secondary school lunch time policies

[theshivers]

just started working at a secondary school at lunchtime and I am staggered at the amount of children that don't clear their plate when they have finished. the school policy is not to enforce a plate clearing policy.. "we encourage them to clear their plate" "drip drip drip messages" so the kids just leave everything they can or throw it on the floor. Am I being naive. I just thought this was a basic life skill. I think I want assurance this isn't the norm!

oh dear, i have no idea what goes on but do worry about how much my DS eats as he is already way too thin, if everyone else is leaving there food then i am sure he will too and what a waste

Do you mean scraping their plates or eating everything on their plate?

mine take packed lunch (1600 kids ; one canteen)
but when they do buy from school they normally have things like paninis and wraps and smoothies so waste not a big issue

Ah I can see I was unclear.. I mean scraping their plates after they have eaten .. or clear up their panini/wrap packaging..
the Y11 were even warned by the deputy head today about the disgraceful mess they leave every day.. it didn't make an iota of difference.

have I just forgotten what teenagers are like or is this extreme practice?

sorry DD and DS are chattering in my ear.
what I mean is these kids leave their plates on the table once they have finished eating and just get up and walk away from all the mess they have created.
if you challenge them they just walk away from you.

teenagers are little scrotes - give them hell

I worked as a Lunchtime Supervisor at a secondary school until September and I would say this level of mess is pretty standard. I think that it is very difficult to enforce table cleaning and would lead to lunchtime supervisors facing some pretty abusive behaviour from a small minority of students. This would mean that SLT would have to spend their lunchtimes dealing with behaviour issues.

Now I am based in a sixth form college and there is much less mess and the students are much more respectful to the staff. However at sixth form, bad behaviour can lead to the perpetrator being escorted off site by security. This is a pretty good deterrant.

thanks for that information... it reassures and dismays me all at once!!.. sadly at the school I am working at it's the majority of children who leave the mess.

there have been some lovely children who once caught a few times now clean up after themselves. I will keep them uppermost in my mind.

so far I have been able to laugh off the abuse and just think that they are all going to get a massive shock when they start working!

I think that things will get easier for you once you have been there a bit longer. The kids will try it on with you until they get to know you.

I have always found that asking nicely gets results. I used to walk round the hall reminding them to put their litter in the bin once they had finished.

Just remember that these are minor irritations. I always felt that my job was to help provide a safe, happy environment for the kids at lunchtime and that means you have to let things like mess go in order to concentrate on keeping an eye on kids who get sent without dinner money or who were being bullied.

I found the swearing more shocking than the behaviour at first.

That is not typical! At the school I work in the kids have to clear away their plate, tray and leftovers. Of course a little hard-core will try to get away with not doing it, but our lunchtime supervisors watch out for this and tell them off, backed up by a senior teacher on duty. Please don't judge all teenagers by this experience, and btw I work in a big inner-city comp

Not typical. I teach in secondary and out students would NOT get away with this behaviour! There are sanctions in place to ensure they don't and I echo what floradora said about supervisors being backed up by SLT. The Head does lunch duty everyday and is VERY firm on basic manners and the like.

I think i t very much depends on the management of the whole school. I'm not sure about dd's school (she's Yr8) but I know in ds's school they have prefects patrolling the dining hall, and that the boys are all expected to cleanr up their own mess. If the prefects aren't respected, then the behaviour policy sorts out what happens next. Various teachers walk through the dining hall, or occasionally come in for the odd 'patrol' and they would immediately back up the prefects (or, in your case, dinner supervisers).

Mind, I'm amazed over the years, how many parents of my dsc friends have commented on the fact that my children always ask where they should put their plate/glass when they go round for tea, as if it's an unusual thing to do

thanks again for all our responses. You have really helped. "food for thought" if it wasn't such an awful pun! I have to say I am quite reassured that this school does seem to be in a minority.

I will think more about about the safe environment and the bullying aspects of my job. they were certainly not mentioned in my interview!

I do ask in a nice way and I hope that even if they have come from homes that don't insist/can't make their children clear up at home..(I am of course a parent, I know what that is like,) I can at least show that there is another way - even if they don't always heed it.

and I am very sympathetic to the view that there is not a lot of hope out there for this generation with the high rates of youth unemployment and university fees spiraling.

so thanks again for your time and opinions.. it is very appreciated and will definitely help me in my job.

I think I would say that this behaviour reflects badly on the school as a whole. What the pupils get away with in the canteen will be reproduced at different levels in general behaviour in the school and the attitude of both pupils and staff.

It would never be tolerated at the school I am a governor at.

where i work you have to tidy up.

I don't think it is typical even in challenging schools.