Can school force my child to stay in during lunchtime

peachyprice

Well I think a compromise is in order, yours being that you agree to keep him on-site, which, IMO isn't that unreasonable.

The schools compromise being that he, and any other children who so wish are allowed packed lunches.

Keep things nice and simple for them, with you being the reasonable party.

I really don't think you should get into a whole pack of lies about special dietary needs, him being a carer for your mother, or getting social services involved as suggested above that, it just asking for trouble and possibly opening a whole other can of worms unnecessarily.

Remember, it's the school who will be writing his references for jobs and further education, it would be awful if he was involved and caught out in a deception involving other agencies.

In the meantime, send him with a packed lunch of healthy things he will like. Hopefully other children who do not like school dinners will do the same.

achtunglady

minxtress just wanted to wish you the best of luck with getting something out of the situation you find yourself in x

liney

Just send him with a pack up, and tell him to eat it in the school grounds away from the canteen. If the school is as big as you say, then they will not be searching children individually and removing ham rolls.

You need to speak to the Local Education Authority in the mean time though: Whilst not leaving site is not an unreasonable order, the "You can only buy your food here stance" must come under the same rules as "You must buy your school uniform from us" rules which are not allowed.

JBD

bettybeaver wrote: »

Does anyone else remember for a number of years in the 80's when you wernt allowed to stay at school during lunch time, due to industrial action by the teachers who were refusing to supervise the students in their lunch hour. I spent a number of years going home or a friends house to eat and back again for the afternoon, only those kids who had free school meals were permitted to stay at school.
My how times have changed!!!

Yes, this happened to us in the 70's, the teachers went on some kind of work to rule and we all had to leave the premises at lunch time. It's interesting to remember a time when parents were allowed to choose what their children ate rather than be told by the government/Jamie Oliver, and teachers were there to teach.I can't remember any obese children at all and a lot of people didn't eat healthy food at all.

iamana1ias

JBD wrote: »

Mothers used to work in the 60's and 70's too.My Mum did and all my friends Mums did too. There were fewer benefits and no minimum wage so parents did have to work.

I didn't say they didn't They weren't doing it to pay for luxuries that are seen nowadays as absolute rights though.

JBD wrote: »

I think as you said children do get less exercise nowadays ,we used to do PE and swimming every week at school as well as generally being more active eg walking everywhere.

I was never home! Always out playing!

JBD wrote: »

I don't agree that the majority of people eat less healthily nowadays, although there is much more fast food available, I think the majority of people do try and care for their children to the best of their ability. My own children certainly eat better food than I did, eg they usually eat 5 portions of fruit/veg a day[ or at least it is available to them]. This would have been more or less impossible for my parents to provide, food was relatively more expensive. I am able to buy them a carton of fruit juice eg whereas I didn't even taste this until I was a young adult.

But today's food is less healthy, even if you cook from scratch. Food is grown for appearance, not nutrition. A chicken today has on average something like 150% more fat than it did 50 years ago. :eek: Bread is less healthy. That's before you look at ready meals and biscuits etc

looby75

just a word of warning about the video footage your ds took, make a copy of it from his phone tonight.

A few years ago my niece was being bullied at breaktimes. Sis went into the school and they denied that it was happening, one of my nieces friends managed to record it on her phone, sis phoned the school and told them they had proof. The head asked to see the footage, confiscated the phone and mysteriously the footage was accidentally deleted.

My sister took her dd out of that school that very day (she was much younger than you ds though so it was a much easier thing to do)

iamana1ias

adouglasmhor wrote: »

My parents were both out working to keep 6 of us and a dog, I grew up on a mix of old fashioned home cooked food and dale steaks, mini pizzas and savoury pancakes - junk food.

And look how you turned out

adouglasmhor

iamana1ias wrote: »

And look how you turned out

I suppose I asked for that.

MrsE_2

adouglasmhor wrote: »

My parents were both out working to keep 6 of us and a dog, I grew up on a mix of old fashioned home cooked food and dale steaks, mini pizzas and savoury pancakes - junk food.

My mother always worked too, like you I grew up on old fashioned meat & two veg and Crispy pancakes. My family def eat a healthier diet (more fruit, veg & salad) & better quality meat than I did.

I agree with the school insisting on keeping all children in, you can't pick & choose which rules you want to follow, the mother was wrong to ever expect an exception to be made for her son.

However I think the school are down right out of order for insisting the children purchase food from the school canteen & cannot bring a packed lunch. I would fight this one all the way.

MrsE_2

JBD wrote: »

My own children certainly eat better food than I did, eg they usually eat 5 portions of fruit/veg a day[ or at least it is available to them]. This would have been more or less impossible for my parents to provide, food was relatively more expensive. I am able to buy them a carton of fruit juice eg whereas I didn't even taste this until I was a young adult.

We didn't have boundless fruit either when I was a child, strawberries were a rare treat. I buy them weekly in summer.

My mum served a lot of tinned veg (which I hated) & I would never use that (except beans & toms).