Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are “home lunches” still a thing at your children’s school?

279 replies

Gladla · 21/01/2026 14:53

When my DDs (now late 20s/early 30s) were in primary school they used to have 3 options for lunch, school lunch, packed lunch and home lunch. For home lunch the parent would collect them at the start of lunch take them home, feed them and bring them back at the end of lunch. By the time they were primary 6/7 lots of the kids would use the home lunch option to go to the cafe in the village on Fridays.
We didn’t use them often but my parents would take my girls for a home lunch about once a week. They were also a very popular option on the day of the Christmas party where lots of the kids would go home to get changed or in primary 5 when they went swimming most of the girls would go home at lunch to dry their hair.
I was chatting to my DD today who has a 5 year old and I asked if her school had home lunches as I thought it would be nice for me to take my DGD out. She said nope that’s not an option!
I was a little shocked. I understand that there are significantly less parents who are around in the middle of the day and safeguarding has gone up, but it seems fairly innocent if someone if collecting the child from and returning them to the office.

AIBU to be sad this option doesn’t seem to exist?
Did anyone else’s schools have home lunches or still have them?

OP posts:
FancyCatSlave · 21/01/2026 23:15

It wasn’t an option at school for me and I went in the 80’s. Even then most parents were at work.
It doesn’t exist at DD’s school but they make a big thing about lunch time eating as a “school
family” (very small school).

pinkpony88 · 21/01/2026 23:26

I went home every day for lunch for all of primary school. I loved it 😊

Nottodayx · 21/01/2026 23:34

You can still do it. Obviously every school differs but I just sent an email to my child’s teacher and head and advised I would be taking him home for lunch. This was two years ago and we did it for a year.

5foot5 · 21/01/2026 23:36

TheKateColumbo · 21/01/2026 18:39

I used to love going home for lunch in Infants School, I used to walk home on my own which seems crazy now.
We moved when I started Juniors and it was a bit too far to walk so we stopped going home.
I remember people being allowed home for Lunch in Secondary. I was a bus ride away so it wasn’t an option but sometimes I’d go to a friends who lived nearby.

When I was at primary it was very normal for parents to ask one of the older children to walk home with one of the younger ones at lunch and to / from. I don't ever remember my DM taking me to school, even when I started at 4 and a bit. The big girl next door saw me in and another big girl brought me home for lunch. By the time I was about 8 I was clearly a big girl as I used to have a couple of little girls who I collected.

In the winter months I used to stay at school for lunch so I didn't have to walk home and back in bad weather. But in summer I had lunch at home all the way through primary.

At secondary the people who lived walking distance away were allowed home. I was a busy ride away so that wasn't an option.

This was late 60s and 70s.

Ioli · 21/01/2026 23:39

I remember home lunches in the late 70's and early 80's. It was really important for me (several undiagnosed ND issues) and being at home was such a comfort.

freshnewstartahead · 21/01/2026 23:53

Oh gosh I have such fond memories of going home for lunch in the summer with my sister from primary school.
The sunny gorgeous walk home. Getting in through the back door to see mum pottering in the garden and then making us a lovely lunch. I have one memory of conspiring with my sister to ask mum to let us stay home. We whispered about it for ages until mum asked us what we were whispering about and we asked her and she said yes .. just that once. One extra afternoon with my beautiful mum. May she rest in peace on the wings of an angel.

mrsmacmc · 21/01/2026 23:56

Core memory unlocked! I had the option of home lunch in the 90’s used to love it and in P6/7 we would go to the local cafe or down the street as a group for lunch too. I think lunch times are much shorter now in the school day too which means it would be tight for folk to pick their kids up / get home / have lunch then back to school on time for the afternoon

DearestItIsSnowing · 22/01/2026 00:23

freshnewstartahead · 21/01/2026 23:53

Oh gosh I have such fond memories of going home for lunch in the summer with my sister from primary school.
The sunny gorgeous walk home. Getting in through the back door to see mum pottering in the garden and then making us a lovely lunch. I have one memory of conspiring with my sister to ask mum to let us stay home. We whispered about it for ages until mum asked us what we were whispering about and we asked her and she said yes .. just that once. One extra afternoon with my beautiful mum. May she rest in peace on the wings of an angel.

And if you were absent from school that afternoon nobody checked up on you. You could have been having a happy afternoon at home, gone off for a wander on your way back, or been taken.

We didn’t have a home phone until I was at least 9 so there would have been no easy way for school to get in touch with your family anyway.

Cocomelon67 · 22/01/2026 00:34

Its definitely unheard of now in my area and would be highly discouraged, but not sure legally the school can insist children are in at lunch. I suspect if you pushed it, they’d have to let you collect and bring back (as long as you weren’t late!)

NewUserName2244 · 22/01/2026 06:18

This existed as an option when I was at school but I don’t remember anyone doing it. I certainly never did.

