School Dinner Charges - How are you coping with lunch charges?

chirpchirp

Our local LEA sell toast at morning break made by the dinner ladies. We have just had notification that the cost of this is going from 15p to 20p a slice. Surely this is much more than cost and the LEA shouldn't be attempting to make a profit from children.

I was under the impression that school meals were supposed to be subsidised to ensure that all children had an opportunity to have at least one hot meal a day.

School dinners vary from school to school even within an LEA and the children receive very little already.

Millie2008_2

a gaggle of young girls all buying a cookie each, that was their dinner!!!

This school uses finger print recognition, its the parents job to update and pay in advanced for their children's dinners, each day a long list is made of the children with no money on their account, but they don't get turned away for food.

But what the kids did eat worried me, it was a cookie, that's not going to keep them going all afternoon, (these were not the pack lunch kids).

It's seen uncool to be seen eating apparently. how stupid is that.

The girls were stick thin, they spent most of their time making crumbs out of the cookie..!!

That's worrying. Could you maybe had a quiet word with the head? or school nurse/counsellor, if there is one?

blackandwhitebunny

If the school uses fingerprint systems the parents can ask for a record of what their children have bought if they want to check. I don't think that they are suppossed to let them just buy a cookie but I do know in secondary schools if they have several serving stations the pupils can get away with it.
Most secondary schools make a loss on school dinners even after the subsidies they receive (ours cost £55 000) a year for the school to provide. The latest nutritional regulations that they brought in a few years ago actually put up the costs and increased wastage - they offer salads with sunflower seeds on top as this is the only way to provide one micronutrient in the correct amount but only the staff ever eat them and most get thrown away.
My big problem is the price they charge pupils for fruit, 50p for an apple, 35p for a banana etc. Originally the idea was that the prices of cakes etc would go up and subsidise fruit and healthy food but I think the economics didn't work so it went back to high prices for the things the pupils should eat but are reluctant to pay for.
As for pupils going hungry, we run a free breakfast club which is largely funded by our parish council which means I have quite a large stock of foods in the Home Ec store room and we frequently feed pupils who have had nothing at home. This is often picked up by the SEN assistants who are based next door to us and and who often come in to make toast or fetch fruit or cereal bars for pupils. Its not unusual for us to find that the secondary school pupils are going without at home so that younger children can be fed. (we also wash and mend clothes but that's another story)
However although there are some families who are really struggling and who fall through the net for free school dinners I do also come across pupils who don't eat their free dinners as they don't like what's on offer and head off to the chippie instead and have also provided food for pupils who have just been given a new iphone for their birthday.

balletshoes

in secondary school, 30 years ago, I was never challenged over what I was buying to eat in the school canteen at lunchtime. I'd be surprised if kids were being watched and challenged by the canteen staff with any kind of regularity at secondary school. There are more choices, more stations etc there, compared with primary school.

room512

ALI1973 wrote: »

I would like to see schools go back to a sit down with the teacher at the head of the table to demonstrate table manners, with proper plates and not those plastic tray things. I would happily pay a bit more for this as I think it would help those children who aren't able to learn this at home.

I am a teacher at a school Nursery and a few children pay for extended hours, so they are in all day. I go with them 30 mins earlier than the rest of the school into the dining room and have a school dinner with them, showing them table manners and teaching them the art of conversation :rotfl: Some days I have to force the dinner down and other days it's lovely. I don't pay (as I eat with the children) but I know it's £9.50 a week.

Janepig

Spendless wrote: »

At my son's Secondary school he can pay daily if he wishes to. Not heard of it at Primary level though.

At DD/DS's school you can send them in with £2 if you wanted them to have dinners that day, although ordinarily you would pay on a Monday. My two have been on sandwiches since January, partly because they asked to, and partly because £80 per month is pretty costly really, especially when DS hardly ever eats what he's given, and DD was never getting enough! I've been quite enjoying bargain hunting for grub to go in their lunchboxes, and DD isn't hungry after lunch any more because she gets so much food in her lunchbox that she can hardly lift it!

Jx

peachyprice

NewCustomerOnly wrote: »

Sorry but that's out of reach to many of the mums round here,true or not. If on a Friday or Thurs food money has run out - they keep little Johnny at home cos a t least then he can have beans on toast - or cereal for lunch!

Sorry, that's crap. If they've got bread in the house, which they clearly have to make the beans on toast, they can send little Johnny to school with a packed lunch, even if it is just bappy.

Are you honestly saying there are parents out there who are keeping their children off school because they can't be @rsed / organised enough to make a packed lunch for their child?

loopy-loo73

i work in a school office & hot dinners cost £1.65 a day. we order in advance so like the children to say on dinners for at least a week. we are not allowed to charge more than the amount set by the LEA (£1.65) however we can charge less. we have several families in school who used to be entitled to free school meals but aren't now but are still obviously struggling. these kids now have packed lunches (as its cheaper than hot dinners) and every so oftern they will come to the office & ask if they can have a hot dinner that day, i never say no and i never ask for payment as the first time they asked the poor kids were looking at the floor when they were talking to me & explaining that they had nothing in the house & no money to buy anything. it shouldn't be up to a 9 year old to tell anyone that. incidently the families concerned always give of their time & come to help at school fayres etc.

anyway my point is the school will not let a child not eat & there is room for negotiation on price if a family really needs it & the school is flexible & understanding.

lou x

ginger_tony

One of my kids gets money one take a packed lunch it costs a fortune one way or another but would rather do it this way than have them eat school dinners. School dinners are vile and taste like cardboard.

thegirlintheattic

ginger_tony wrote: »

One of my kids gets money one take a packed lunch it costs a fortune one way or another but would rather do it this way than have them eat school dinners. School dinners are vile and taste like cardboard.

School dinners have changed a lot recently. Our school, like many in this area, has it's own kitchen and chefs and the food is fantastic. The staff regularly go to eat it.

As for the people saying that kids who cannot afford school dinners will starve - a school will never let a child go hungry. If one of the kids goes to the office and has no money/lunch food will be provided (obviously if it's a regular thing there are other interventions).