School policies on free school meals take up

[MamaMimi]

Our dcs school is a small village school. School meals are made off-site and brought in each day.

There is a main meal option and a jacket potato option as an alternative, followed by a pudding option with yoghurt and fruit as an alternative.

Well, that's the theory anyway. In practice there is often no pudding left yet no alternative left either, for those on later sittings.

Both my dds have been having the school dinners. Dd1 has enjoyed most foods. Dd2 is fine with a lot of it but has an aversion to acidic foods (an instinctive aversion I believe due to her suffering from eczema), so anything tomato or orange based isn't really an option for her. Unfortunately she also doesn't like potato. Therefore on the days when there is a meal with tomato based sauce like, say pasta sauce or pizza, she is stuck as she really doesn't want to have the jacket potato option either.

So far, on these days (only 3 days over 3 weeks), I have provided her with a packed lunch as a more suitable alternative than the jacket spud. So far no-one has told me this is a problem. Until now.

A newsletter came home advising that the governers had decided that arranging 'occasional' meals and having pack lunches on other days is not practical for the school.

AFAIC I have not asked school to arrange 'occasional' meals, I am simply providing some food for my child so she won't go hungry on the odd day where she won't want the dinners provided. The school can still order her meal for that day, she is eligible to receive it for free, but if she can't eat what they provide what is wrong with having some food there that she can eat?

I wonder what other peoples' schools are doing about pupils with food aversions Is it just a case of 'tough, they just won't eat much on those days' like it appears our school is saying? Or is it that because a child doesn't want a meal 3 days of the 3 week rota that they will have to take in a packed lunch everyday? In other words, all or nothing. Thereby missing out on a free hot school meal most days for the sake of 3 days where they are not wanted.

Sorry, I know it's a long post but I just wondered if it is worth talking to school to see what the problem is with providing a pack lunch on these days?

Our school allows you to choose daily what the child is eating. Meals also cooked off site and brought in.

Our school state you must have 5 days meals. If a child doesn't like what is on offer they can ask at breaktime for a sandwich to be made. My dd was desperate to sit with her friend on dinners so this is what she did some days. She is quite fussy and won't eat curry etc. We don't eat cheese as a family which seems to be in most meals unfortunately.

Our school seems to be saying that daily choice would be an administrative PITA!

I'm not even asking to choose but just to be able to provide another alternative to the meal other than jacket potato.

Besides, even tho' she wouldn't want it, she can only have the jacket pot if it is pre-ordered at the beginning of the week. I would quite like her to maybe try the meal on offer but know there is food there for her (the pack lunch) if she really can't stomach it.

HouseofEliot the lunch I would send in would, I guess, be the equivalent to the sandwich your dc can request but it would seem that school are just prepared to let dd go hungry instead.

What I don't understand is that dd's meal is a free meal she is entitled to so it's not like it needs to be cancelled on the days in question. School can just carry on as if she was having it but send her in with the pack lunch kids instead. What's the problem with that, administratively or otherwise?

Plus, it would mean more food to share for those having the meal.

I would speak to the doctor. It sounds to me like she has an intolerance. Explain that the school are being a pain about it. Alternatively, just tell the school she is mildly intolerant to particular ingredients. Can they please provide her with something else for the main meal or you will happily send her in with a packed lunch for those days. I might even go as far as to say 'DD has some mild food intolerances. She does not eat tomato, orange or potato...' - slightly obscuring the truth though I suppose.

If she has a medical reason for not being able to eat certain foods, then I would pursue that and get a dietician's input. If you can get evidence of a medically documented food intolerance/ allergy then I think the school would then have to allow her to take a packed lunch on those days.

However.... the school must surely provide, at the very least, a vegetarian and non-veggie option, plus the baked potato? Could she not have the veggie option, providing that doesn't contain tomatoes? (which it well might).

There should be other things such as bread and vegetables on offer for those not keen on the main course. There should also be enough food to serve everyone. You can put in a complaint to the school governors, and they will have to respond.

