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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that you really should not be a cook in a primary school if...

40 replies

QOFEisinatizz · 03/01/2010 13:17

a) you are unable to understand the concept of 'vegetarian'

and b) you don't even actually cook anything, but order it from a catering service and then reheat and serve it

My friend was telling me that her DS started school in september, and has school meals. She explained on the form that he has a vegetarian diet (ie, no meat, no fish - hardly complex), and had a call the next day from the 'cook' to say she would need to go in once every three weeks to point out what her DS can eat from the menu the food is ordered from. The menu which marks the vegetarian options clearly!

Why the hell is this person entrusted with the nutrition of primary school children? In what way are they a cook?

OP posts:

CirrhosisByTheSea · 03/01/2010 13:20

we'd get cooks in schools if we paid them more than £5 an hour

Sounds like a badly run system - at Ds' school it's very clearly laid out what is the veg and what is the meat choice and the kids just mark their choice.

Don't shoot the messenger I would say. I think your friend should go in and talk to this cook and see if she can suggest to the school a better way of working.

hocuspontas · 03/01/2010 13:24

Maybe the cook meant what would the child LIKE to eat from the menu. Maybe she can be flexible given a bit of notice.

Also children at our school choose daily. Sometimes there will be two choices that vegetarians can eat. Maybe the child was asked to choose and didn't know what he could have.

Original poster

QOFEisinatizz · 03/01/2010 13:24

Oh don't get me wrong, I know the system is shite and the wages are terrible - but still, its like being a lorry driver who doesn't know what side of the road to drive on in France. Its simple basic knowledge.

BTW friend does indeed go in every three weeks and tick the options her DS can have. School think there is nothing wrong with the system - apparently they haven't had a vegetarian child before

OP posts:

Meglet · 03/01/2010 13:27

yanbu. I hope it's a misunderstanding.

My 2 aren't at school yet and I am probably living in a Jamie Oliver style dream world of potential tasty / healthy school meals aren't I?

LauraIngallsWilder · 03/01/2010 13:29

QOFE - ime its more likely that the parents of veggie kids dont trust the dinnerladies or cant be bothered to try to interpret the menu - ie at my kids last school the staff never knew that my kids were veggie as they never ate school dinners there

My ds used to have school dinners (at previous school) occasionally - after several months I discovered that he had only ever had the meat option.

Fibilou · 03/01/2010 13:31

Cirrhosis, the average school cook's wage is around £6.77 per hour, not a fiver

www.lgcareers.com/careers-az/school-cook/

CirrhosisByTheSea · 03/01/2010 13:32

eh? At not having ever had a vegetarian child before? How utterly bizarre....yes this school does sound rather odd!

Meglet I hope when your two do go to school they will get the Jamie Oliver treatment FWIW, my Ds school meals sound great, but DS will not have them. He hates school and has SEN so I don't push it because at least he can have the lunch he wants!

CirrhosisByTheSea · 03/01/2010 13:34

cooo, 6.77! Let me look up some vacancies! I see your point Fibi but £6.77 for a few hours a day during term time does not make a living wage for most. £5 or £6 is still a very low wage for an adult.

purepurple · 03/01/2010 13:34

YANBU
She should have basic knowledge like that.
But she's not really a cook is she?
At the nursery where I work we have children who are vegetatian, who are moslem, and who have milk/egg allergies.
We even have one child who has all of these.

TotalChaos · 03/01/2010 13:42

yabu. I think it's good the cook is willing to spare the time to go through things with the mum. Maybe the cook actually knows a reasonable amount about vegetarianims, so realises that it means very different things to different people (ranging from eating fish and some white meat to checking biscuit/sweet packets for gelatine). btw Ei lives in same city as me, so I'm not tbh all that surprised about lack of experience of veggies.

madamearcati · 03/01/2010 14:00

YABU !It isn't the 'cook' who decides the system that food is prepared centrally and reheated in an end kitchen.The going in to check the menu sounds like another arse-covering thing ,again likely to be LEA policy for children on special diets eg vegetarian,gluten-free etc, not the cook's whim !

