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Original poster

Airline Trays versus Plates at school

77 replies

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 08:05

I'm just trying to get a feel for peoples views on the use of airline style trays to feed children at lunchtimes.

Our little'un started school in September, and is taking packed lunches at the moment. We were going to move her onto hot dinners at school as it gets a bit colder towards Christmas.

A couple of weeks ago she was talking about other kids having lunch and mentioned that they have trays to eat from. I asked her a bit about it and found out that they don't use plates etc, but instead have moulded trays with scoop areas for the food to go into.

I am quite horrified to be honest, talking it over with our friends they didn't know about this either. Somebody mentioned that it sounds like prison food.

We spend our time socialising our children to behave in a way that society accepts, and it sounds like her school at least is undermining this due to cost and speed factors.

Has anyone else got views on this?

Jeff

OP posts:

Original poster

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 09:49

Yes of course.... My grin didn't work! :0

OP posts:

Original poster

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 09:52

"I bet if you all ask your DCs what they think about airline trays they will be completely bewildered and won't even have considered it an issue to get upset about!"

To be fair though, if you asked them they would probably eat pizza and sausage rolls for every meal....

This isn't about what they think is right or not really.

Ducks head watching for hand grenades...

OP posts:

gorionine · 29/10/2009 09:52

oops!

bamboostalks · 29/10/2009 09:53

You would want to see the sloshing about on the trays. Custard rolling over into chilli, curry flopping over into flapjacks. Now that is boak! And they eat it!

Guimuahahahahahaaaaaaa · 29/10/2009 09:53

Aww. the weirdy trays were always part of the fun of school dinners! Though I distinctly recall that the cutlery section was a little too short, and your knife got in the way of your little cup of milk!

This is the first thread I've come across in my time here where I've thought 'Only on Mumsnet...'

GetOrfMoiLand · 29/10/2009 09:55

I don't think that eating off a plastic tray or a china plate determines if lunchtime if a pleasant and social experience or not.

At dd's school teachers sat with the children and had their lunch (well, most did, some just beetled off to the staff room) and there was also a policy whereby parents could book to have lunch at the school. So, most days there were 4 or 5 parents in the dining hall eating the (very tasty) food.

It was a lovely lunchtime, children and adults had a lovely chat and the parents stayed behind to help clean up and stack away the chairs. I used to go to lunch a couple of times a term, it was a really good idea I think. Don't know if this happens at any other schools.

And the adults used the same prison plates as the children. It was fine.

Original poster

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 09:56

Guimuaha etc etc

I put it on because its causing debate across my LEA area and I was interested to see what others thought to be honest.

If you look at the link i posted above you will see that Stoke Council are trying to phase them out.

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Guimuahahahahahaaaaaaa · 29/10/2009 10:03

I'm sorry, your link gives me a 404 error. You'll note I finished with a not a . The idea of being 'horrified' because your child is eating from a plastic tray....if that's all I have to horrified about when my DS is at school I'll be a very happy MNer indeed!

BarakObamasTransitVan · 29/10/2009 10:16

I don't think it's that big a deal tbh. Having said that at ds's school they have plates, which are brought to them. Really - waitress service! They put their order in at registration and as they all sit at moreorless the same (table-clothed) tables and in the same mixed-age groups it's easy enough I think for the lunch staff to co-ordinate things. It speeds up service generally so it's very efficient - it might seem counterintuitive but I've seen this myself (buffet v sit-down) having worked in catering. I think they go up to get their own puddings. Drinks are a jug of water on the table.
It's all very civilised really - but I get the impression that the situ as ds's school is very unusual. Take up is pretty high, btw.

FimbleHobbs · 29/10/2009 10:19

My son started reception in September and has hot dinners - they are served on a plastic tray, which I don't really like the idea of. But I like the idea of him having sandwiches even less.

The ideal thing would be all eating the same foods with proper plates and cutlery and having a sociable meal together. I'd love it if they binned the plastic trays. However I do understand its not like that, like it or not they are on a conveyor belt to get them fed and out into the playground.

igivein · 29/10/2009 10:27

I wasn't going to post again, because even in my own head I sound like Hyacinth Bucket!
Bertie, you're quite right, dc's won't give it a second thought - when I was at school we'd get the board rubber thrown at us and never gave it a second thought, didn't make it a good situation though did it?
I think the food trays are symptomatic of a general decline in standards, and I don't approve.
Harrumph!!!
I'm off to read the Daily Mail now whilst drinking tea out of a china cup

scarletlilybug · 29/10/2009 10:41

DD1 has always eaten from "proper" crockery at school - state primary for 4 years, now at independent school. Someone helps the littlest ones carry their trays to start with (this happens at both schools) - they soon learn what to do. In fairness, I think water is served in plastic cups at the first school - each table had a jug of water and the cups waiting, so drinks didn't have to be carried.

I think it's an important part of education, learning to sit properly at table, eat using the appropriate implements, learn not to break things, not to bolt food or start on the pudding before the first course is finished. These things are not impossible with trays, but I don't think that using trays exactly encourages them.

