School Meal and SEN - special schools

[WhatsOnTheMenu]

DS attends a special school and dinners are great - fixed menu each day but they cater to individual children eg when there is curry ds will have cold meat / veg / pasta etc. The school is now much bigger in size and changes are being made................menu will now be fixed, so ds wil have to have packed lunch on the days he will not eat the main dish - he doesn't like wet meals like curry / bolognaise / chilli / shepherds pie.

What happens in you dc special schools? I don't expect them to cook a different meal for every child but it is going from "very flexible" to "set in stone" overnight.

My DD's special school has a choice of 3 main meals each day and we had a list to select which one she'd want each day

Hmm... I know that some special schools have a variety of different food on their menu to especially help kids who are rigid in trying different foods. Is this what you mean OP?

At DS's school there is the main hot meal, they always also have baked beans and jacket potatoes and they do some cold meat/cheese and salad too. They are also happy to make a sandwich if they know by break. Puddings are either the pud of the day or fruit.

The school we have chosen for DS does one main meal, but it can cater for individual children. DS only eats one hot meal, no amount of co-ersion will get him to eat anything else. Its an easy to cook meal so school have said they can cook it on a daily basis for him.

DS1's school has a set main - a meaty and a veggie free from option, typically. They also have an alternative menu - so DS1, who hates all forms of potato apart from sufficiently crinkly oven chips (McCain aren't crinkly enough) typically has a ham sandwich and will have a small portion of soup, as there's usually a soup option.

DS2 wouldn't go to that school and I've noticed that a few of the local SS's are quite set in the menu that they provide. He's currently in MS and I send him in with a packed lunch every day. School dinner portions are tiny enough without paying £2 for something that he'll only eat half of, on a good day.