The jacket potato is the alternative AND the vegetarian option!

Dd's best friend is a vegetarian and would end up having jacket potato 4 days each week which I think is very poor. She's has ended up having to stick with pack lunches because who wants potato 4 days out of 5?

The school didn't have hot lunches before this new initiative, all pupils took a pack lunch. I think they are still finding their feet but after 3 weeks of meals now they haven't shown any interest in whether parents have any concerns or questions.

I have already spoken to the school secretary about dd's dislike of acidic foods and she wrote it all down so that she could pass it on to the dinner staff to make them aware.

I think their take on it would be that there is a choice, but it's not much of a choice if dd (or any other child) really doesn't like the main component of the alternative meal. Dd doesn't enjoy potato in any form.

We've never really gone into whether her aversions are actual medical intolerances because up until now we have just managed the eczema by using as natural products as we can and haven't forced her to eat what she doesn't want to.

Well, that is rubbish. I think you need to mount a campaign. Jacket potato every day as the veg option is absolutely no good at all. It sounds like they are very green at the school meals thing. Seriously, take it up with the governors. They are responsible for setting school meals policy.

I would also want to know whether the school food meets the statutory school meal standards:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/344684/School_food_in_England-_June_2014-_revised_August_14.pdf

This is a requirement if it's a maintained school and for some academies.

The literature from the company that provide the meals says that their menus meet national standards on quality and nutrition.

The meals are cooked at another local school which I'm assuming also has the same menu.

My primary concern is whether there really are grounds for not allowing me to provide a back-up option for my dd so she doesn't go hungry if she doesn't eat a school meal

Unfortunately for you, it is up to the school to decide the policy on packed lunches. Some schools do choose to ban them completely, or have a policy of not allowing a child to take a mix of packed lunch and school lunch on different days.

If there are genuine medical or psychological reasons for your DD not to have school lunch on those days, then I think the school would be on thin ground in not making reasonable adjustments for her. I think the school is probably concerned that if it lets one parent send in additional food items (or bring packed lunches in sometimes) then other parents will want to do the same.

I would still complain to the governors if I were you.

But I tdo hink you need to get the doctor on board, otherwise you risk being (erroneously) labelled as one of those parents..... some people don't really get the allergies thing.

Having said that, the most common food triggers for eczema aren't citrus and acidic foods (stomach's full of acid in any case!) but egg, wheat, dairy, nuts and cow's milk.

Thanks for your advice. I will probably write to the governers with the concerns I have over school meals, particularly the lack of choice and there not being enough food at times.

I guess I am connecting the acidic foods to any flare ups because I know that is what happens with me, also a sufferer. Eating it, but also getting it on my skin, especially ketchup, for example, around the mouth. Due to dd not liking such foods I think she would be the same.

If school dig their heels in on the pack lunch issue I shall just wish dd's class teacher luck with dealing with her on the afternoons when she's starving

Our school meal service cooks to order. So the kids say what they want in the morning and that's what's delivered at lunchtime. So there's no issue of anything running out. And they can have packed lunch whenever they want. Sounds like some meal providers are more organised than others.

Ds1 has just started a village school where they cook insure everyday. Parents are asked to provide an indication if whether they would like dc to have a school meal daily, every wed and fri (roast and pizza/fish n chips day) or bring packed lunches daily. They run a meat, veg and sandwich option.

My son has intolerances so he has a modified menu but he's also tomato adverse as it used to cause reflux flares. It does sound like an aversion however I would second talking through with your doctor. Our county council required a letter from the gp stating what intolerances my son has to proceed with a modified menu.

• cook on site

That IS bloody mean!

Our school Christmas dinner has to be ordered about 4-6 weeks in advance, so maybe a week wasn't enough notice.

Thank you for all the insights.

It's such a shame that degree of flexibility on this issue causes problems for some kids/parents than for others.