is this inappropriate behaviour by a head teacher?

mum-of-two_2

Hi
I have 2 girls, aged 9 and 6, at a small village school.

I'm getting concerned about one thing that the headteacher is focusing on - namely diet.

The Head actually checks what is in childrens lunchboxes and if something is deemed to be 'not healthy', it's confiscated it from the child.

My oldest girl was told that a Nutrigrain bar wasn't healthy.

My youngest girl was told that cheese sandwiches are 'not healthy' - even though jacket potatoes with cheese are on the school dinner menu.

And it's not just me.
One Mum was saying that her child was sent home with a letter saying she was ONE POUND (yes, 16 ounces) overweight. The letter detailed a long list of illnesses that can be caused by obesity.

Another Mum said her daughter asked what blood pressure was.
This head (apparently) had said that being overweight can cause high blood pressure which can cause lots of health problems.

This school ran a presentation about salt in diet recently - for parents.

I'm a 38 year old woman who can read newspapers and listen to TV and I feel I don't need to be lectured by somebody about what is healthy for my children.
Their lunchtime meal is one-third of their meals and I usually cook their evening meal from fresh so I know what goes into them.
They rarely have McD's and other fast food.
They eat a varied diet with lots of fresh veg, meat, potatoes and pasta.

Both my girls are very slim and I'm really concerned that they are going to develop eating disorders if they are continually being given this 'unhealthy' message.

Does anybody agree that I have a point in being annoyed by what this head teacher is doing and saying or am I being unreasonable?

I'm not denying there IS an issue with some (but not all) childrens diet and weight, it's just the way this is being handled that is getting to me.

If I'm not being unreasonable, what can I do?
I don't feel confident enough to take this up with the Head as I'm sure my comments would be turned round against me.
I also don't want to cause issues in school for my girls by complaining.

At the very least, I feel that if she DOES have an issue with what parents are providing in lunch-boxes, she should take it up with the parents instead of the children in front of their peers.

Thanks

kegg_2

Happened in my youngest sons primary.
We had a list of acceptable foods and notes home in lunch boxes.

My son is like a stick insect and as he is sports mad he gets far more exercise than most children his age so i just ignored it.

Thankfully he has now gone up to secondary school.

Gingham_Ribbon

Sounds like a recipe for eating disorders to me.

belfastgirl23

I know you might feel your kids don't need it but what about the kids who have parents who don't watch the news etc? Childrens diet is one of the major issues for the whole country at the moment and personally I think it's great if schools are really seriously trying to address this. I suppose I'd just want to make sure that the kids understand why certain foods are healthy or unhealthy rather than it being about calories. But nutragrain bars do probably have a lot of sugar. Would be interested in why the cheese sandwich was a problem, was it white bread?

I think you're sort of taking it personally when it isn't meant to be taken that way. It sounds like you are trying to promote healthy eating in the home and isn't it great that the school is backing you up - it would be a lot worse if they had a tuck shop culture like mine did.

davetrousers

It seems like it's way over the top to me. But I do think that schools should take some responsibility in educating kids about healthy diets and exercise.

Mind you a Nutri Grain bar is not healthy, please don't be misled by the name.

kegg_2

The child who received the letter for being 1lb overweight might or might not be "fat" as it is all worked out on bmi and centile charts

underweight: BMI below the 5th percentile
normal weight: BMI at the 5th and less than the 85th percentile
overweight: BMI at the 85th and below 95th percentiles
obese: BMI at or above 95th percentile

so without knowing more it is hard to say but the letter will be triggered altermatical as we had the starnard letter in his last year of priamry after all the children were weighted (btw they have to ack for permission before they took part)

piratefairy

If i were you I would write to the Head and outline your concerns. Perhaps the focus on "healthy eating" is based on good intentions, but rifling through lunch-boxes and confiscating food is certainly not the most sensible way to combat this, if it is indeed a problem. Whilst I do agree that there should be a focus on healthy eating in schools, it is continually stressed that people (not just children) should try to maintain a balanced diet, and as the girls' parent I would say the onus would be on you to choose what is suitable for your children.
As you sya, the Head has no say over what the children eat for the other two meals per day, and I would be interested to know what would happen to a child whose packed lunch was deemed "not healthy" and confiscated, are the school going to provide substitute food for the children, or just exopect them to go without lunch?!

aliasojo

How did the school know the child was 1lb overweight? Are they weighing the kids?

Yet another instance where professionals in a certain field are not the best people to deal with issues in another.

Their methods of dealing with this are wrong, ill informed and ham fisted.

Personally I would not be happy with this and would want to talk (not complain) to the Head about it. If you don't want to raise the subject OP then there's nothing you can do. There's no mileage in moaning about it but not trying to do anything to change things.

kegg_2

aliasojo wrote: »

How did the school know the child was 1lb overweight? Are they weighing the kids?

Yet another instance where professionals in a certain field are not the best people to deal with issues in another.

Their methods of dealing with this are wrong, ill informed and ham fisted.

Personally I would not be happy with this and would want to talk (not complain) to the Head about it. If you don't want to raise the subject OP then there's nothing you can do. There's no mileage in moaning about it but not trying to do anything to change things.

children are weighted in school at 5 and then again in their last year

piratefairy

Well if it were me I'd be objecting to that too. What is the grounds for this weigh-in? Do the parents get a chance to consent to it?

kegg_2

It is called the national child measurement program and yes you do have to consent to your child taking part.

I dont have a problem with it as we do have a problem with many children already being overweight even obese when starting school.
And i will admit as i know my child has a healthy diet at home and if anything is under weight i ignored the letters in the lunch box.