to think schools should allow flexibility between packed lunches and school meals?

[NameChanger206]

My child’s primary school had just implemented a policy which asks parents to choose either packed lunch or school meals, with no option to switch day to day (previously we could). It’s in quite a deprived area, and while some days the school lunch options are fine, other days they really aren’t great and many kids simply won’t eat— and I don’t think it’s fair to expect parents to fund a packed lunch every day when free school meals are available in KS1 for all, any many in KS2 too.

Surely it would make sense to allow a bit of flexibility — for example, letting children have school meals on certain days (especially if they’re entitled to free meals) and bring packed lunches on others?

I understand they need to plan catering numbers, but this feels unnecessarily rigid, especially given how tight finances are for many families right now.

AIBU to think schools should show a bit more flexibility here?

When I at was primary school in the mid 1970s you said on a Monday morning which days you wanted a meal and the class teacher handled all the money. 30 years later when my niece was at the same school it was highly encouraged that all KS1 took up offer of the meal . For KS2 it was encouraged and you could decide week by week. However this was a 3 form entry school so the large number in the school gave the catering people a pretty good approximation of the number of heald required each day. There is one primary school near where I now live where school meals are compulsory as part of the school contract. They do provide for allergies, vegetarians and halal and all the parents know when they chose the school what the requirement is.

They do that but parents don't read, don't care, don't understand. The funding for free school meals is based on one days take up - if only 100 KS1 students eat on that day out of 200, school are underfunded by 50% for the year, even with incentives to encourage them.
My children are at a 2 form entry school, catering for up to 420 students is not an easy task.

Pupils at the primary school I work in can choose on the day. We're in West Wales.

Our kids can change day to day.

not really, they have the same menu on a three week schedule and I’m sure they have a good idea by the second cycle how popular each meal is. For instance they know that pizza day is popular so it wouldn’t come as a shock and they would have a good idea about how much to make/order in advance of pizza day. It’s worked for many many years so must be acceptable to the catering team.

It really is.

i used to love our school dinners apart from a turkey pie they’d serve every other week, I think it was on a Thursday. The sight and smell of it made me sick which then meant I’d be sent home (a few times my mum, god bless her, forgot which week it was and sent me for school lunches 😂). It’s crazy to me to have no choice

I’m a teacher. We currently allow this flexibility for our school dinners but are thinking of stopping it. Key reasons:

• the amount of food wasted is atrocious
• children who have pre-ordered sometimes don’t get what they chose because the last minute changes mean someone else gets the last piece of pie/jacket potato etc
• parents are supposed to order and pay for meals in advance but don’t, which means office staff are left chasing payments (which have been known to stretch in to the £00s)
• it takes a huge chunk of time out of each morning for teachers to ask children what they are doing for lunch, complete the lunch register and then for the office staff to upload this information to the payment portal
• children aren’t always reliable so will tell you they are having a packed lunch but actually were supposed to order a school dinner
• children will order a school dinner even though they have a packed lunch (cause they don’t like the sandwich that’s been packed) so parents are then charged for a meal and call up having a go, we then have to wipe the payment meaning school is out of pocket

We are looking at saying meals must be ordered a week in advance (unless an emergency, obviously).

edited to add it would be insane to say you have to have school dinner/packed lunch all week though, we will always allow a mixed week, but will say this needs to be booked a week in advance.

Every school I've had experience with (7) you can choose on the day.

I don't think 420 is impossible. I attended a 3 form entry primary school so about 630 pupils in all .Even if only half those had dinners that's over 300.In addition the kitchen cooked the meals for the next nearest primary school which was 5 minutes drive away. That kitchen must have provided about 500 or more meals each day.

Book day by day online. Completely flexible and select food option.

I'm sure they're experienced enough to handle it. Everyone else in catering manages this exact situation and usually with a lot more food choices than a school gives.

Surely if children have FSM they can permanently book in for them but take a packed lunch in when it suits them and just eat it?

A parent suggested this and the school have said no….

I went to state school. For both primary and secondary, we had the choice of school dinner (no choice - either meat eating or vegetarian and if you said you were vegetarian, that was what you got, no option to change from day to day) or you went home. Packed lunches were not allowed.

Decided termly (or maybe half-termly) and you stuck to it when my mine were at primary a few years ago. Outstanding state school in London btw. It was fine. All this drama about it being impossible for the kids to cope if they don’t like a meal!

But how would school police this?

I should probably explain I am old and things may have changed but my DC would have just eaten their packed lunch at playtime or before/after the sit down lunch bit.

I can see you would need fairly confident DC to carry this off though. Mine wouldn’t have given a shit 🤣

We have great flexibility. They pick one of 3 options at 9.30ish if they're having school dinners. They just turn up with a packed lunch otherwise. The only meal they have to give advance warning for is the Christmas lunch they do in December.

All food is cooked on site. We're in Scotland. It's free regardless of circumstances for the first 5 years and then just over £3 a day for the last 2 years of primary (unless you're eligible for free school meals).

I do think if they are hungry having skipped lunch in the afternoon they won’t learn as well. Especially in ks1

Perhaps the real issue is the catering company or whoever makes the school dinners. Improve that and it will be much less of an issue, if children are refusing to eat anything on a particular day that could be the cause.

You might be on to something here. Lots of parents comment, for example their kids won’t eat the school pizza (but love pizza from anywhere else). Mine are the same about the mash…

My youngest is 20 now so it's a while since I had a primary school aged child but we could mix and match back then. We used to order a week at a time and got online, where I coukd see tge menu and ingredients. My DS has multiple food allergies and some days there was nothing suitable on the menu for him so I sent packed lunches those days. He had school meals about 80% of the time I'd say but some days there was nothing or just a jacket potato and salad, which was ok once but not several times in a wee. So he had a packed lunch from time to time. It worked fine and it suited me better than having to provide packed lunches full time, plus made it easy for the school too as they weren't faced with DS needing any special provision.

DS' (y2) school did hot dogs, corn cobs and waffles with ice cream on that day this year and heavily promoted it with the children. DS came home and said we're having hot dogs next week because the school needs money for lunches, I thought he was insane until a teacher friend explained to me! The children were all bouncing into school that day shouting hotdog day to each other 😂
They usually provide healthy hot lunches generally

We have flexibility.

Our infant and junior schools both let you pick on the day.

They're fairly big (3 and 4 form entry) - maybe it is easier to predict the numbers?

We have total flexibility. At the morning register they ask each child if they are having school lunch or packed lunch that day. And a choice between the daily option or the jacket potato.