Do many children eat school lunch in Reception year?

[heun817]

Hello, my DS is entering Reception coming autumn, and I am wondering whether most of the kids eat school lunch or whether they bring in packed lunches. I have just moved from abroad so I have no idea what school lunch would be like here.

As school meals are free up until year 3, in my experience most children have them unless very fussy. Our school has their menu on their website, may be worth a look on yours.

Given it is provided free i imagine most would?

I expect in England it will be most as school lunches are free infants I believe? I am in Wales where that isn't the case. From the other parents I am talking to (my son is also starting Reception in September) most are doing a mix of school lunches and packed lunches. However today the school emailed that initially there won't be any school lunches due to Covid so we have to send a packed lunch.

Both mine did, as it was free, and they tried a lot of new foods which was great as the youngest was quite picky. Some meals they tried and didn’t like so those days I sent a packed lunch.

Bear in mind a lot of schools are not providing hot meals this autumn. The packed lunch school made for those children needing one for trips etc was not great, so if that was the choice I would send my own for now. You may want to see what arrangements your school has.

All KS1 kids (Reception - Yr 2) are entitled to free lunches in England, and I imagine most parents take up the offer.

With the current situation, the free school meals are pretty much compulsory in the younger years at my DDs school in September. You need permission for packed lunch.

When DD1 was at school, the free lunch was a packed lunch. About half had it.
DD2 (different school) most had it (2 different hot options)

Current school... Most of DDs friends had it (Yr2). 2 hot options, jacket potato or sandwiches available. Pre ordered by parents through an App.

Most children at my school have school dinners, as it is free, but there are always around 4 or 5 in each class that bring a packed lunch. We publish a menu on a 3 week rotation, and some children bring packed lunch on the days when they don't like what is on the menu. Having said that, I don't know if all schools will be able to provide a hot meal in September - covid and the need to keep children in 'bubbles' may have an impact.

A significant proportion of reception kids in my DDs year don't take up the free dinners.

We are pupil premium so entitled due to income regardless of the UFSM but I provide a pack lunch

Only an occasional child has a packed lunch in Reception.
You may wish to check the schools arrangements. We split meals from packed lunches to avoid any allergy issues. There may also be a nut or other food\drink ban in place depending on the risk.

My son is starting reception this year. When I spoke to his teacher (this was because we couldn't go in and meet in person) she said most children have school dinners.
My son will be. He is at nursery and loves his meals there. It's encouraged him to eat a bigger variety of meals (I'm a very fussy eater and tend to have the same things a lot), and he loves it. So we obviously want this to carry on at school.

Most children do because they are free.

It’s definitely the norm. I’m a supply teacher so I’m in different schools all of the time and there are usually only about four packed lunches.