to want free and compulsory school meals?

[LissyGlitter]

I really think that they should make school dinners compulsory. Two choices, both healthy and balanced, preferably seasonal, even better if it can be local or grown/raised/cooked by the kids themselves. One of the options could be vegetarian/vegan, but any other dietary requirements would have to be proven by a doctors note or religious requirements. The kids would kick off at first, but they would soon have to learn to eat what they are given. It would stop parents sending a packet of biscuits for lunch (my sister is a teacher and sees all sorts of ridiculous packed lunches sent by parents who obviously don't care) and would teach kids to try new foods. They would most probably end up healthier as well.

Reading this thread, I consider us very fortunate to have a fantastic (not generally free) school menu. I pay £9 weekly for my DD to have a fantastic, balance, exciting meal every day which in no way is a substitution for her evening meal. Today she had home-made pork and apple sausages and mash with a choice of broccoli or green beans or salad. Pudding was a home made treacle tart. We have been for tasting sessions of the food, where the chef works with local farms and suppliers to get the best and most seasonal deals. He budgets fantastically, kids only have water with lunch because since starting he cut back on the cost of alternative drinks, and possibly serves smaller portions but the food is ALL fresh and cooked on the premises. Some days she eats better than we do, with food ranging from curries, Gammon, stir fries and all sorts depending on what deals he can get with local suppliers. I am more than happy to pay the money because it at least equates to providing her with a fresh luchbox each day (when I factor in my labour)
I am amazed and maybe naive to think that not all school (particularly primary) meals are like this.

And where is the money going to come from?

Our school actually provides very decent school meals,at £2 per meal, but in order to even break even they have to have 150 take-up. So in a school of 300 kids you're talking about an extra £600 a day into the school budget - that's £3000 per week, per school, assuming the average school size is 300 children and that's before you get to secondary.

How many millions of £s do you think that will come to over all?

And are you prepared to take a tax increase to pay for it?

Sadly I cannot afford £6 per day for my 3 youngest dc to have a school lunch, a healthy packed lunch for all of them costs less than £3 per day. I think there needs to be some sort of subsidy because if everyone had school dinners then they would be more cost effective and cost less per head in the first place.

our county is trialling free school meals fro all primary pupils for 2 years. It has jsut started but will be interesting to see the impact

At one point, all 3 of mine were having schools meals, and my weekly shopping bill didn't decrease. School meals would have to be fablulous for me to pay an extra £30 per week on food.

phoebeophelia Mon 02-Nov-09 18:13:53
School meals in big cities came in I think in Victorian times to give poor urban children at least one decent meal a day.
Surely that need has gone?

If only, in the school I used to teach in it was the meal of the day for far too many children. I will never forget watching a child eat half her sandwich and cake and then carefully putting the rest in her pocket to have for her tea at home. I also knew of a boy who would sell himself of an evening in return for a bag of chips as he was so hungry.

drivinmecrazy - i can assure you that your experience is not universal.

We were absolutely committed to the principle of school meals on the grounds that it's necessary for the majority of the dc to have them in order for there to be good quality for all (and thus the dc on free school meals).

But the sad reality was just too many experiences of our dc having been offered a cheese sandwich for lunch (white bread, marge, no salad). In the end we caved in. At least when we send dd with a cheese sandwich a. it's cheaper b. there's salad and fruit to go with it.

I recognise that we must be lucky but my dd loves her school meals. The secondary school in which I teach has fab school meals, we all eat together in our stunning cafeteria and it is such a lovely social event of the day. I think we have chips once a week, today I had beef ghoulash and rice. They also do a fab curry which is as good as a takeout.

I would like to see comulsory schools meals but realise now that perhaps it is not as simple as I thought.

Gosh I'm quite shocked that some of you see school meals as a state interference in the way you bring up your children.
It's never crossed my mind.
I think it'd be good if schools provided the same, healthy meal for all the children (special diets included), at least to save us the big faff of packet lunches.

Morosky - your 18:51 post is so sad.

(Some) teacher friends tell me they provide breakfast (as in they bring it in,) for some of their pupils. You're quite right. That's why it's so important to not let school meals slide.

I'm feeling bad about sending dd with a packed lunch again.

hulababy that's lovely. Whether school meals are free or not there should be adults eating with the children.... for all those children who don't get to sit down at a table with their parents at home ( in my school there are many children like this)

Sorry I didn't reply earlier... swine flu... dizzy spell.

I tried my child on school dinners for a year at a previous school and they didn't eat any, for the whole year. I tried again for a week in this school and they didn't eat any and as a result their behaviour in the afternoon deteriorated to the point where the teacher had words with me.

Forgive me if I'd rather feed my child packed lunches. The range of food may be limited but it is at least generally healthy and eaten. It's not much good having very healthy food that isn't eaten.

