To ask you about secondary school meals

[Moreorlessmentallystable]

Posting here for traffic. My daughter is starting secondary school in August, currently she takes a snack and a packed lunch to primary school. I am not sure if this will be seen as weird in secondary school? I know you could pay for school meals but what I gather is most local school kids go to the town and get a meal deal or a Greggs. Is this what most kids do or are there a lot that stay in school for a meal? I know it sounds snobby but I worry that she'll be getting Gregg's or similar every day as it's not very healthy, also worried about her drinking fizzy juice every day as she is not allowed it apart from maybe once every month or two. Any tips?

Ours are not allowed off site, are they not talking about after school ?

No secondary school around here would let a pupil out at lunchtime, until they are in 6th form.

Packed lunch or school lunch - mine always did a bit of both.

Our students aren't allowed off site during the day, and a lot across ss the year groups bring a packed lunch. It's not unusual.

Not usually allowed off site so it’s school dinners (lots of pizza and chips) it a packed lunch. Most seem to have school dinners.

DD takes a flask of heated left over dinner from the day before. Others have followed. Generally pasta, homemade curries, stews etc.

She doesn't like the quality of the school food.

Our school don't let them leave the premises until 6th form these days. My ds uses the school canteen which is more like a cafeteria. My only issue is he can spend over £4 a day, which I've told him off for. I wish parents could set the daily limit on it. Pack lunch is fine though.

My DS is yr7. Also not allowed off site. His school have 2 x 30min breaks. He is also a fussy eater. So takes packed lunch and has half at first break and half at second break. He sometimes gets something from canteen but this will be a sausage roll or pizza slice and a cookie. This maybe once a week. Never has a proper meal. He says the canteen gets too busy, so doesn't have a lot of time to eat or hang out. We prefer him to do that so we know he has had something to eat - don't mind half a sandwich coming home.

Secondary schools where I live, all pupils are allowed to go off site for lunch. So entirely possible it's the same where OP is.

Ive never worked in a school where the children aren’t allowed out.

Kids take a mix of lunch from home, school dinners, or eating out. Most of them get a weekly budget which they can use in any way they wish - parents usually put money into their bank and then they pay by card or top up their school account. I hear them saying they need to bring sandwiches the next day because they spent all their money, so it does seem to work.
Look into what places are near the school - a greggs can be relatively healthy (if they choose a sandwich) so maybe just reinforce the healthier choices available?
Most kids I know go to the local “deli” (the sandwich shop type) so maybe encourage the healthier options there (for example a tuna baguette or soup) as well.

Im guessing you are Scottish?

I bet OP means they collect it on their way to school as depending on where the school is they might have access, it is also where the main bus station is for my child's school. So they are near bakeries including Greggs.

Taking a packed lunch is totally fine and Ds did this for a couple of days a week depending on where his classroom was and the one way system to get to the dining hall.

Ours aren't allowed off site and most take a pack lunch to avoid the long queues in the canteen.

Agree, not allowed off site during the day here (but they pack into the shops nearby before and after school buying snacks and fizzy pop - most shops limit the number allowed in at once, even the supermarket!)

My DC prefer to take a packed lunch over the school cantina, because it means you can start eating straight away and don’t have to queue, and I think plenty of their friends do likewise.

There are plenty context clues that the OP is not in England; therefore this “not allowed off school property” most likely doesn’t apply.

The borough I live in doesn’t allow children off site, but I used to work in another borough where they were allowed to leave at lunchtime. I was pretty shocked, tbh, that kids as young as 11 were allowed to wander around by themselves - I know 11 year olds that sadly can’t tell the time, so how would they know when to head back to school?

Our school allows from y9 into town WITH parental consent. Our ds often eats crap, sometimes has a healthy sandwich option, but due to issues the lunch breaks is his stress reducer, staying on site all day would cause further issues. We try to balance that with choices at home.

In school he says quite a few have packed lunch because it takes so long to get through the dinner queue. Some take packed lunch and have money on school account to get a snack drink etc during the day.

We can see exactly what they buy in school, through the school account, our dd would buy biscuits/cookies and a bottle of water, which would annoy me as she took water in and there's free water 'stations'. When we discussed it with her HoY she showed us details of how many of the girls did EXACTLY the same, so staying in school doesn't mean it's gonna be healthy choice.

If she has packed lunch due to costs and you may not be able to afford dinners, then that is what it is. If you can afford it then id maybe give her the option, what her friends are doing etc as she will want to fit in.

It also depends how long the lunch break is. Many are 30 minutes, which doesn’t allow for going out, even if allowed, or for much queuing time, so packed lunch would mean at least they get something.

School dinners aren't much healthier than greggs tbh (certainly in schools where I've worked and visited over the last 10 years although I do hear wonderful tales of fresh food and salad bars in some places!). No fizzy drinks, but other than that, beige crap is largely what's on offer. Pizza, sausage rolls, crusty white bread with mayonnaise-y fillings. Crisps and cake. There is a hot option I suppose but even that seems to be a lot of burgers and wraps (burger in a wrap lol) and stodgy, cheesy pasta. Maybe your school will be better but don't assume it's necessarily healthy just because it's sold onsite.

Our school canteen gets really busy and the queues are long. My son takes a packed lunch and he has money on his account so he can top up from the canteen.

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That sounds a lot for one meal.

Not really - it’s about £2.50 for the main meal (two course so soup/main or main/cake) then add in a drink for maybe another 80p plus they usually have something at break too, like toast. It’s not a lot of food especially when you consider some of the kids are adult sized (s4-6)

@Moreorlessmentallystable it's not just one meal. The canteen is open at break time aswell as lunch. Its like a cafe, there's wraps, pasta pots, cakes etc all priced individually, aswell as the main meal and pudding which is £2.60. Plus he often buys a drink instead of taking one. Sometimes he'll pop into coop and get a meal deal on his way to school for around £2.60(staff discount), instead of buying something at school but I have to check the parent pay app regularly, as I can't trust him not to spent silly amounts. Totally different from primary which is a set amount for a meal.

@0rangeCrush exactly. It all adds up. DS is nearly 15 and about 5'9, he can eat way more than me.

English secondary here no kids allowed off site

Mine have school lunch, but tbh when I check scopay they are basically snacking, no proper meals.

They have a good hot meal at home in the evening and there are loads of snacks and fruit for after school

I am really surprised at people being shocked at 11 year olds not being allowed to walk outside school grounds unattended. I do remember my own parents being a little nervous about it; but it really is a safe environment to build trust and responsibility.