KS1 school dinners/lunches

I have a lot of sympathy with this point of view. It is not enough to offer healthy options - they have to be the main item.

As I drive my DGD home after school she tells me what she has had for lunch - I am not impressed!!

I totally agree. When these meals were first introduced, I got roped into preparing/serving them a handful of times (There were a lot of teething problems regarding the recruitment, training and retention of people in those early days) , and I was not impressed. It wasn't just the desserts that were unhealthy, either! That was seven years ago,but judging by the menus I have seen for my DGCs dinners, the choices haven't improved much. I am not too concerned for my DGCs as they eat very healthily at home and are also extremely active, so burn off the calories, but it still seems to contradict the whole 'healthy eating' ethos that was behind their introduction.

Worst of all were the meals served in schools where it hadn't been possible to put in an on-site kitchen 'pod'. Meals were delivered to these schools pre-heated, and sometimes sat around quite a long time before serving time. Both the look and the smell of the vegetables after standing around so long meant that they looked so unappetizing that not surprisingly, most were left on the plates and ended up in the bin.

I wondered why my GS always had an apple or banana or a satsuma in his pocket and he’d eat it in the car on the way home. That was last year when he was in KS1.

Only found out recently most of his gang used to just grab a piece of fruit so they could get back outside as quickly as possible and play football in the school yard. The welfare staff knew what they were up to but probably knew the fruit would get eaten at a later date.

Actually I’ve come across many really great school kitchen providing good, healthy meals in my time.

I have heard from people I know who work in KS1 that although the desserts "sound" unhealthy many of them are made to reduced sugar and fat recipes and the portions are usually small. So the cake will be a small piece often made with fruit and veg as sweeteners

Like everything else in this world it all depends on the people providing the service.

Don’t know if it depends on the school, but the school where I sometimes work has very good lunches. There’s always a salad bar and jacket potato available, together with healthy main courses. The desserts do look more traditional, but there are always fresh fruit or yoghurt alternatives and the portions are small. Many of the children carry on having them in KS2, although they are no longer free.
Tbh looking at the packed lunches the children have, they don’t look any more nutritious and are usually far more carb laden. If I think back to the packed lunches I used to make for my children, they were not models of nutritious perfection either. ?

school lunches are free for P1.2 AND 3 thats children up to 7 years old and the menus are published online weekly .Theres always a vegatarian option as well as curries,stews etc and every Friday is fish day theres a reasonable selection of puddings and fresh fruit available .The scjools dont allow sweets on the premises ,no chocolate biscuits in lunchboxes either and only water or milk to drink .Sometimes I'm not sure its a great idea,I know that SOME children would eat all the wrong things if allowed but my 8 year old is food and weight obsessed because of it.Thats NOT helpful,she insists shes fat and wont eat a lot of the perfectly acceptable food they provide..in case she puts on weight.A lot of her friends are the same.I'm all for "healthy" eating but not when its too extreme

can I add I was very strict about no sweets etc when mine were little they are both choocoholics now and I get the blame for it

I heard a doctor talking about school meals some years ago, during the furore about turkey twizzlers; she said it was not' poor' food that was the problem but poor diet. School lunches account for five meals out of twenty-one per week, and other posters have pointed out the use of sensible portion sizes and healthy recipes.

Far more important in a child's diet is the lack of a decent breakfast, which should be provided at home. The number of children arriving at school without having eaten breakfast (and this in an affluent country area) would shock you.
Nothing to do with working mothers; I was an (unorganised) single working mother for many years and we never left the house without a cooked breakfast. (porridge, eggs, toast etc).

I share your concerns, paddyann. I think the constant angst about what is and is not healthy is causing anxiety that could lead to eating disorders. There's nothing inherently good about a yoghurt and bad about a flapjack, especially in the teensy portion size offered. Most of our generation were brought up eating school dinners with proper puddings and nary a lettuce leaf or sugar free jelly in sight. I hesitate to say they didn't do us any harm, but we were a relatively healthy lot, weren't we, and most of us well within acceptable weight limits?

The guidelines for school kitchens are very strict. They even affected our tuck shop. I could sell raisins but not raisins covered in yoghurt because this would affect what could be served at lunch. The food may look unhealthy but actually it's a well planned main meal. It's not the dinner that is the problem but the rest of the food and drink the child has during the rest of the day.

It's true that our generation was brought up with 'proper puddings' , but I don't think we sat about as much playing with computer games and watching tv , so the exercise might have compensated, and I'm not sure our generation is particularly healthy or averse to eating too much sugar. I did say in the OP that a healthier alternative is always a available , but my point is that it's hard for young children to resist sugary carby food without making an issue of it , which could lead to eating disorders, so why not just leave them off the menu?

It's like the NHS telling us there's an obesity crisis and having vending machines full,of chocolates and crisps.

can I add I was very strict about no sweets etc when mine were little they are both choocoholics now and I get the blame for it
That's very interesting paddyann. Mine were allowed sweets and lemonade - but they were strictly rationed. One of my DC still loves sweets but the others are not bothered at all, one will eat chocolate occasionally, the others not at all.

There are no free school meals in Wales.

vq raisins are notoriously bad for rotting teeth - they are sweet and stick to the crevices in teeth apparently.

Please, what are KS1 dinners, and also PS1, 2 and 3. ?

KS1 is Key Stage 1 ie Infants and the free dinners are provided in England for this age group. Wales does not provide free dinners.
I think P1, 2 and 3 must the the Scottish version of KS1 so school dinners must be free in Scotland too for this age group.

ps I presume that reception children in England also get free school dinners?

Yes, P1, 2 and 3 are the first 3 classes of primary school in Scotland. We don't have Reception or Key Stages.

Our DIL tells us that free hot school lunches are free for the first three years of primary school, so age 4-5 5-6 and 6-7 and they can choose to have the hot lunch or packed lunches ( the school provides.) very good isn’t it? she says the lunches sound really nutritious.

I suppose the Welsh Government can't afford to fund free lunches for KS1 and compulsory Welsh lessons.

We must get our priorities right.

Thank you Jalima1108 and WhenIwasyourage. Apologies for not understanding. All grandchildren are (very) grown up, except our little latecomer, 3, so I am not au fait with the current terms in use.

They are still Infants and Juniors to me Auntieflo, except when corrected by DGD!