I actually think freee meals should apply my broadly, we are currently living on £65 per week JSA but aren't entitled to free school meals for the DC, yet the woman over the road has a different benefit and she is.
In theory we should have £32.00 a week to feed the rest of us after paying for school dinners, thank god for grandparents.

School meals are not state interference. Compulsory school meals are, whether they are free or charged for.

"Gosh I'm quite shocked that some of you see school meals as a state interference in the way you bring up your children.
It's never crossed my mind."

It's not school meals that make people think that, it's the OP's idea of compulsory school meals.

Which makes the assumption that all parent-supplied meals are crap in comparision with her hypothetical state-supplied meals.

Do you truly think that is the case?

I think it's more a case of if we insist that everyone has a meal at school and I'm guessing really the target audience is senior school kids and hey it's free too then you'd get less kids buggering off to the chippy for their dinners and the park for a smoke and in one child's case getting run over on the way back.
The local senior school has a kitchen with home made meals and a salad and sandwich bar, really you'd struggle to not find something you like but still they swarm out at 12.15 to the spar accross the road to buy sausage rolls that have never seen a sausage.

I will jump for joy and gladly sign up for school meals when they go beyond the government guidlines and meet mine.

• No crappy white bread
• No nutrasweet or other artificial sweetners
• Pudding on Fridays only
• The veg is mixed in with the meal and not served on the side.

I do think you would have to slightly increase taxes to pay for it, but that is a small price to pay. The entire country would benefit from a healthier workforce in a few years.

And obviously there would have to be much stricter rules on nutrition etc, that goes without saying.

The thing of eating with the local old folks home would be brilliant. The old people could help with the growing and cooking of food as well...

I know too many people in their early 20's who don't know how to make things like mashed potato or a roast chicken, and who would never even think of serving fresh veg with their meals. I would say the majority of my friends from home wouldn't be able to cook a meal without instructions on the packet. I have problems cooking for them because they are not used to trying new foods.

Unfortunately nice, well brought up mumsnet kids are in the minority and even if you don't personally care about other peoples children, you will care when your tax money is paying for their NHS treatment or their behaviour is disrupting your children's lessons.

Surely every child has the right to have at least one sit down healthy meal at a table each day? No matter what the home situation is?

"Unfortunately nice, well brought up mumsnet kids are in the minority." I disagree. That implies that most people do not feed their children adequately and I refuse to believe that's the case.

And even if people do not feed their children adequately is it the fault of the parent? or the fault of an industry that makes so much ready-prepared food that people no longer need to learn to cook, because they can buy it all in a packet.

Compulsory school meals? The Nanny State strikes again! Spare us please!

Out of interest where would this leave Home Ed parents? The Government is already aiming to increase legislation on how they teach their DC. Would a compulsory school meals law mean that they should have education welfare checking their menus too?

Surely choosing what my children eat is my responsibility as a parent, not Gordon Brown's.

Doesn't matter whose fault it is, and I have no objection to the odd bit of junk food at home, I just think that school should be teaching more than just adding up and spelling, and one of those things is how to eat.
That way, the kids will at least have the option when they grow up of eating healthily. With the situation the way it is now, an awful lot ( not all) of children have little chance of ever being able to get used to eating proper meals. That isn't choice. THAT is oppression, for all of you worried about control.
Oppression is kids having very little chance of making it out of the shitty situation they are born into. Food plays a huge role in this, and if we can help those kids have some kind of chance at the expense of the odd parents self-expression or whatever in giving their kids whatever food they happen to feel like because they are rich and privileged enough to both know how to make and be able to afford healthy packed lunches, then so be it.

The thing is, state school dinners are inferior to my packed lunches. I am not swapping soya and linseed bread for chips. I asked the company who provides the meals to give me a list of ingredients. They refused, and I said "see ya".

The trouble is not all parents will want the same things in the meal. Some parents are happy for their children to eat white bread and jam sandwiches. I would never allow it. I required some form of veg to be mixed in with scrambled eggs (sauteed onion, spinach, etc.) The school would never do this.

I don't mind if my kids eat fat, like bacon or chees becaue they are more at risk of blowing away in the wind than they are of being fat. And weren't raisin put on the government's junk food list? Bloody stupid.

The government is not qualified to make these decisions.

I do support the idea of all children sitting down and eating their meal together, but ONLY if the meal is nutritious.

yes, yabu. SHouldn't be free or compulsory.

Oh, and I am NOT prepared to pay more taxes for anything. Gordon takes too much and not little of my money.

Eating healthfully is not a financial matter. It is a choice. So I don't see why parents can't take some responsibility.

Also, if you really want children to understand where food comes from you should be teaching them to cook it, not cooking it for them and slopping it on a plate. I would be quite happy if they introduced one term of complusory cooking class at the end of primary school. Or possibly a nutrition class where they learn about vegetables, vitamins, where wheat comes from, etc.