Free school meals from Sept 2014

Buzzybee90

paulineb wrote: »

That very much depends on the portion sizes of whats being given.

Plus some parents will pack a few sandwiches, plus fruit, crisps etc.

Whether kids eat them all or even the school dinner is another matter.

Hot dinners have been part of schools for a very long time, dont see that dying out any time soon, the thing is, parents have a choice as to whether they send their child to school with a packed lunch or whether they get a school meal.

Unless the children get a free school meal. Im also assuming there are cold options such as salad and rolls in the school dinners as well.

Good point, I think school dinners and all I picture is what we had at prinary school. Those awful plastic trays piled with potato faces, gougons and beans!

paulineb_2

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

Good point, I think school dinners and all I picture is what we had at prinary school. Those awful plastic trays piled with potato faces, gougons and beans!

What the kids at my mums school have on their menu and what I got for school dinners is about as far apart as you can get really.

Having said that, the school dinners I did eat didnt do me any harm

Tbh, Id be more concerned about the kids who spend their lunch hours at the burger van, chippy or the local Greggs, because there seem to be many a chip shop who do lunchtime specials for the kids and in my home town at least, loads of kids spend their dinner money on a hell of a lot of unhealthy fried food.

At one local high school theres a burger van that sits at the bottom of the school drive.

Buzzybee90

paulineb wrote: »

What the kids at my mums school have on their menu and what I got for school dinners is about as far apart as you can get really.

Having said that, the school dinners I did eat didnt do me any harm

Tbh, Id be more concerned about the kids who spend their lunch hours at the burger van, chippy or the local Greggs, because there seem to be many a chip shop who do lunchtime specials for the kids and in my home town at least, loads of kids spend their dinner money on a hell of a lot of unhealthy fried food.

At one local high school theres a burger van that sits at the bottom of the school drive.

Only year 11s were allowed out so that wasn't really an issue for us, plus we were in the !!!! end of nowhere.

I'm sure it's changed a lot since I was in reception, 17ish years ago!

paulineb_2

The kids I see are from first year onwards, thats what its called in Scotland as in first year in high school, around 11 years old and up.

Buzzybee90

paulineb wrote: »

The kids I see are from first year onwards, thats what its called in Scotland as in first year in high school, around 11 years old and up.

Wow, nope only year 5? At my school (15/16) and have to sign in and out.

valk_scot

The kids at our local high school are allowed to go out to lunch from S1, that's 11/12 years old. No signing in or out required. Registration is taken again after lunchtime of course so that they know the kids have come back.


Talking of the "two hot meals a day is too much" topic surely it really depends on the portion size? When my kids were in primary school (age 5-11 here in Scotland) they both had school dinners and while the portions were fine up till about P4 after that I had to make sure there was a decent snack waiting after school as neither kid thought they'd had enough to eat at lunchtime. And anyway, surely not everyone has a hot evening meal 365 days of the year? I make salad meals a lot in summer and they're cold.

onlyroz

I loved school dinners. I particularly liked the deep fried cheese patties, and on treacle sponge day I skipped the savoury course and went for triple helpings of pud.

For my own kids I can't justify the £80 a month for school dinners so they take in a packed lunch. But if they're going to get it for free I won't say no even if it's sausage and beans every day.

ViolaLass

valk_scot wrote: »

The kids at our local high school are allowed to go out to lunch from S1, that's 11/12 years old. No signing in or out required. Registration is taken again after lunchtime of course so that they know the kids have come back.

Wow. And if the fire alarm were to go off during lunch..?

FBaby

...and I bet those who do pay will see the cost of the meals suddenly go up because just like childcare and the introduction of tax credits, it is easy to do when half of the parents won't complain about it because they won't care as they won't pay.

I'm glad my youngest will be out of primary school anyway.

GwylimT

valk_scot wrote: »

The kids at our local high school are allowed to go out to lunch from S1, that's 11/12 years old. No signing in or out required. Registration is taken again after lunchtime of course so that they know the kids have come back.


Talking of the "two hot meals a day is too much" topic surely it really depends on the portion size? When my kids were in primary school (age 5-11 here in Scotland) they both had school dinners and while the portions were fine up till about P4 after that I had to make sure there was a decent snack waiting after school as neither kid thought they'd had enough to eat at lunchtime. And anyway, surely not everyone has a hot evening meal 365 days of the year? I make salad meals a lot in summer and they're cold.

In all schools in the UK both adults and children are required to sign in and out of school for fire safety reasons, a school failing to do this would fail an OFSTED inspection as they would not be adequately safe guarding their pupils. Not only is this required for pupil safety, it is also done to prevent the fire service needlessly risking their lives searching for a child in a school building who is sat at home stuffing their face.

That is a school I would certainly not be sending my child to.