Question about school lunch

[PinkChick]

My dd has just started recpetion and along with most of her class is struggling a little bit with deciding and the choice and has regulary come home saying she had "A potaoto"..thats it!..i know dinner ladies do all they can but wondered if the council or school would/could provide a menu for week, so we can discuss whats for lunch with our children and help prepare them so they eat more than a toothfull at school?
spoke to receptionist who was looking into it but not heard anything yet?

Who provides the meals? At my kids school the local council send home a menu twice a year, it has a 3 week programme of meals, they don't always get the right thing on the right day but it does give an opportunity to discuss what it might be!

Some LEAs post the menus on their websites - might be worth a look.

Ours are posted up in the school, although at ur school there is no choice anyway.

I know a friend's DS brings a copy of the menu home each term.

well i was told local council set the menu's but receptionist was speaking to school cook about it, but nothing yet?
you can see what theyre having on hot side if you're late dropping off as its on board in front of trays but no other idea?

we get a menu like geogteach said.3 week rotation.

pizza today so ds is having school lunch today.

also stickers if they finish lunch,saying "I finished my lunch today"

Lunch sticker with smile on it if they've done well at lunch and eaten most of it.Sticker thing is for both hot meals and packed lunch.

did she really only eat 'a potato' though? we have a menu and I always ask ds what he ate - usually he 'can't remember'.
For most of last term he kept saying that he only had yoghurt for pudding as there was no other choice, it was only after a couple of weeks of this when I said that I would go and talk to the school that he 'remembered' that there was a choice and he had had different things.....
When he first started school I spoke to the dinner ladies and they would tell me what he had eaten, luckily they were around at school pick up time and I knew who they were!

At our school, the menu is written out on the board in the dining room before school starts so parents can take their dc to look at it together. I found this so helpful as it's frustrating to continually be told "can't remember" what they've eaten every day.

just checked website and nothging there so rang number and got passed around, someone meant to be ringing me back when out of meeting today(catering manager) they said they DO have menu, but would have to check if dd's school actually go according to it?

thanks for all replies, yes when she said 'a potato' it was just that and some grapes..it is like getting blood out of a stone finding out what shes had and some days eats more, but want her to eat enough esp with bad weather coming/here so want warm food otherwise i may as well do packed lunches.
with our school, we have to decide packed or school lunch and keep it that way for full term, so no swapping and changing!

Our Reception have no choices unless it is a known dietary issue and have to try everything on the plate. Even for those older who can choose the dinnerlady checks of for a balanced plate at the end of the line ! We get a menu on the newsletter a week ahead, most schools would have one which rotates over several weeks. Could it have been a jacket potato ?

I don't think you can take tooooo much notice of what young children say they've had for lunch - it often bears no real resemblance to what they actually had, and they don't seem to remember it all that well. I asked DS the other day what he'd had for lunch, and he thought about it and said, "Butter!". I thought that was hilarious and relayed it to one of the assistants, who was highly indignant. "He most certainly DID NOT have butter!" she spluttered. "He had fishcakes and carrots, and he ate very well!".

LOL i know they have wild imaginations!..no it was small new potato, i asked one of the dinner ladies!..TBH, theyre alll nice but id have thought theyd have encouraged them to eat more??..there is such a wide range of food and they have a hot side and a cold side, dd tends to go for cold(even her hot food has to be cold), but today she ate..pasta with salmon!!!!!!!!..salmon FGS!

Oh dear lord!..had parent liason lady pull me to one side this morning to ask what prob was with lunches!..explained no problem, just as so much choice and dd being very young, asked for a menu so i could help dd 'choose' or at least give her an idea of what she could be having each day!..so shes said she'll go into dinner with dd today and help her!..dd seems ok with it, but totally not what i was asking, i just wanted a heads up!..dd's been eating salmon and pasta last few days so very good, i just wanted a menu so she could have a look before school!
went in to see menu on board today..but it was yesterdays.

We get the menu each term it is on a 4 week rotation and we have to chose forthe whole term.

However there is only a choice of a hot meal, a veggie hot meal, sandwhich ased mal and a salad so it is fairy simple.

eg. today is Roast Beef, mash, roast, yorkshire & brccoli or the same substitutig beef for veggie sausage, sandwuich option is tuna and salad is egg.

I hink that at that age they are too little to choose.

Perhap when shesays "a potato she means she had the potato option that day Somtimes ifI've forgotten where I have put the menu I ask dd what she has had and she just says "hot" as they call them hot, veggie, salad and sandwhich when they go up.