School lunches vs packed lunch. What do you do?

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We're moving back to the UK from NZ (I'm a Kiwi, my partner English) and my daughter will be starting in a UK school next Sept, age 6. We don't have school meals here in NZ instead we have packed lunches which I would prefer to continue doing for my daughter as I like to know what she is eating and where it is from (where possible and financially able, we eat organic meat/fruit/veg/dairy).

How common is it for children here in the UK to eat packed lunches and not the school meals? I have terrible visions of my daughter sitting on her own ostracised for not only her funny accent but her weird lunchbox!

My 2 DCs have school lunches 4 days a week and a packed lunch on the other day so they can sit with different friends.

I think the split is about 50:50 at our school, with children swapping between school dinners and sandwiches depending on a variety of factors including whether they like the menu on a particular day, what their friends are doing and if they have an afterschool activity which makes it preferable to eat a larger meal at lunchtime.

Your DD definitely won't be sitting alone in most schools I know of.

However things might change a bit as all Infants will be offered free school meals from September, so that may change patterns of uptake.

I think you will find it very school dependent. Also bear in mind that children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will get free school meals from September, plus all children from low income families also get free school meals.

I would say up to about a third of DC's school children have school meals. But lots of families mix and match e.g. my DC generally have packed lunches but do have the odd school meal.

At the moment about 75% of my class have a packed lunch most days. The number of school dinners does go up to about 50% of the class on specific days of the week, depending on what after school clubs are on and what is on the dinner menu. We send menus out a term in advance and children (and parents) can decide if they want hot dinners every day or just specific days depending on whether they like the menu options. We prefer final decisions on when they are having a school dinner on the Monday each week, but can cater for last minute decisions on the day, but I don't think all schools follow this system.

Ok, so you do get the option with some schools to split the week between hot meals and packed lunches? I saw one school in Oxford (where we'll be moving back to) that stated you could only do 100% school meals or 100% packed lunch. But it seems from what you guys are saying, there is sometimes the option of doing both? I'd be happy do to that if that is what my daughter wanted and it meant she hung out with a wider range of people and didn't feel left out.

It all depends on the school and how it arranges its catering, the admin of paying for meals and ensuring the pupils get the right meal.

The eating part of school lunchtimes may well only be a small part of it, and the hanging out will be in the lunchtime playtime.

I do both. My DC take packed lunches Monday-Wednesday, then have school dinners Thursday and Friday (my work days). Lots of children at my children's school and at the school where I work bring packed lunches.

My dc have packed lunches ATM they ate reception and year 1
If this free school meals thing comes in I am going to try using it for part of the week. We get a copy of the menu each term and there are always some days when there isn't a main they would eat!

If OP's Dd is starting yr2 in English state school she'll qualify for free cooked meal along with rest of her yr group. I reckon about 25% of us will still send packed lunches for whatever reason. I suggest try it & see how things go. DS is so fussy I don't want to chance school food until he asks for it.

Ours have to have either one or the other (packed lunch/school meal) for a whole half term period. Choice of three things, one of which is a packed lunch.
They all sit together with friends regardless of whether they're packed lunch or school dinners though.

Oh and the proportion if who has what varies hugely across the year. Autumn term, practically the whole class has hot dinners; by summer, it'll be the other way round.

It depends on the school, I think most schools is either all packed lunch or school dinner. Also a lot of school insist on a week notice if swapping between. As they do their food ordering a week or so.

OP, again it depends on the school, but many have catering policies that are similar to your own ethics. My own DC's school uses locally sourced, and sometimes organic produce, and the meals are well balanced with lots of fresh fruit and veg.

My kids have packed lunches 2 days and hot dinners 3 days (my work days). However they can sit with their friends whatever they have. They aren't separated.

DS and DD both say about half the kids in their class have school lunches and the rest packed lunches.

mine can choose day to day whether they have a packed lunch/school dinner. DD has 3 or 4 school dinners per week and ds maybe has 1 or 2 at the most and has mainly packed lunches

My kids have done both. They went back to schiol lunches this year when a new catering company started. But, as usual, the meals haven't lived up to the glossy menus! So they are back to packed lunches after the Easter holidays. I hate making lunches when I am working, but will be a sahm for a while now, so don't mind!

School meals are free for infants where I live; DD is in reception and all 60 of them have school dinners.

I do think that the upcoming free school meals will impact on the number of children having packed lunches, but this will obviously vary from school to school.

In my teaching experience, it's about 60:40 packed lunch to school dinners.
However, in more deprived areas, more people take up the school dinner (because they are on benefits), and in better off areas more people tend to do packed lunch.

That being said, I've never seen packed lunch be in the minority, and I've taught in many different schools.

I've always done packed lunch for mine - school dinners are too expensive, plus we all eat a hot meal together in the evening so it seems redundant to have two

DD (in primary) says about a third of her class have packed lunches on a regular basis, and they aren't separated from the rest of the class so she eats with her friends no matter what they're having.

DSs are in Secondary and most of the pupils bring their own as it's quicker than queuing and they have more places they can eat it in.

Thanks for your comments and thoughts everyone. Its definitely allayed my fears!

School meals are already free for all children in my borough but dd has always taken a packed lunch as we both prefer it. I am Australian, so am used to packed lunches, and the hot food is very unappealing and not exactly healthy. There is no stigma.