Pupils serving lunch every day...

[AllthingsSummer]

Does this sound right to you?

My child’s school does not employ kitchen staff (apart from the cook). Pupils are on a rota to take a week serving lunches.

Punishments in the school also take the form of cleaning out bins, including the kitchen bins.

I do not know of hairnets/gloves being worn, and am wondering if this is actually breaching Health and Safety guidelines for schools?

Thanks.

When I was at school in the 70s each table had a 'dinner server' and a 'pudding server'

At the time we all thought it was a great accolade to be chosen for either job. Dinner server held the greater kudos and was generally given to boys

But it was considered a useful part of our education. It wasn't a punishment.

That was being made to stand on your seat until every other person in the dining room had finished. Only then could you sit down and eat your own (cold) food.

That was the punishment for either talking (no talking whilst during mealtimes) or food refusal.

I remember the view from that chair very well!!

We did this in primary school in the nineties. We were also responsible for wiping down our tables, returning dishes to the kitchen staff and clearing up the dining hall - which meant putting away tables and benches and sweeping the floor.

We were supervised but I think it was a good way of learning basic table manners and cleaning tasks.

I was at an independent school btw.

A few years ago, when I was a primary school teacher, I went to Sweden with some colleagues to spend time in a Swedish primary school. The children served the food to each other on a rota and cleaned up after.

I edited a video of the whole trip and it was the children serving in the kitchen that most excited my pupils at home. They begged to do this themselves. They wanted the trust, the responsibility, and to feel part of the running of the school.

It's not a bad thing when done well.

Thanks everyone. I’ve enjoyed reading these and they also took me back to my little Primary School and the way we shared duties.

I think I’ll just casually ask about the bin punishment from a h and a point of view at some point!

Never heard of this - but what a great idea.

I share your hesitation over the bin punishment - but actually my children behave like it's a huge personal insult if I ask them to take the rubbish out at home - they are so disgusted! Maybe practicing at school isn't such a bad thing!

My state primary did this in the 70s.

One of mine did too (I went to three) another one had 2 pupils per class go to ask what was on the menu and write it up on a board in class. I'm not sure why because there wasn't a choice of food.

One of the punishments in my secondary was to clear up chewing gum.

Japanese schools don't have cleaners, the pupils and teachers do the cleaning, they do have cooks but children (with help for the tiny ones) collect the food from the kitchen and it is served in the classroom.

Some schools grow veg too which goes into the school dinner.

Serving food on a rota is a good idea. Its fair and gives each child some experience of responsibility and helping others. I wouldn't have an issue with this at all.

I wouldn't like the idea of children cleaning out bins as a punishment. It seems unhygienic and also enforces that people who do menial jobs have done something wrong to end up in those jobs. Which is not OK.

My dd is at a big (top) private school and all the dc have some sort of job like cleaning the bins, clearing the dinner plates and collecting them etc.

These dc are pampered little pooches. My mum was a cleaner and some days it actually annoys me how lazy and entitled some of the dc are. I don't think this entitlement is restricted to private schools though and personally I'm a fan of this system, it may be the only chance some dc get to see what this kind of work is like and I'm hoping it may make some of the dc at my dd school a bit more humble around people who work in industries that do similar tasks as jobs.

If you are concerned about hygiene I'd raise it. The school will undoubtedly explain what they're doing and I'm sure they will reassure you about hygiene but in the least you can ask them. My school tends to bend over backwards to reassure me what is going on whenever I ask them anything.

I would if I was worried but personally my dd needs this sort of thing. She has no way of seeing what it's like to clean anything and tbh may never do for the rest of her life.