have enough, but it's been trial and error to get there. If there's little left for older children it is because they made the mistake of giving reception and Y1 children much too big portions.

@MullinerSpec

Well if you pay for a service then yes you should get the service. YANBU.

But even if school meals were free for all, all children should be adequately fed

This is unacceptable. They should make enough, surely canteen staff would eat any remaining food, I know I would if it's all good food made from scratch.

Had the same at DSD’s school last year - she was Yr 6, and often skipped lunch as it was always served from youngest to oldest... Eventually she went on packed lunches, but reluctantly. Some other parents complained but (in that year at least) nothing was changed.

Haven't read the full thread but popped on to say a similar thing was happening with my eldest last year (so long before any pandemics)

As his year group were last in, there would often be no bread rolls left, or no custard for pudding, or gravy.

I did complain to school- apologised profusely for phoning them up about bread rolls but pointed out that it wasn't very fair, and it wasn't even as though his year would sometimes be in first to even things up a bit - they are always last.

School were fab, sorted it out- turned out that lunch staff were being a bit lazy and not replenishing things as they could see there were only a few children left to serve.

It's not good enough and not fair on your child.
Definitely complain to school and keep on at them until this is resolved...

We pre order On parentmail the week before so the children always get what they want. Might be worth suggesting to your school too.

So we let our kids go without lunch now, rather than question a school? Ridiculous! OP - YANB remotely U

YANBU.
My daughter has school dinners (Y6). We are given a form at the beginning of term to select what meals they want out of 2 choices. She never goes hungry. I would have thought other schools would do that, so they could plan in advance!

I have experienced this over the years my 3 were at primary , not often but enough to find it annoying and unacceptable .
I never acted on it but think its probably better to do so otherwise nothing will change .
I think that whether the child is 1st or last in the dining room there should be adequate food choices available ,no excuse .

Ah, school lunches were always such a problem for me too. I wasn't diagnosed with ASD until I was 16 and had effectively aged out of the system so to speak so my school could get away with having done eff all.

School lunches effectively put me off peas because their god awful mushy peas that looked and tasted like cat vomit. In the later years of lower school I would come home still hungry and my mum would make me a second lunch effectively. After a while of grilling me on what it was exactly I had for lunch she decided it just wasn't enough for a growing girl and changed me to packed lunch.

Packed lunch came with its own problems however. One was that the teachers would shout out when it was each classes turn to go in. When you are out on the playground having fun, or just can't hear them over the din, that can be bad. If you missed the call you were told off and effectively shit out of luck if it was really late, no lunch for you.

The next was my mothers lunches were so boring and dull. Sandwiches, yoghurt, a packet of crisps, an apple (the only fruit I would eat as oranges and bananas were too pulpy) and a nutrigrain bar. Yeah, those awful bland tasting 'breakfast bars' with but a smidging of filling. I would get really bored quickly of the same thing every day.

So after I complained that there just wasn't enough time to both play and eat and that I was experiencing a lot of bullying, mum sent me home for lunch at my Nans across the road. This was HEAVEN, as I was allowed to just chill without worry, watch a vhs with my lunch and occasionally get some of nans crumble or grandads cake.

Then in my first middle school, I got made fun of for 'talking to my food' no idea how that came about. In second middle school (I was moved because of extreme bullying and a lack of anything being done about it), mum seemed to just give up on me. She actually packed my lunch with mouldy bread. More than once. You can imagine that was a heyday for bullies. When I challenged her on how embarrassing and disgusting it was, she started shouting at me. She was doing that a lot the more I got older. I started self harming when I was 11 because of her constant bitching at me.

At first I would eat hot meals at school after that, but they were always a pain. The potato squares tasted like dirt so I ate rice and baked beans. I got made fun of for knowing 'what dirt tasted like'; I grew up in my grandads allotment and I knew what dirt smelled like. There was also a tuck shop at break I would go to. Eventually I got so sick of being made to wait to go in for lunch when I could have been hanging out with my friends that I gave up on it altogether. Especially when the younger years got to queue up and go in first. We were bigger, we needed more food was my reasoning. So I'd stuff myself at break then spend lunch in the library on the computers, my mum hadn't got the internet at home stupid woman.

Then at secondary school I was on free school meals which had limited options. The only drink you could have on them was water or milk. Neither of which I liked so, I just didn't have anything to drink at all most days, even in hot summer. That and thanks to Jamie Oliver there was no more cake regularly, like the only thing I had to look forward to in my miserable life at school.

Is it any wonder I developed a food complex after all that? Its something my partner had to painstakingly fix themselves.