School lunches at reception

[Goldchilled7up]

DS is a summer baby, and he's starting reception in September. I'm starting to really worry about the things he'll have to do independently. I've been trying, but he still can't put on his coat as an example.

My main worry is school lunches, he's a picky eater anyway so I thought of sending him with a packed lunch, but everyone I speak with thinks that school lunches are better as he'll try new things.

He's my only child, so I have no idea how it works. Are they meant to cut food and use fork and knife? He can't do any of that, he's still very dependant on me and as he's so young I can't see it getting much different by September.

Obviously you haven't studied the EYFS curriculum Abby.

Just because it's on the EYFS doesn't mean it's up to nursery/school to teach it. I thought EYFS was about ensuring children were ready for formal education in year 1 and therefore clearly includes basic skills which nursery should check children have achieved like self care. That doesn't mean the primary place for learning those skills is at nursery anymore than learning to walk or talk is a skill to be learned at nursery. There will be some children who are in nursery for so much if the time that inevitably nursery becomes their primary place of learning. What is suggested in posts on this thread is that OPs DC should spend more time at nursery to learn these skills, which is a bizarre idea.

Just because it's on the EYFS doesn't mean it's up to nursery/school to teach it. I'm afraid it is Abby.
I thought EYFS was about ensuring children were ready for formal education in year 1 and therefore clearly includes basic skills which nursery should check children have achieved like self care. Then you misunderstand the who purpose of EYFS Abby.

For what it's worth I think it should be up to parents to teach their child basic skills but government policy and societal attitudes are shifting that responsibility more and more to the professionals (not just schools) to adopt the responsibility. That is why more and more children enter school in nappies unable to feed or dress themselves

whole not who

You should just bring this up with the school to be sure of meeting his needs. He won't be at all unusual in finding cutting tough, the knives are kind of blunt, for one thing.

I worked 6 months as a dinner lady, we cut up most food for most of reception, up to y3 even, for a few children. We expectd them to themselves get tray to table, but we always helped with disposal afterwards. It surprises me, but we had relatively few spills off of trays.

My reception DS is very fussy about food and wouldn't eat most of the hot dinner offerings, plus hot meals work out much more expensive than packed lunches for us, so bit of a no-brainer.

It is much easier on a one to one at home to teach all the basics, like using a knife and fork and you have at least 12 weeks to do it.

Mrz... That is true but a sad indictment of our society. What exactly is the point of being a parent if you are going to abdicate the acquisition of even these basic skills to the state. Might as well just give birth and hand them over to the state. It's all very depressing

Abby nursery is about preparing children for school. We do this by practising the self-help skills they will need in order to fully participate in school life.
Things like getting dressed and undressed
using a knife and fork
putting on their coats
going to the toilet and wiping bottoms/ washing hands
Preparation for school is not about learning to read and write and do sums

The EYFS is concerned with learning and development so for some children that means learning to walk and talk at nursery too.

DSs went to Montessori nurseries & the nursery was very big on real life skills, like zips, buttons, coats, table manners, all types of fine motor skills, in addition to writing, letters and numbers. I got the impression that Real Life Skills were a core element of the Montessori philosophy. It wouldn't be Montessori if they didn't make a fuss out of how to put on a coat.

Am I missing something or are we talking about 4yos? Who are overwhelmed and nervous with a completely different environment to cope with during school lunches. Many take it in stride but many need support. No shame in it.

No we are talking about basic life skills

Of course nurseries do this... When they are taking over the role of the parent because the parent's at work most of the time (and I don't mean that in a negative way.) However where children are spending most of their time with their parents then the parents should be doing the parenting. There is absolutely no need to send a child to nursery to learn to put on a coat ir cut up their food. It's parenting pure and simple.

and nursery is acting as the parent surely, so helping to put a coat on is part of that