Its not an option at my kids school, which is a shame as I think that my youngest would benefit from it.

sashh · 22/01/2026 06:34

yeesh · 21/01/2026 15:00

We didn’t have this when I was in school in the 80’s or my son in the 2000’s. I think my parents had it in the 50’s though.

It was a thing at my school in the 80s, but obviously it was up to the school whether they allowed it.

I think a lot of children travel further to school, and schools have to be careful who they let in.

LoudSnoringDog · 22/01/2026 06:41

We had this in my primary school ( 1982-1989)

ViolaChomp · 22/01/2026 06:42

I was at primary early 90s and it was very much a thing, I think just under half the class had a home lunch.
One girl called Carol lived opposite the school and she had home lunch.. her mum did her proper fried chips and egg every day and I remember being so jealous 🤣

DinoLil · 22/01/2026 06:45

My DC are late 20s and going home for lunch was never an option. I used to, though! Baked beans with sausages (the ones in a tin) on toast was my favourite that DM would rustle up. Saying that, the price of them now would make paying for a school lunch a cheaper option.

Toastythesnowman · 22/01/2026 06:53

I had totally forgotten all about this. I could never go home as we lived too far away and I had younger sisters so I guess it must have been their nap time.

At secondary we used to go to one of my friends houses - she had cable so we'd watch music videos, eat our lunch and she'd make us all a cuppa. Very civilised. We all used to club together at the end of term to give her parents some money for the tea bags!

AllDreamsLost · 22/01/2026 06:59

I took my kid out for lunch once a fortnight when she was at primary. She is at secondary now, so not that long ago.

It wasn't an advertised option, I found out through another mum and enquired at school.

Once we started I noticed a few others were doing it too.

I'm not even from the UK originally, and thought it was a lovely option.

Might be worth checking with school.

Cuppaand2biscuits · 22/01/2026 07:24

I used to come home from Infant school for lunch in the late 1980's.
I work in a school now and we would absolutely accommodate a child going home for lunch every day but as others have said we wouldn't openly advertise the option as it would be a lot to manage with safeguarding procedures.
Plus attendance is such a focus that we would worry about them missing afternoon sessions as a result.

popcornandpotatoes · 22/01/2026 07:34

No not an option. Surely most of lunchtime is playing and children want to play with their friends? I know DD would have no interest in coming home for lunch

autumn1638 · 22/01/2026 08:06

I remember this as a child of the early 90s. Such a shame that education has become so stringent.

WhatNoRaisins · 22/01/2026 08:14

I also wonder how this would fit in with the drive for healthier eating in schools that we now have. I'm guessing back when it was common it was more assumed that the parents (or mother lets be honest) was providing a reasonable meal.

JaceLancs · 22/01/2026 08:18

I lived very close to my primary school so walked home for lunch on my own from age 5, this was in the late 1960s
At high school bit further away but still left at lunch - sometimes went home, other times to a friends or local shop/cafe/chippy
By the time my DC were at school in the 90s leaving at lunch was rare in primary - I worked so not an option anyway - at high school they brought in a ban on leaving the premises at lunch unless child had a medical exemption

PurpleCoo · 22/01/2026 08:22

I remember home lunches in the 80s.

How does it work now in secondary schools? Do the students go out at lunch time?

When I was in secondary school most people would go off site and get lunch at local shops, or hang out in the local park

savoycabbage · 22/01/2026 08:43

At one of the primary schools I go to for supply teaching about 25% of the dc go home for lunch. It’s the only school where I’ve ever seen anyone go home. When you do the register the children say ‘home’ rather than packed lunch or school dinners. Then the lady from the office comes round with a list. The ones who are staying go off with her, put their coats on and what not while we are going to the toilet and getting ready. Then she hands them all over to the parents and the doors are locked again.

CeeJay81 · 22/01/2026 08:45

PurpleCoo · 22/01/2026 08:22

I remember home lunches in the 80s.

How does it work now in secondary schools? Do the students go out at lunch time?

When I was in secondary school most people would go off site and get lunch at local shops, or hang out in the local park

I think most secondary schools now have a shorter lunch break. My dc only get 40 minutes now, we had an hour back in 90s. You arent allowed to leave the school unless you are sixth-form either.k

PurpleCoo · 22/01/2026 09:00

CeeJay81 · 22/01/2026 08:45

I think most secondary schools now have a shorter lunch break. My dc only get 40 minutes now, we had an hour back in 90s. You arent allowed to leave the school unless you are sixth-form either.k

Edited
Show quote history

That's a shame really. Kids have every minute of their day controlled and organised now. I used to love going out at lunch time in upper school in the early 90s. Can't remember if we went out in middle school. I think I remember the ice cream van being outside the middle school during lunch and after school, so people would go out and use that. We used to sneak up to the upper school down the road and hang out in the field there too. Upper school was 13-16/18.

Young people don't seem to have the same opportunities to learn some of these independence skills and navigating around the community any more.