Starting Reception - meals?

[user1471523870]

Sorry for the silly question, but after 4+ year of relying on nursery full time I am facing the unknown with school!
I will soon attend an intro session for parents and hopefully they will give us all the details, but I am curious to know how meals work in reception.
My understanding is that lunch is provided and free. Is it served at each child, or put on the tables for them to self serve or do they queue like in a canteen? Is there an option to take own lunch or in general, as it's free, parents don't bother?
And what about snacks? At nursery children have a snack mid morning and early afternoon. Are those provided in reception too? And water? Or do children need to take their own water bottle and snacks?

They queue and get given their meal which they choose that morning out of a small selection (usually meat/veggie option/sandwich/jacket potato). Our school provides a snack in the morning and fruit snack in the afternoon. They take their own water.
You can send a packed lunch but most don’t bother unless child is very fussy. Snacks are also heavily policed so not worth the hassle of sending.

I'm sure they will tell you all of it his and it can vary school to school but in general they queue up at the canteen. Many kids don't like school lunches so might take a packed lunch from home instead. Generally you provide snack and a drink/water bottle for the day although at o it schooler do actually provide snack as it's part of the play based programme to have a self serve snack area. Rest of school brings their own though

Choosing lunches varies from school to school too. Ours can be ordered weekly or for the entire term. They must be ordered by Wednesdays for the following week.

My dd is in year 1 now - I remember the navigating all of this!
She got free milk until she was 5, then we had the option to pay for it. We sent her in with a snack and a drink, and I think there was fruit available too.
We choose what she has in advance for lunch, we usually order a term at a time so we don't forget! It's all free in ks2. She says the teacher tells them in the morning what they're having (hot, vegetarian cold) and they go and pick it up from a table in the hall and take it to their seats.
We send her with a pack up sometimes, if there's nothing on the menu she likes.

It’ll vary by school and I’m sure they’ll share it all with you so please don’t stress.

ours is canteen style where they choose at the counter. They take a water bottle and morning snack with them.

there is the option to take packed lunch but as it’s free most don’t unless really fussy

Differ slightly at different schools.
School meals are encouraged.
Menus are usually repeated over a 2/3 week rotation and then changed a few times a year (differs from school to school).
Snacks are offered in reception/ks1 usually fruit or vegetables and milk or water (think you pay for milk after age 5).
My dc school had a preorder system where by parents ordered on an app for the week so there was no big decision, they queued up and were given their meal. When they moved school they had to choose every morning so I would give them the choices before school to help make a decision. The first school my dc went to the reception children were given a yr6 buddy for the dining room who would show them what to do, carry their tray etc which worked well.

Thank you! Glad to know it's not just me getting (very relatively) stressed about trying to navigate through the new environment.
What I gather from all your lovely responses is that he will need a water bottle, and perhaps a snack. And probably I will be able to chose his food in advance (he has some few allergies).

@Bookendortwo how lovely to have an older child to help! My son is doing this at nursery with younger children and I think it's just fantastic.
We visited some few schools before making a choice and I recall this 'buddy' program in one of them...but I can't remember if it was in the one we chose!!!

Have a look on the school website, you might see some information on there about the school day which could answer some questions you have, also there might be current menu you can look at- we have to go through it with my son to decide what he wants to eat each week.

If he has some allergies let the school know. My son school requested proof from the GP which then was sent to our local council and used by them to generate a menu for my son.

We've just had our intro meeting this week.

At lunch they queue up, get given their food then sit together to eat. No choices on the food as it's a set menu but we're free to send a packed lunch if we choose. We can do this on an ad hoc basis so for example our LA has a 3 week rotating menu so if I know DD won't eat the lunch on a Tuesday on week 2 then we can send her with a packed lunch that day.

They get milk and fruit morning break and we have the choice to send in an alternative healthy snack if we want to but totally our choice.

No afternoon snack as they're done at 3 but if they go to wrap around care they get a snack.

They're all expected to have their own water bottles for during the day but they get a cup at lunchtime so don't have to faff taking their bottles in.

I expect most schools will be similar but I'm sure you'll be told.

At DD’s school they get a small snack (usually fruit or vegetable) and milk in the morning. They choose their lunch with the teacher or TA in the morning then queue up to be served it at lunchtime. I’m not sure how common that is, it’s a smallish school with limited kitchen space. A couple of children in her class have packed lunches but the majority have the free school meal. They also have the year 6 buddy system at her school, for lunchtimes and the playground etc.

At our school, they say during the morning register if they're having school dinner or packed lunch that day. They choose what they want at lunchtime, not before.

DD currently in reception. In her class they display the menu with pictures and they stick their name label next to what they want. They then queue and take a tray and walk to table with it.

I'm a teacher and parent and haven't come across a school where infants can take their own snack (obviously, from the above, they do exist!). Milk to age 5 and fruit/veg to end of KS1 are universal in England, as are free school meals. Mostly children are expected to carry their plate of food but given lots of help to start. In my experience, it's really quite unusual to take a packed lunch in EY/KS1 - perhaps around 3 out of 30 children. Smaller schools won't necessarily offer more than a main meal with vegetarian alternative. Bigger schools tend to have jacket potatoes, salad bars and sandwiches too.

It's also worth preparing your child. Mine was shocked to discover they would only get one meal at school - to me it seemed so obvious, but they'd been used to breakfast, lunch and dinner at nursery from age 1, even though they only did a couple of nursery sessions a week.

I don’t know if this applies to you OP but schools local to me encourage parents to make an application for free school meals (even though the meals are free, which I know sounds crazy) this is because free school meal entitlement is a marker for additional school funding which covers the whole of the child’s primary school life. Very valuable for schools in a time when they are desperate for money. So if anyone with a child starting school in September thinks they are eligible for free school meals (even if they are already free!) please check with your school, and fill in the form.

Agree with viques, if you might be eligible for income based free school meals, please apply, not least because you might be eligible for other "benefits" in school that come with it- we provide half price breakfast club and school trips for those in receipt of income based FSM which you wouldn't get with universal FSM.