It would put me off a school if I found out that they used trays at mealtimes. Not to say I wouldn't choose it (the school) at all, but it would impact my decision. I don't really think a school using them is showing much respect towards its pupils, nor that it has very high expectations of them. JMO.

Original poster

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 11:01

Scarlet, I love you - you put it so much better than I managed to!

I am going to start a push at DD's school to change this policy I think.

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hocuspontas · 29/10/2009 11:02

lol at this thread

I agree - only on Mumsnet.

OP - presumably your child doesn't have a plastic lunchbox at the moment? Hopefully you have provided a proper picnic hamper with an individual tablecloth, napkin, china plate and cup and not an airtight container in sight. It works both ways you know.

Unfortunately with Search up the swannee I can't check if you are a serious poster or just having a laugh. It's cheered me up anyway!

Original poster

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 11:11

hocuspontas

It isn't only on MumsNet, check the internet.

It doesn't work both ways. Who is the consumer and who the provider here?

I think you miss the point, eating properly at a table is a skill children have to learn. A school should back up attempts by parents to teach proper socialisation.

And to answer your question, my daughter's lunchbox does contain a plate and a napkin. We are not posh, but isn't it nicer for her to eat like that than off the table top?

I know that there are big issues with education, discipline etc... But the thing is, if we don't get the basics right, then what do we build on?

OP posts:

hocuspontas · 29/10/2009 11:19

Hahahahahaha.

The success of socialisation depends on what 5 meals a week are served on. I love it.

I can't wait for your next thread....

Original poster

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 11:22

Silly sod, it's part of a package.... You really don't get it do you?

Never mind

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GrimmaTheNome · 29/10/2009 11:41

I had these in the 70s. They are practical. Didn't do me any harm. You still have to use your knife and fork properly which is the main thing that can go awry.

really not worth making an issue of

Eat off nice plates at home. Eat out of newspaper if its fish&chips at the seafront. What's socially acceptable depends on the context.

Guimuahahahahahaaaaaaa · 29/10/2009 11:46

Okay, okay, no need to start with the (admittedly mild) insults and the huffy neverminds. You're right, it is part of a package. So if the DCs are being taught table manners at home, which yours clearly are, and are being encouraged in 'proper socialisation' by the school in all other ways, then this one aspect of their life is not going to override all the other good influences. Proper socialisation may also involve learning that knife/ fork/ spoon/ plate/ napkin/ etc are only 'normal' in parts of our culture, and that it is not wrong in some way to eat with your hands, or using flatbreads to scoop food, or slurping noodles from a bowl, or from a bento box with chopsticks or....you know? It may be nicer to eat from a plate than from a tabletop, but it is also nice to be relaxed about food and mealtimes so that you can enjoy it.

It will be nice if the school could switch to proper crockery. But if the trays are in part due to the need to cut costs, is it not better for there to be trays in the canteen and up-to-date books in the library?

Guimuahahahahahaaaaaaa · 29/10/2009 11:46

And what Grimma said

Original poster

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 12:33

Eat off nice plates at home. Eat out of newspaper if its fish&chips at the seafront. Eat off airline trays in a plane or in the pokey.....

OP posts:

pipWereRabbit · 29/10/2009 12:42

My DD (5yo) loves her trays at school, organising all the food into little compartments, being grown up and in charge of choosing, collecting and carrying her own meal. I don't think she would swap if given the chance.
She gets to use proper china at home, so she doesn't miss out.
The food is great, and the staff who serve take great care and I've never seen any spillage and food slopping around between the compartments.

Slambang · 29/10/2009 12:50

ds2's school had trays - new catering company came and introduced plates wow very exciting, civilised etc - within 3 weeks the trays were brought back in.

Why? Because the children were having to carry a full plate, plus cutlery, plus pudding in a bowl across the dining hall. The 'system' did not cope with them making multiple trips backwards and forwards for bits because of queues and lack of space. Many dinners slipped off plates on to the floor. The children hated it. The meals supervisers hated it.

The trays were brought back to the great delight of all concerned.

Original poster

Fejjie · 29/10/2009 12:53

So how did we get to a situation where what was the "norm" - plates, bowls, glasses (my god we had those Duralit tumblers which bounced) - is now a weirdy idea?

OP posts:

gorionine · 29/10/2009 13:11

Fejjie, I can see where you are comming from WRT sit at the table and have nice table manners but they eat on trays that are on the table, not on the floor or on their knees, the trays are the plate. I think it is really lovely to give your DDs a plate and a napkin but you are catering only for her not for the entire school so somehow a bit of a different issue.

I did not grow up in the UK (we used to have a long enough lunch time to actally eat at home every day, there was no school cantine) so I cannot make a comparison with how it used to be but is it possible that you had a longer lunch break? this would have helped eating in nicer crockery as there would have been time to go back for the pudding rather than juggle several plates at once? Maybe the "norm" has changed because other things have changed as well?

In our school there is two services during the hour of the lunch break so each group does only have 1/2 or less (depending on queue or speed at which they enter the dining hall) maybe it would be to stressfull for all concerned (children +dinner staff) to serve all the children in 1 plate for the main and another for dessert + a glass full of drink.

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