Can school force my child to stay in during lunchtime

daska

Yes the school can insist that your son stays on the premises at lunch time. No, they can't insist on him supplying biometric data in order to purchase food from the school canteen. These links might be interesting to you. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/04/school_dinner_fingerprinting/
http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=lv&catcode=ss_lv_saf_dp_03&rid=14160

5.2 Pupil and parent consent
A question which is often asked is whether schools can legally collect biometric data without a pupil’s or their parents’ consent. There is nothing explicit in the Data Protection Act to require schools to seek the consent of parents before implementing a biometric technology system. The Data Protection Act 1998 provides that personal data shall not be processed unless one of the conditions of processing detailed in Schedule 2 of the Act [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/80029--n.htm#sch2] is met. Consent is one of these, but it is not required if any of the other conditions applies.
Regarding the age of a child, pupils are the data subjects of the personal data which is being collected and it is they who should in the first instance be informed about the use of their personal data. The Data Protection Act 1998 does not specify when a person is (or may be considered to be) too young to give consent. It is a matter of judgement that must be made on a case by case basis by the school as the data controller. Only where a pupil is judged to be unable to understand what is involved will his or her rights be exercisable by the parent or someone with parental responsibility for the pupil.
Whilst consent is not required for all processing of personal data, schools should normally involve pupils and parents in their decisions to use biometric technologies as is the case with other decisions made during the school life of children.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Your opinion may well be accurate but rules of the forums are to refrain from personal insults

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

iamana1ias wrote: »

Ummmm, forgive me for asking, but small child, in a room with lots of other small children, with hot liquid in flask? Is that a good idea?

Trust me, everything is checked over by the teachers anyway, after all it is a nursery where they need help to get their lunches out. I would be stupid to give her 'hot' as in scolding liquid...and i am not stupid!

Evansangel

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle wrote: »

Trust me, everything is checked over by the teachers anyway, after all it is a nursery where they need help to get their lunches out. I would be stupid to give her 'hot' as in scolding liquid...and i am not stupid!

No your not, your a fantastic mum! :beer:

System

How could this have been queried beforehand when parents were informed at the start of half-term?

Rachel85

May I ask what type of school your son attends? Whether it is the school the local authority allocate for you or if it is a voluntary controlled religious school may make a big difference to what they school are allowed to do.

achtunglady

iamana1ias wrote: »

no need to apologise



I work with difficult kids. The majority of them are difficult because their parents can't be bothered to rear them to respect school authority. I find it extremely unlikely that that posters kids are clean-faced, shining lights of loveliness given the lessons they're getting from mum. Odds are that my description is pretty accurate

If you dont like your job then dont do it, why not teach the parents how to "rear" their kids seeing as you are such an expert, not all kids are tearaways, some of us actually make an effort to teach our children outside of school ( and thank goodness with people like you around children). Have you ever thought kids are being difficult with you because they pick up the negative vibes you are subconsciously giving off, from a scowl to throwaway comments like you have just mentioned, don't take your inadequacies out on the kids you work with, kids learn from example, so blooming well set one. RANT OVER!!!!:mad:

achtunglady

Originally Posted by my_gorgeous_ellie-belle
BTW my DD has to take packed lunch into nursery with her. When it gets colder she'll have her fave soup in a flask as well as the other bits.


Originally Posted by iamana1ias Ummmm, forgive me for asking, but small child, in a room with lots of other small children, with hot liquid in flask? Is that a good idea?

I dont know what superdooper flask my_gorgeous_ellie_belle uses but after 4 hours the contents of a flask are NEVER hot, lukewarm or tepid yes, anyway iamana1ias, what do you care seeing as you find kids "difficult" and "brats", do you class your kids as difficult and brats as well???

Susan_Frost

And what about poor old gran in all this.

For years she has seen her grandson every day, a bit of company, someone who cares enough about her to visit, give her a purpose in life getting him a bit of lunch together, no doubt doing a bit of lifting, moving stuff, whatever, to give her a hand. Not to mention a bit of a check that she is ok too. It'll be a long day for her now - won't it ? Still - at least someone, somewhere can tick a box.

Obviously not a kid who is hung up on image - how many others would admit to going round to Grans. No wonder oldies are neglected these days when a 16 yr old is not considered able to walk a couple of streets in the middle of the day.

From being five, me and a couple of friends would walk home every dinnertime for our dinner, around 10 mins each way. That's what kids did in those days. Few stayed for school dinners. I can hardly believe that these days kids are fingerprinted and lunchboxes checked. The world has gone mad. I know things have changed a bit, and maybe the world is not quite as safe as it was, but surely things are going a bit far. Another year or so and the lad can go off an get himself killed in Afghanistan.

ukjoel

Interesting thread.

Schools have legal responsibility for kids while they are there and most now stipulate kids stay in during the school day. From a security aspect its a nightmare with kids coming and going and many even apply it to 6th formers.

I wouldnt be surprised if the dinner decision is purely down to money.
We all know that the catering companies that supply schools have been under a lot of pressure regarding quality and choice mainly due to Jamie Oliver.

At the other end they are under increased pressure to cut costs as local authorities look to reduce outgoings.

What this means is they have turned around to schools and said if you want 3 choices of hot meal and not just sandwiches then you need to guaruntee us 1000 meals a day.

The only way schools can do this is to firstly ensure everyone stays in all day and gets hungry and secondly stops students from bringing in their own food.

The schools may cite allergy concerns, bulemia, anorexia issues, bullying, etc but MONEY is the real reason. A lot of schools now dont take cash for lunch but its done on a pre paid card with a pin number.

Official reason - to stop kids getting lunch money nicked.
Real reason - to stop kids buying a sandwich and crisps on the way in to school. If the card can only be spent in school at the official canteen - guess where all the money will go.

There are some positives to this scheme and not saying its all bad but dont think its perfect either.