Jam sandwiches at wraparound care

[JBeanGarden]

My reception age DD goes to a really well arranged breakfast club and after school club 4 days a week. It works very well with 2 commuting parents. I only have one gripe and that is with the food they offer. Technically the food should align with the school’s healthy eating policy, as it’s run by the school not an external provider. The school has asked parents not to provide sweet treats in lunch boxes and it’s quite strict about sandwiches.

HOWEVER the school is not transparent about the wraparound food offer and I had to email three times to get them to tell me what they provide. Once they did, they disclosed that the after school options include a range of sandwiches, including jam, plus a pudding of cake and fruit. Of course, my four-year-old always goes for a jam sandwich and ends up with a very sweet tea 4 days a week. The school says they offer carrot sticks etc, however, not one single parent has ever mentioned this in conversation and so I just think it’s something they say but don’t provide.

We do talk at home about the importance of a balanced diet, but she’s still only four and temptation is there! She’s offered something a bit more nutritionally balanced she gets home, but she’s usually just full of jam sandwich!

I emailed the school to ask them if they are able to comment on this or if they ever review the food that they provide at wraparound care, but I haven’t received a reply. AIBU to push this further?

Surely everyone knows it's a gateway drug to much stronger substances like peanut butter and marmalade though 🤷‍♀️

I would only be happy with jam being offered occasionally.
Wraparound care should only offer a small snack and water.
I would expect healthier and plainer foods including:
sandwiches - cheese, tomato, honey, peanut butter, marmite, banana.
crackers and homus, cheese, apples, ginger cake, orange cake, beetroot cake, carrot cake or chocolate cake.
pikelets or scones with butter.

Just ask for the jam to be low sugar, not regularly offered and combined with cheese.

I’ve always found school eternally hypocritical when it comes to food - they police lunch boxes and yet serve utter shit on the lunch menus, breakfast and wrap around menus.

Have you ever tasted school dinners?

What they call "pizza" or "cake" is not actually pizza and cake. It's low salt, low fat, low flavour and often has a bunch of weird ingredients chucked in to make it "healthy".

Correct and delicious. Don't forget a couple of churros every now a them.

Where's the money supposed to come from to provide all this food?

It's unlikely they will offer peanut butter. Most schools are nut free.

You were hoping they offer her a ham or cheese sandwich but think you "are very consciously educating about real food and do not eat UPF at home"
But you hope she is offered ham or cheese instead?????????????

They are providing a snack - jam sandwiches are fine for a snack. Give her a healthy tea with fruit as pudding when she gets home. It's not about whether they are providing a healthy meal in line with school policy, because they aren't school and they aren't providing a meal.

Lots of these comments are saying ‘but in France they eat this’ or ‘never did me any harm’, but schools are obliged to address food from a healthy perspective. And diabetes is on the increase world wide, as are cancers like bowel cancer, which is directly linked to diets. Just because something is ‘what we have always done’ doesn’t make it good.

And then the evil that is Nutella !!

In my experience, school food is just for the odd days that you can’t prepare a packed lunch. You are not providing a healthy diet to your child if they eat school meals 5 days/week. It’s the sad reality.

Yes definitely, I did see one woman open a sugar packet and put it over her breakfast cake i thought oo too far 😀

Yes it was always a piece of cake or bread and jam type snacks when we returned from school with the family meal later. When mine returned from school it was toast, cake etc as they walked in the door and the family meal later.

Astonishingly we all grew up without food obsessions or weight problems.

Its not unreasonable to raise it with the provider, but if the child is unable to eat her meal in the evening then I would try varying the time of that meal. It may be too soon after the club to be hungry or too late and she is tired. Its possible that she is eating too many sandwiches but usually portions are limited at such places.

I agree with pp - if the club is on a very tight budget then a cheap processed cheese or ham sandwich is unlikely to be more nutritious than jam. You can always send in food for after school. Every morsel passing a 4 year old’s lips does not need to be nutritionally balanced, its the overall diet which matters.

I echo the person who said be careful what you wish for. Good, well priced wrap around is hard to find. Pull too many threads and the whole thing might fall apart.

The issue is not that the food isn't available, the issue is that your DC isn't choosing it. So I think your only option is to send in a packed lunch and strict instructions that this is what she eats.

It's the hypocrisy that would get to me.

I'd send the school an email asking them to clarify if jam sandwiches are permitted at lunch time, and if not, why they're allowed in the after school club.

Yes, schools are - but this isn't school, it's an optional extra added on to the school day, often provided by external staff and providers. It's not the same thing.

Again it is a jam sandwich a little sugar boost after school isn't harmful something sweet isn't going to harm a child in the grand scheme of things especially if they have had a healthier school lunch.

Maybe if they had answered the first email she wouldn’t have had to email 3 times

Surely they are going against their own policies.
If they think sugar and sweet foods like jam sandwiches and cake are bad then why are they serving jam sandwiches and cake.

I’m sure op said it is provided by the school, not externally. Our school applies its policies to its clubs after school too, so I imagine this would be similar.

Cheese... not suitable for dairy allergies
Honey... sugar
Peanut butter... allergies
Marmite.... salt

Not exactly a lot better than jam...

Except if they are full of jam sandwiches and cake they aren’t actually eating what they should eat 4 days per week.

I know both ds and dd at that age wouldn’t have had anything else that evening after eating jam sandwiches and cake.

Maybe you raised your children in an era of wider food choices & less junk food advertising.
We all seem to think there is a huge range of food in our supermarkets but research shows there is much less choice of nutritious food now.
School meals are really important, for lots of children they are the only meals they have & for others they represent the only opportunity for a nutritious meal. You are right it is about moderation, and a good meal/snack in School ensures there is moderation. A lot of children eat sugar cereal for breakfast ( if they get a breakfast) and pizza or sandwich at home, adding a jam sandwich to that in School is not great so you can see why the midday meal and any snack/after school snack is important.
The noise being made people in support of healthy food access is nothing in comparison to the noise made by mega corporations to get your money for their junk food offerings, but people tend to only get concerned about the requests for good food.

I don't understand why they would be "full of jam and cake" it is an after school clubs it will be 2 slices of bread and a muffin or something, not exactly afternoon tea is it ?

It's probably low sugar jam and designed to be an option for those who can't have anything else (vegans or specific allergies).