School Dinner Ladies

mac666_2

My kids school has the lunch box police.

They excel at really doing our heads in. We have three rules

No sweets
No fizzy drinks
No nuts.

But dear god they will go for whom ever they fancy on that days lunch box.
Dd1 was her homemade chocolate and beetroot brownie. They were adiment it had nuts in. Considering the no nuts was bought in because of her , Why on earth would i put nuts in :eek:.
Dd2 was because i gave her a sausage roll one day and she couldn't have it because it would make to much mess. Your paid to supervise and tidy up after the kids.

Ds was because he had salad and ham in a pot with a yoghurt and three different fruit. They made him have a school lunch as it wasn't a good enough dinner for him.

I now have a laminated sign in their lunch boxes which says
My childrens dinners are within the school rules. Please do not remove or tell them they can not eat something. If there is a problem please contact me directly.

Seems to have done the trick. As for school lunches it reads like this every week the same.

Monday something in a bread roll
Tuesday sausage and something
Wednesday Roast
Thursday pizza
Friday Fish and chips.

Think i'll stick to packed lunches thanks.

jellyhead

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Again, who are these dinner ladies to judge whether home made food is healthy or not? Are any of them actually qualified in the area of nutrition, or even qualified at all?

The latest story from the school is that the head teacher has told my friend that dinner ladies cannot be expected to understand nutrition on any scientific level, so there must be a blanket ban on cakes/etc. Quite incredible to my ears.

They wouldn't have time to check the nutritional content on everything that every child brings in, so a blanket ban makes sense. Except that it doesn't make sense if the school kitchen is serving cakes!

Our school doesn't have any policies regarding food at all, except to give a school dinner if the lunchbox is spoiled by a leaking drink, for example.

If our school did bring in lunchbox police I'd ask for clarification on what was allowed, and I'd be a nuisance parent if they didn't allow things that were no worse than what the school dinners were serving up. I'd also expect the school to make sure that all of the kids getting school dinners were actually eating vegetables and enough salad to ensure that their lunch met nutritional guidelines, and not just eating what they liked and throwing the good stuff away.

busiscoming2

I think some of you have very extreme dinner ladies and rules. We don't profess to have the knowledge but common sense. It is sad when some parents just don't seem to have an idea of a balanced lunch. I think you will find in most schools, on occasions a child will have a seemingly 'bad' lunch but if they generally have a 'good' one, then nothing is said.

Personally I would never give my kids a school dinner as I don't think much of them.

Treevo

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Again, who are these dinner ladies to judge whether home made food is healthy or not? Are any of them actually qualified in the area of nutrition, or even qualified at all?

The latest story from the school is that the head teacher has told my friend that dinner ladies cannot be expected to understand nutrition on any scientific level, so there must be a blanket ban on cakes/etc. Quite incredible to my ears.

You realise that no one can actually answer these questions? Not unless you've stumbled across the only person on the planet who has studied, in depth, the niche subject of 'British dinner ladies and their various qualifications'.

It seems that you're rather looking for an excuse to rant about what's wrong with Britain - something that you apparently do quite a lot.

PolishBigSpender

Treevo wrote: »

You realise that no one can actually answer these questions? Not unless you've stumbled across the only person on the planet who has studied, in depth, the niche subject of 'British dinner ladies and their various qualifications'.

Perhaps someone could at least answer the question of whether they have any qualifications at all to do the job.

lesleyb

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Perhaps someone could at least answer the question of whether they have any qualifications at all to do the job.

I am a school meal time supervisor (dinner lady) I have various qualifications that I obtained in my previous career but tend to use common sense in my current role at lunch time.
We have been on various courses to promote active play and things like that.
We do not make the rules as to what is allowed to be eaten in school that is decided by others.
We do not force children to eat their lunch but do try to encourage them to try to eat something so that they are not hungry in the afternoon
They are eager to get back out to play which is why a lot of them do not want to eat.
I have never taken anything from a childs packed lunch but have reminded them of the no sweets or nuts rule that the school operates.

shirlgirl2004

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Again, who are these dinner ladies to judge whether home made food is healthy or not? Are any of them actually qualified in the area of nutrition, or even qualified at all?

The latest story from the school is that the head teacher has told my friend that dinner ladies cannot be expected to understand nutrition on any scientific level, so there must be a blanket ban on cakes/etc. Quite incredible to my ears.

I'm not quite sure why that is so incredible. How can you tell from looking at a cake what is has been made with. It could be full or refined sugar or have none at all. Do you propose they run tests on every cake to analyse its nutritional content? It is possible to have an enjoyable and healthy lunch without cakes and crisps.

Treevo wrote: »

It seems that you're rather looking for an excuse to rant about what's wrong with Britain - something that you apparently do quite a lot.

Whilst blindly ignoring the fact Poland has the same or similar issues.

CKhalvashi

Person_one wrote: »

One at least is in the main entrance area, I don't know if the 11 year olds are allowed to buy from it. Businesses in schools doesn't sit well with me though.

I can see the need for children to learn business, but this is what I project we taught year 10's for 2 hours a fourtnight and 2 terms was for. Most of mine came out with £1000+ starting with a few quid, to be divided by 8, so it was hardly huge business, either.

Back to the point of school meals; I send my girls into school, usually with some Khinkali (meatballs in dough) and Khachapuri (cheese bread) that's been cooked by OH the day before, brought home as there's some left over, then anything after that goes into the office. There's usually some matsoni (like a yoghurt, but much more sour) for dessert.

The above is considered healthy, but I think in some schools, some of the extras I put in, when it's at home in fridge, would cause some outrage.

It's all cooked from scratch, and apart from the amount of salt in the khinkali (about 4g in 6 dumplings), there's not really anything unhealthy there. It's mainly meat, and a lot of it has been fat drained (Sorry, don't know how to explain better in English).

My eldest is mainly allowed to roam during lunch (secondary), and I think the dinner ladies at the school my youngest (last year of primary) studies are aware that these are traditional foods from the county we're from, and therefore just leave her to it.

CK

PolishBigSpender

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

I'm not quite sure why that is so incredible. How can you tell from looking at a cake what is has been made with. It could be full or refined sugar or have none at all. Do you propose they run tests on every cake to analyse its nutritional content? It is possible to have an enjoyable and healthy lunch without cakes and crisps.

It is incredible that the "dinner ladies" are so poorly qualified that they have to have a blanket policy in place to substitute for the lack of skills and qualifications. A chocolate bar is one thing, but anyone capable of including an obviously home baked cake will have an idea or two about nutrition.

It is also incredible that schools see fit to interfere to begin with, while serving up an incredible amount of rubbish themselves.

Treevo

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

It is incredible that the "dinner ladies" are so poorly qualified that they have to have a blanket policy in place to substitute for the lack of skills and qualifications. A chocolate bar is one thing, but anyone capable of including an obviously home baked cake will have an idea or two about nutrition.

It is also incredible that schools see fit to interfere to begin with, while serving up an incredible amount of rubbish themselves.

There's nothing so incredible as the irony displayed here.