General Chat

I work as a Lunchtime Supervisor in a small primary school we have 6 classes and 157 pupils. Parents are given a menu at the beginning of each term with a list of what school dinners will be available each day they can then choose when and if their child will have a school meal. We average 40 hot meals a day, going up to maybe 50 on fridays.
Parents do not have to book a school dinners for the whole week it is done on a day to day basis.
The children who bring packed lunches are not permitted to bring sweets and are encouraged to bring healthy snacks.
I think the governments should leave us alone so that we can carry on doing the good work that we are doing.
The hot meals are £1.75 and so good even the staff eat them.

sorry but i can not see what working parents has to do with healthy eating
most parent work becouse thay have to.
what will thay gain at being home all day sitting on there bums and children at school all day

yes ok we could help how children a little more with there home work
but some people seem to for get that if we give up how jobs we would them
have to go on benefit

then be called a benefit scrounger i see we working perant still can not win

There is truth in all that Rollo but banning packed lunches is treating the symptom not the cause. I don't know how we adjust the thinking of parents having let it go so far but surely a way can be found to point out that the health and well being of their children is their responsibility. Sometimes I wonder why people have children.

School dinners cost more than two sarnies an orange and a cola (say) because they are more nutritious.

Pupil's educational achievement and ability to concentrate is tightly linked to good nutrition ( and enough sleep in bed rather than dozing in the classroom). They need breakfast as well as a decent lunch.

School meals are good for children to learn to socialise properly ( it is wrong for teachers to pull out of lunch time involvement ).

A balanced diet for at least one meal each school day is a start on dealing with the epidemic of obese schoolchildren. Fat children avoid sport and so get fatter.

People who see the education of their children as something to be done as cheaply as possible obviously care little about the future job prospects of their offspring.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/search/?q=school+dinner&search_category=recipes

It would also help if schools were treated as schools and not a parking place for children while their parents are at work. The ability of most children under 16 to learn anything after 3pm is minimal yet the government is proposing extending school hours to 5pm (!).

:-(

I think, unless the school is genuinely and with good reason, worried about the contents of a child's packed lunch, it should be up to the parents. I can see that they should offer advice as to what not to put in but no way do I think they should ban them just to try and make more profit from school dinners. If school dinners were good value for money and enjoyable to the children maybe they'd sell more.

ban packed lunches? definitely not!!!!

and who is going to be paying for school dinners
packed lunches are cheaper then paying for school dinners

my daughter takes a packed lunch but once a week we pay for a school dinner [2 30]

take care
lorraine

sorry hello onefootinthe grave

Head teachers in England are being urged to ban packed lunches to increase the take-up of school dinners and promote healthy eating.

A government-commissioned school food review by two founders of the Leon restaurant chain says take-up is low at 43% despite huge quality improvements.

The authors of the School Food Plan say packed lunches are nearly always less nutritious than a cooked meal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23270715

As much as I agree that a healthy diet is important I do not believe that either the government or head teachers should be allowed to ban packed lunches nor stop pupils buying snacks outside of the school - what do you think?