I get the impression that at my son's new secondary school, children don't bring in packed lunches.
When we were shown around last team, there was no mention of packed lunch arrangements. We were shown the canteen, and its varied menu was really promoted by the staff, but we were not shown any eating areas for those who had their own food.
When my son went for his induction day day, he was expressly told to bring in lunch money for the canteen.
ds is definitely under the impression that bringing packed lunches into school is uncool and few children do it, if any.
Last term, all the children in his Y6 primary school class was given a 'getting used to secondary school' magazine. It was apparently written by other children, with lots of tips about settling into big school. In the 'do's and don'ts' list it stated 'don't arrive on your first day with a pack of little sandwiches made by your mum'
Now I am happy for ds to have some canteen meals, but they are definitely more expensive than the packed lunches I would give him and I would like to feel I could send him in to school with a packed lunch sometimes as well.
The canteen menu, while it contains healthy salads and 'meat and two veg' meals, also serves chips, hot dogs and donuts. On his induction day, my son told me with much delight, how he had feasted on the biggest hot dog he'd ever seen followed by a large donut.
He says he will choose the healthy options, and admittedly, he does like a lot of 'proper' food.... but I am not convinced he will make the right choices when faced with donut temptation He has a big appetite and often used to ask for second helpings of school dinners (especially puddings), until I stopped it by giving him a packed lunch each day.
Is this the end of my influence over his lunch time choices?