AIBU To pull my son out of food tech?

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To pull my son out of food tech.
My son isn't a bad cook at home, but at school most of the dishes are costing between £5-8 to make and are inedible. We have also lost 3 containers because of kids just grabbing whichever one looks best rather than their own!
AIBU to refuse to send stuff in from now on? He is only in year 8 so we have at least another year of this shit.

I don't think you'll be allowed to pull him out, but you could try telling the school about the problems, maybe offer to just send the money in for the ingredients. School would have to make it a reasonable cost. In the end, they would probably provide free ingredients and a disposable container but your son might get detention for not bringing in ingredients.

You won’t be able to pull him out its part of the circulumn.

Can you send a sandwich bag instead of a container? And yes it’s super expensive, my daughter is doing it at the moment as well and everything has been pretty inedible! Flapjacks that were just crumbs, a cake that she forgot to put half the flour in 🤦‍♀️ and she was so rushed this week that they only put half of the ingredients I bought into her omelette as they didn’t have time to chop them all.

As it’s part of the curriculum I don’t think you can just ‘pull him out’. What is making the food inedible? Is it the recipes or his cooking ability? We all ate the chickpea curry my year 7 made yesterday and it was delicious!

It's not optional, at least in the schools near here.

Send him with cheaper container and wait it out. He can opt out by Y10 GCSE choices

The problems I found was that most of the meat had to be cooked in advance. So was reheated at school. Then we didn't eat it as its not recommend to reheat meat twice.

Yeah, why is it inedible? Maybe he needs the practice.

Of course you can’t opt out if it’s scheduled curriculum. The containers need to be clearly marked with the kids name and form so other kids don’t take them never heard of a school being asked to provide the container. When he chooses gcse subjects he can stop then. Yes ingredients can add up I know in some schools free school meal/ low income families are provided with ingredients if they qualify.

Would the vegetarian option be cheaper? Send him with foil containers?

Write in every single time something is lost?

The highlight of my kids cookery at school was two lessons (yup, two) spent talking about, and then making, milkshake. Which they then drank in the break time so they came home with nothing.

The cost is unreasonable, I'd raise the issues with the person who leads on curriculum or inclusion.

Erm, I don’t think there’s a school in the land who’ll let you dictate your son’s school day and curriculum. This is the sort of fucking nonsense that runs state schools into the ground. So you had to pay £5 for course materials, big deal.

What is it costing £8 to make?!

At my kids' school each kid brings a share of the ingredients and then a group of four pools their ingredients, and there's less wastage. We send in takeaway containers to bring it home.

I’d just suck it up and buy cheap containers
my daughter does it every week at the moment and some of the stuff she makes is diabolical but she’s trying and I hope it may improve her cooking skills.

I don't think you can, but I know exactly where you're coming from.
It doesn't teach them anything if my Dds experience was anything to go by.

Not recommended to reheat meat twice??? Codswallop!

You can heat it up as much as you want but make sure its always heated sufficiently so no bacteria (about 75C) and then make sure any leftovers go back in the fridge.

Same for rice. Just make sure it is cooled and stored properly.

I’d email the school about the issues.

Not sure they have to do cooking either. My middle child’s school have no food tech lessons.

It sounds ridiculous. At my daughter's school they provide ingredients and parents pay 7 quid in total

Lots of schools will provide ingredients to those who struggle to afford them.

The school my children went to you paid £15 for the year which covered all food tech ingredients which were supplied by the school. We had to supply a tupperware container to bring food home in and ours were sharpied like everyone else's with the child's name on all 4 sides, bottom and lid so it never went missing.

It might be worth suggesting that school buy the ingredients in future. I would contact the school about the issues you have had, they won't know it is a problem unless you tell them.

Food tech is part of the curriculum. You cannot pull them out of any lesson. Where would they go for a start? I understand you are frustrated so share that with the school.

Speak to school, tell them you can't afford the ingredients, there should be a workaround.
Either sned food in sandwich bags, take-away style cheap containers or label everything obviously.

You can just decide you kid is good at X subject so he doesn't need to go. Where would he go? Sit in the corner every week or do yo u expect them to supervise him doing something somewhere else?

So you pull him out and what does he do for that lesson? He can’t just be left alone so would need a member of staff with him. There’s unlikely to be one. And then they let him not do food tech, friend finds a way to get pulled out of drama. So more resource to find for him. Schools just don’t have the space or staff for children to be pulled out of lessons.

If it’s state school then just say you can’t afford it. I can make a huge nutritional delicious meal for 6 for £8 !

Is the £8 described as a charge or a voluntary contribution?

• If it’s voluntary, your son should still be able to participate if you don’t pay.
• If it’s compulsory, the school should explain the legal basis.

Even where a charge is lawful, many schools have hardship arrangements. If £8 per week (£300+ a year) is causing financial difficulty, I would suggest writing something like:
“I am unable to afford the weekly ingredient charge. As food technology is part of the national curriculum, please let me know what arrangements are available to ensure my son can continue to participate in lessons.”

He is losing his stuff and probably dicking about in the lesson, hence the poor quality of whatever he's producing. Get him to sort himself out rather than blaming others.

DS y7 started this term too. Poor apple crumble, decent spag bol. Both in the containers he took.

I find it a bit odd that you’re expecting him to bring home something edible. I don’t think my kids ever brought home anything from food tech, and we wouldn’t eat it if they did. It’s been made in some grim school kitchen with no adult supervision. If it’s edible I’d expect my child to share it amongst their friends. If it’s not it would go in the bin.

I don't think anything has cost more than £4 and mostly less. They take money in and school provide the ingredients. DS tells me that lots of kids don't pay anyway.
Most of the stuff has been edible to quite delicious. It always has to be finished off at home as the lessons aren't long enough. Teacher puts instructions on Homework app.
We've eaten things and never been ill.
DS does enjoy cooking though and is one of teacher's good students.

Containers are always Sharpied and never lost.