Should schools have the right to ban packed lunches?

The action was taken at St Mary Catholic primary school in Milton Keynes because staff noticed some packed lunch boxes contained cold McDonalds, left over chips and packets of biscuits.

Is this Big Brother once more dictating to parents how to look after their children, or is the school right to forbid parents packing their kids a school lunch and insisting every child eats the school diner provided.


http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/school-bans-packed-lunches-after-pupils-bring-in-mcdonalds-and-leftover-sausage-and-chips-a3274076.html

Syl wrote:The action was taken at St Mary Catholic primary school in Milton Keynes  because staff noticed some packed lunch boxes contained cold McDonalds, left over chips  and packets of biscuits.

Is this Big Brother once more dictating to parents how to look after their children, or is the school right to forbid parents packing their kids a school lunch and insisting every child eats the school diner provided.


http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/school-bans-packed-lunches-after-pupils-bring-in-mcdonalds-and-leftover-sausage-and-chips-a3274076.html

Shame on parents for feeding their kids crap. But then, not everybody puts crap in their kids lunch boxes.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:The action was taken at St Mary Catholic primary school in Milton Keynes  because staff noticed some packed lunch boxes contained cold McDonalds, left over chips  and packets of biscuits.

Is this Big Brother once more dictating to parents how to look after their children, or is the school right to forbid parents packing their kids a school lunch and insisting every child eats the school diner provided.


http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/school-bans-packed-lunches-after-pupils-bring-in-mcdonalds-and-leftover-sausage-and-chips-a3274076.html

Shame on parents for feeding their kids crap.     But then, not everybody puts crap in their kids lunch boxes.  

Exactly, but every parent in this school now has to follow that rule.

Some parents make healthy school lunches packed with food their kids will eat.
Lots of kids hate school dinners and will just leave them.

I've seen this first hand when I worked in a school.
Cold burgers, cold chips and cold leftovers.

Trouble is, quite often, children will not eat school dinners and only like a packed lunch.
Crisps were banned in the school I worked in - it was part of our healthy eating plan and as a School Governor (in charge of literacy and healthy eating), I had to monitor food and lunch halls on a monthly basis.

Children would eat the crisps and chocolate and leave the sandwiches and yoghurts provided.

Now, lots of schools are providing a packed lunch type option in their school dinner menus. So children will be offered a choice of sandwiches and yoghurts and a piece of fruit as part of their dinner option.
In other words, they can still have the equivalent of a packed lunch.

That sounds like a sensible solution that should satisfy everyone.

Though I bet parents who stuff cold chips in a kids lunchbox instead of nourishing food will moan about the cost or something.

I think you have a parent night at the school, discuss the problems with junk food in packed lunches, give some nutritional info print-outs and tell them if they don't shape up in three weeks, the school is banning packed lunches.

I saw five-year-olds being sent to school with flaming-hot Cheetos and Mountain Dew for their snack

Okay are parents best placed to know the deitry needs of children?

The answer in many cases is no.

The reality is after I just did charity work in a school is they do know the deitry needs of children.

You are placing your trust in the school to teach them educational needs and one of those life skills, is the right things to eat.

So when they say pack lunches should be stopped I see that as the right thing to do.

I mean how many here would advocate their child to bring in their own book version of science which was not on the curriculum and based on myths?

There is a variety of choice to cater for all dietry needs, so i fail to see how or why this is a bad thing.

This is the actual lead in story header - I've placed the amusing words in larger font & bolded them!  

School bans packed lunches after pupils smuggle in McDonald's and leftover sausage and chips

  'Hey, lunch lady ...wanna check MY BAG?'
Good Grief, with 6 siblings, and we packed out own lunches ...it was often left overs: cold fried chicken - cold fried hamburgers - anything and everything we could grab went into a brown bag for the older 3 and our tin lunch boxes for the younger 3.  Sometimes it was 'SLIM PICKINGS' and crackers with a apple or cheese slice and a real old slice of bread. 
Depending on who's chore it was to make up the lunch sacks up for school that day; what sibling had bribed you to do their barn chores, your choice of goodies and better selection of quality products was adjusted accordingly!  Pay backs could be costly and that was a long walk to and from school, too.

Just let them eat what they want, and let parents put what they want in lunch bags. You can't educate stupidity out of people.

Raggamuffin wrote:Just let them eat what they want, and let parents put what they want in lunch bags. You can't educate stupidity out of people.

Are you speaking from your own personal experince?



Sorry could not resist and I meant it in good humour and jest

If kids packed their own lunchboxes today I suspect they would be full of chocolate, crisps and teeth rotting fizzy drinks.

Also how many kids leave home without a proper breakfast...in some cases ANY breakfast.
Not sure why so many parents don't feel the need to feed their kids proper food anymore. It's not lack of money because home cooked food is far cheaper than ready made processed crap.

Didge wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:Just let them eat what they want, and let parents put what they want in lunch bags. You can't educate stupidity out of people.

