Should I email the headteacher?

[mummyof2021boy]

Okay so today my son came home with his lunch untouched.
He has very limited vocabulary and is autistic. He's 5. (Important)
He said he had 'hot lunch'
He was not signed up for hot lunch.
Rang the school and they said he must of got into the line behind his friends and got given a lunch.
Thankfully he doesn't have any allergies that we know of but its made me question how the hell he was able to even get hot lunch without being signed up. What if one of the other non verbal children had an allergy and ended up with something they couldn't eat.
Should I email the headteacher just to make them aware that this could be a problem..
I'm only asking as I feel im too close to the situation and at the moment a little annoyed with the school regarding this so wanted some advice.

I don’t think it’s that much of a big deal. You will have filled in any allergy paperwork if he had allergies and the kitchen staff will have been made aware of this.

Are you in England? All children in reception and KS1 are eligible for a school meal each day. There's no need to sign up.

Presumably the school know he had no allergies and therefore no restrictions on what he can and cannot eat?

Primary schools usually rely on the kids knowing whether they have packed lunch or not.

beyond reception this is not normally a problem although you do get kids that spot nice things in the hot lunch option and try to squeeze into line.

in my school staff were aware of children with allergies and their needs. Your son does not have allergies.

do you think he got confused and didn’t know what to do? If so you could email in and ask the teacher to tell the dinner staff that he should be on packed lunches. In some schools the reception teacher will go through with the new starters to make sure they are ok for the first few weeks.

does he have a TA?

We always encourage our children to have a school dinner even if they bring a packed lunch. It’s universally free in England for KS1 and it helps encourage a lot of children to widen what they will eat. Most parents also want their child to have it when possible.

if a child has allergy or other dietary restrictions it would be expected parents had communicated that to the school.

This is partly true. All children in that age range are entitled to a school lunch but they shouldn’t be being given one unless their parent has requested it! Parents will still have to go online and sign their kid up for lunches that week.
OP I would contact his teacher as a first point of call and then senior leadership after this if no response. This is actually pretty serious.

Nothing happened OP. He has no allergies and lined up with the other kids and had a hot lunch. You’ve already spoken to the school. This is a non event, as they have explained to you. No need to start emailing the head teacher about lunch.

I would like to think they would have known if he had allergies. I would think they keep a list and are careful with those kids. At least that's what I've seen at my kids school.

EYFS lead here. We have a list of all children at the hatch where the food is served and tick each child off. As lunches are free- we often get last minute children but the list highlights allergies next to each child for example is child A lined up and has an egg allergy. The staff member would find his name and tick it and give him a red tray (allergy tray) and tell him what he could have. We are vigilant because they are Reception children and I imagine most schools are the same.

I would! As ever, people on here will tell you it’s nothing and try to minimise. However, your allergy point stands, particularly given the new guidance effective last month. The school needs a better process.

They don't have to sign up or request it at all. That might be the policy at your school but at many schools it is up to the child. The expectation would be that all children would be having a school dinner and for many even if they brought a packed lunch they wouldn't be stopped from having a meal if they chose it.

Why is it serious. If the OPs child had allergies then the school would already be aware of them.

I'm sure our primary used to have pictures of children up in the kitchen, with a list of their allergies.

At my kids school they just say 'packed lunch' or 'school dinner' when they do the register. Presumably staff check for those children that can't reliably report this, or can't remember if they bought a packed lunch that day. You can just decide day-by-day. They also have badges for the children with allergies that they wear to lunch.

Okay maybe I need to be clearer as apparently the keyboard warriors are out.
They didn't ask his name so how would they know what allergies he has, I dont mind he had one im just worried that one of the other non verbal children will have a lunch they can't eat due to allergy etc.
Lunches are not free in his school.
He has never had a hot lunch and always has packed and the school is aware of this.
Seriously if u dont have anything nice to say then go away.
I just wanted someone higher up aware that this could of been a problem if my had an allergy or if it was something we didnt allow.

Is it a private school?

I've never known the staff at schools have to ask a child's name. They are made aware of all allergies regardless if the children who have lunch or not.

People having a different view on something doesn’t make them a keyboard warrior, it makes them someone with a different view to yours!

He got some free food - lucky kid. Wish I could. And you don’t have to cook for him tonight, just give him his packed lunch. Maybe give the teacher a heads up to remind her that kiddo doesn’t take the hot lunch but other than that leave it. Let the other parents worry about their own kids.

At my school every child with an allergy had an information document pinned to the notice board in the kitchen.

admittedly this was not a big school.

Just bog off

He's in mainstream but in a specialist base. Not private. They ask their name. They should be given a sticker with their choices on, other wise everyone would have free lunches.

I agree that an email wouldn't go amiss but my kid's in KS1 and we haven't had to sign up for hot dinners at all. They are given one automatically unless they come in with a lunchbox so it varies school to school

You can’t guarantee that. There is no guarantee that anyone serving him food would even know who he is! Even in my tiny school we could not guarantee that. What if the server is new or covering sickness? Some primary schools have 3 or 4 classes per year group. Up to 800 children!
I am really surprised at how many people think this is just ok. All the issues around allergies. The introduction of Benedict’s law.
If I’ve sent my child with a packed lunch why would I want him fed with anything else??

Absolutely agree OP. It’s not about anything other than the fact they had no idea who he was.

my friends son was given custard, with a dairy allergy. It was absolutely horrific. Everyone, the children, ,my poor friend, the usual teachers, us as her friends will never forget that day.

so yes I would email, because it’s not about yippee a free lunch.

You would not be wrong to raise it, but please read the school’s complaints policy before emailing the head teacher. It’s unlikely that this would be the correct first step.

The school are already aware he got the wrong lunch, not sure why you’d need to tell them again. Also, he doesn’t have allergies so the arrangements for the kids that do are none of your concern. Focus on your kid. By all means check what their plan is to make sure he goes in right line and eats his packed lunch tomorrow but don’t complicate things.

I would mention it yes