bamboostalks · 03/01/2010 14:14

It is so depressing to read posts like this. A dinner lady (paid shit...wow £6.77, term time only!) tries to be inclusive and welcoming to a child with a dietary need and the parent shits on her from a great height and patronisingly assumes she is a moron. Talk about unreaonable.

bamboostalks · 03/01/2010 14:15

diddl · 03/01/2010 14:19

I agree with the latest posts.
The cook is probably doing as she´s told!

niftyfifty · 03/01/2010 14:24

As a former - ahem - 'Lunchtime Organiser' - not called dinner ladies any more! - I would urge parents to be very aware that the choices given on the menu are not always available, at least not where I worked. If, for example, the main choice was chicken curry or pizza (sorry, only thing I can think of off the top of my head!) there would be, say, 80 curries available and 20 pizza. So if little Johnny hated curry but was 21st in line, he had no choice. It is a case of 'first come, first served' and for many children there is no choice at all. The menu also stated "a choice of fresh fruit, yoghurt and cheese and biscuits available daily". Only one of those may would be available in addition to the dessert listed on the menu and only to those who were lucky enough to get there before they ran out. I realise that this is only one school and others may be different, but it was a real eye opener to me.

southeastastra · 03/01/2010 14:27

yeah am with bamboo! she probably just wants to make sure it's right

Lulumama · 03/01/2010 14:30

i think the issue is with the LEA not the cook

do some people always try and see the worst in every situation????????

Lulumama · 03/01/2010 14:31

and if the friend finds it so much of a PITA to go to school every 3 weeks, she should consider a packed lunch

PeedOffWithNits · 03/01/2010 14:41

our school switched from the caterers frozen/reheated jobbies that Jamie Oliver tried to do away with in the year DD started, through parent council pushing for better meals. we now have proper meals, with locally sourced meat and veg where possible, and hardly anything ready-prepared bought in (they make their own burgers too for example). the cook is one of our mums.
however DD does not have school meals as I do not feel confident about them dealing with her dietary requirements

i do think their menus are healthy and balanced though

not being able to cope with a veggie child is pathetic, but if enough parents are disatisfied with the quality of the meals then people power really does work, OP.

Hando · 03/01/2010 14:47

Our school also follows the Jamie Oliver meal idea. I believe it is called "Jules". WE get a menu once a term with Jamie Olivers wife on it anyway, so I assume it's to do with him.

Meals look lovely but on investigation they are shite and I wouldn't feed them to my dog! The school "cooks" use the cheapest meat (economy sausages and mince from Sainsbos) which again, I wouldn't even buy for the dog. They use the cheapest of everything and lots is still bought in frozen and reheated. The thought of my dd eating them makes me want to vimit tbh.

Anyhow, rant over... YANBU, why on Earth does the mother need to go in? Of course it's not that much hassle, but I think the point is - why can't a school "cook" work out what is and what isn't vegetarian.

diddl · 03/01/2010 14:49

Just looking at the OP again-is it that they don´t trust the child in question to always choose the vegetarian option,so are making sure the parent does it for them?

cat64 · 03/01/2010 14:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bruffin · 03/01/2010 15:00

At DCs primary they chose their meals a few weeks in advance whether they were veggie or not. This got over the popular options going early and leaving others with no choice.
For infants the parents chose and in juniors the children chose theirs in school.

BoneyBackJefferson · 03/01/2010 16:24

Maybe its to do with ensuring that the child will want to eat the veggie option, not everyone wants nut bake/pasta everyday.

Hulababy · 03/01/2010 16:56

I work in a primary school with a similar system. The food comes centrally, so all the LEA schools have the same menus provided for them - it is a 4 week rotational menu. It has nothing to do with the serving staff at all, they simply serve it, not cook it.

Our children chose daily if they want the meat option (this is sometimes fish or non-meat things like cheese pizza), veggie option or Halal. They can also have packed lunch. The children make the decision in a morniung at registration. However it is also marked on our register if a child is veggie or Halal, or other dietary needs, so the teacher can guide their choices if necessary.

At DD's school they have a cook who produces freshly prepared meals daily, over a 3 wek menu. But they are not controlled by the LEA s can chose how and what to serve.

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