Are you speaking from your own personal experince?



Sorry could not resist and I meant it in good humour and jest

Very good.

It's true though isn't it? I keep reading about "advice" to parents, and then threats to ban something or enforce something if they don't take the advice. What is the point really? People will do what they want, and if they want to be idiots, nobody can stop them.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Didge wrote:


Are you speaking from your own personal experince?



Sorry could not resist and I meant it in good humour and jest

Very good.

It's true though isn't it? I keep reading about "advice" to parents, and then threats to ban something or enforce something if they don't take the advice. What is the point really? People will do what they want, and if they want to be idiots, nobody can stop them.

I see your point, but the best place for life skills to be learnt is at school, hence why I see it as a good idea.
Some parents have no care over the deitry needs of their children, where i think then schools should step in

Raggamuffin wrote:Just let them eat what they want, and let parents put what they want in lunch bags. You can't educate stupidity out of people.

That can be tantamount to child abuse. What would you call a nanny who allowed children to eat diets like that? Well, teachers are also caregivers. It's not the kids' fault that their parents don't know how to raise them.

And if you can't educate the stupidity out of a person, why do we have education in the first place?

Syl wrote:If kids packed their own lunchboxes today I suspect they would be full of chocolate, crisps and teeth rotting fizzy drinks.

Also how many kids leave home without a proper breakfast...in some cases ANY breakfast.
Not sure why so many parents don't feel the need to feed their kids proper food anymore. It's not lack of money because home cooked food is far cheaper than ready made processed crap.

Too true; 'in my day' ...we never had those pre-packaged snaky-sugary cakes things that these kids have access too.  We might have an occasional cookie or two but with 6 kids plus 2 adults to feed - it was rare to have anything like that as a left over, so an apple/orange/maybe a rare banana would be in our lunch sacks. 

But more of my point was the rational of those 'smuggled cold burgers' that the school staff had problems with.  There's nothing wrong with a 'cold pre-cooked hamburger' - they are quite tasty; but for those 'chips' and other contra-banned items ...there's always going to be 1 or 2 kids that just 'whine - tantrum' and get their way and their parents surrender to their little darling. 

Those 4½ years I worked as a Para, my lunch hours were donated as a volunteer staff for lunch room aide!  OMG ...I don't know how much your schools get as a pre-packaged food stuff ...but over here - I WAS SHOCKED.  On any given day: little sacks of mini carrots - little ¼ cups of ranch dressing to dip those mini carrots in - chees sticks - yogurt cups - a whole banana - milk carton too ...etc., etc., etc.,  Now imagine handing out trays of all those items that will need to be opened to all of those kindergarten to 2nd graders that have issues with opening such hard to open items: 4 classes of 22 {per grade}  students each all coming in at the same steady stream and everyone that needs help "HOLD YOUR HAND UP" = 264 children waving/grunting & groaning because they want their table done first! *edited that number down, the 3rd & 4th graders didn't need our assistance!
I was just flummoxed by the thoughtless dietitian's idea of 'WTF', she'd do something so bizarre to a 1 woman lunchroom staff and expect them to get around to each child before those 20 minutes were up    The kindly janitor - myself and the #1 lunch room supervisor would divide the table sections and move quickly down the rows ...but still - what a horrible lunch day menu!  

SMH - So much waste - so many food items/cartoon of milk - gets thrown away daily -

do they have to pay for these school provided meals????

If we did not send our wealth out of OUR country to scrouning nationz we could afford to give ALL our schoolkidz a decent meal.

NO, the school does/ should not have a right over parents in this instance.

Lord Foul wrote:do they have to pay for these school provided meals????

    Hmmm, don't know to whom you've addressed this to ...but OK.

Yes, our lunch program is based on a daily fee; unless you qualify for a reduced lunch program for low income families - but they all get the 'SAME MENU PLAN' for that day.

But there are still children that bring their own lunches and - god forbid that they bring any peanut butter product --- then they have to eat ...way over ~~~ there away from everyone that might be allergic to any peanut product.  ISOLATED

Ben Reilly wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:Just let them eat what they want, and let parents put what they want in lunch bags. You can't educate stupidity out of people.

That can be tantamount to child abuse. What would you call a nanny who allowed children to eat diets like that? Well, teachers are also caregivers. It's not the kids' fault that their parents don't know how to raise them.

And if you can't educate the stupidity out of a person, why do we have education in the first place?

Totally agree. Good post. Green forgturd given

Major wrote:If we did not send our wealth out of OUR country to scrouning nationz we could afford to give ALL our schoolkidz a decent meal.

NO, the school does/ should not have a right over parents in this instance.

There has always been a charge for school dinners, there have always been exceptions for kids with really poor parents.

When I was at school the kids who had free school dinners had to line up in a separate queue to get their vouchers.

School lunches are free up to the age of a year two student - (up to age seven or year two, last year of infants)

All government-funded schools must offer free school meals to every pupil in:

reception
year 1
year 2
To provide these meals, we give funding to:

local-authority-maintained schools
academies
free schools
alternative provision settings, including pupil referral units (these are establishments that provide education for children who can’t attend a mainstream school)

Lord Foul wrote:do they have to pay for these school provided meals????

They will be charged. The average cost of a school dinner is between £8 and £12 pw, I imagine (not 100% sure though) that a lunchbox provided would cost the same.
Younger children get the first 2 years free in the UK.

edit.....Eddie explained it better above /\

Syl wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:do they have to pay for these school provided meals????

They will be charged. The average cost of a school dinner is between £8 and £12 pw, I imagine (not 100% sure though) that a lunchbox provided would cost the same.
Younger children get the first 2 years free in the UK.

edit.....Eddie explained it better above /\

How much? You can get a sandwich in Waitrose for much less than that.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Syl wrote:
They will be charged. The average cost of a school dinner is between £8 and £12 pw, I imagine (not 100% sure though) that a lunchbox provided would cost the same.
Younger children get the first 2 years free in the UK.

edit.....Eddie explained it better above /\

How much? You can get a sandwich in Waitrose for much less than that.

Well even at the higher rate of £12 that works out at just £2.40 per day. Add a drink and fruit and I doubt you would be saving anything.

All government-funded schools must offer free school meals to every pupil in:

reception
year 1
year 2
To provide these meals, we give funding to:

local-authority-maintained schools
academies
free schools
alternative provision settings, including pupil referral units (these are establishments that provide education for children who can’t attend a mainstream school)

eddie wrote:I've seen this first hand when I worked in a school.
Cold burgers, cold chips and cold leftovers.

Trouble is, quite often, children will not eat school dinners and only like a packed lunch.
Crisps were banned in the school I worked in - it was part of our healthy eating plan and as a School Governor (in charge of literacy and healthy eating), I had to monitor food and lunch halls on a monthly basis.

Children would eat the crisps and chocolate and leave the sandwiches and yoghurts provided.

Now, lots of schools are providing a packed lunch type option in their school dinner menus. So children will be offered a choice of sandwiches and yoghurts and a piece of fruit as part of their dinner option.
In other words, they can still have the equivalent of a packed lunch.

Cold burgers would have been a fecking luxury when I was going to school in the 60s and 70s.   School dinners back then were vile, and I mean vile.   Mashed potato full of lumps, cabbage boiled to greyness, fried spam, gravy like water,  semolina with a blob of jam in the middle.  I'd have died for some chips, hot or cold.   I once drank a bottle of school milk that was spoiled and it put me off milk for life.   I don't drink the stuff even now.

School dinners were okay as far as I remember, but then, I was one of those happy go lucky kids that skipped along in life and didn't moan. I think I liked most of the food offered except chocolate sponge and chocolate custard (still couldn't eat that) and semolina (would rather eat my unwashed feet).

the problem is the concern over the kids lunches in the first place. so they get a cold burger and chips?
while that is probably not good every day if it is a treat I see no harm.

really kids should be able to eat whatever they want and the school/parents should be encouraging greater exercise to burn whatever they consume. thus teach them the properly weight maintainence which is "eat more/worse = exercise more/harder"


@eddie
You want a conspiricy, why are they raising the kids to have minimum muscule mass, to be less Physically fit even if thin?

A good friend worked on school dinners for years, she said the majority of kids enjoyed them and ate them.

My experience of school dinners was different (mind you this was back in the late 50's and 60's)
If my mum asked what we had had, my response was usually grissle, lumps and bullets, which was meat, potatoes and peas in disguise.
The worst meal (which had a foul smell as well as appearance) was watery stew mixed with watery beetroot served on the same plate.

And as for the neon yellow lumps that masqueraded as custard, I must have been at least 40 before I dared try eating that again, it truly was enough to put you off for life.

Syl wrote:The action was taken at St Mary Catholic primary school in Milton Keynes  because staff noticed some packed lunch boxes contained cold McDonalds, left over chips  and packets of biscuits.

Is this Big Brother once more dictating to parents how to look after their children, or is the school right to forbid parents packing their kids a school lunch and insisting every child eats the school diner provided.


http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/school-bans-packed-lunches-after-pupils-bring-in-mcdonalds-and-leftover-sausage-and-chips-a3274076.html

Seriously???

What disgusting parents and yes School is right then to do so if parents are being useless idiots

veya_victaous wrote:the problem is the concern over the kids lunches in the first place.  so they get a cold burger and chips?
while that is probably not good every day if it is a treat I see no harm.

really kids should be able to eat whatever they want and the school/parents should be encouraging greater exercise to burn whatever they consume. thus teach them the properly weight maintainence which is "eat more/worse = exercise more/harder"


@eddie
You want a conspiricy, why are they raising the kids to have minimum muscule mass, to be less Physically fit even if thin?  

You tell me Veya.