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Having to eat packed lunch outside in October. Advice please

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:57 pm
by Ed's mum
Hey guys. Would appreciate some advice from calm outsiders as I have seen red...!!
At my daughter's school they have increased the intake over the last few years and built more classrooms. Incidentally, that is how we were able to get our children places there when they were in years 5 and 3 - so we have benefitted from the expansion.
However, the space to house children whilst they eat their lunch wasn't increased which resulted, until this year, in children who have packed lunches eating in a classroom in the cooler months and outside on warmer days.
Possibly coincidentally, they have a new Head this year, and thus far have had to eat their packed lunches outside...
It was sunny today but actually pretty cold - I know this because I was on break duty at MY school. The dinner ladies made an attempt to dry the benches before the children sat down but the benches were damp and it was cold.
My daughter doesn't want me to say anything but it was she who told me how cold and wet she felt. Some days the children have to make a mad dash for it to find a 'free' space to sit in and have been told they cannot start eating until a space becomes available.
Should I be as cross as I am feeling? As a teacher, I do understand that the poor teachers who had to supervise eating packed lunches in classrooms need a break, at my school we are not involved with child management at all at lunch times, but I don't think that the solution of eating outside is a fair one to the children.
I get on REALLY well with my daughter's teacher - who happens to be one of the assistant heads - should I just casually broach the subject with her first?
Any advice gratefully received. At least I have the weekend to calm down a bit.
To put it into context, my daughter is the loveliest, most generous little girl I have ever known and she doesn't grumble easily...

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:04 pm
by katel
I'm the wrong person to ask, as I think they should be outside every second they possibly can be - and I would suggest that you get her a thicker coat!

But they must be going to do something else with the packed lunch people when it's really raining hard - do you know what the plan is for those days?

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:06 pm
by T.i.p.s.y
Could it be that they just didn't realise how cold it was today? Surely they can't expect kids to eat outside during the winter months. Maybe you could ask when they will be eating inside as its starting to get cooler now, and if its an unsatisfactory answer then you should complain.

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:08 pm
by Ed's mum
:mrgreen: She has a very warm coat.
No idea (yet) what their wet play arrangements are now for packed lunch eaters.
It seems unfair that children who have school lunches get to socialise properly across a table but those with sandwiches do not.
Thank you for your comments though.

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:12 pm
by Y
If you've been sitting working in a classroom, and you are hungry, and then you go outside, you will be cold. You will be cold while you eat your cold food. Your resistance will be lowered, and you will be more susceptible to picking up bugs. I personally think that this is out of order. If the staff wouldn't want to eat outside, then the children shouldn't have to.

The time to wear that warmer coat is when you start running around in the playground, not while you are sitting still trying to eat.

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:16 pm
by Ed's mum
Thanks for the replies Y and Tips.
Y, that makes a lot of sense. That is why I am so cross. I wouldn't want to eat my cold lunch outside, unless the weather was warm - and it wasn't today.
If I cannot resolve this I shall be sending her to have school dinners. The trouble is that she does not particularly like them!!

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:20 pm
by laid back son worried mum
katel wrote:I'm the wrong person to ask, as I think they should be outside every second they possibly can be - and I would suggest that you get her a thicker coat!
Yes, they should be outside every second they po55ibly can but I don't feel it's fair (or hygenic) to be huddling outside trying to eat on a cold day.

It's already not a hot meal and Dr. Herman wi11 concur that sorethroats and cold infections wi11 increase as cold air hits the back of the throat, lowering the body's immunity to nasty bugs.

Not to mention the number of food items you wi11 drop when your fingers are too cold to handle the packaging/straw/box!

But as the arrangement, pre New HM, was to eat in cla55rooms in the colder months you could just enquire when this is going to happen as the temperature is slowly dropping..they might just have thought to start it next week seeing as it's October!!


edit:oops...cro55 post..I type slow

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:23 pm
by Ed's mum
Thanks Laid Back x

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:53 pm
by solimum
And to be fair when the autumn sun is shining on those over-large classroom windows it can seem deceptively warm - until you venture outside (as I found to my cost this morning!)

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:57 pm
by Snowdrops
I definitely wouldn't be impressed. I've been inside most of the day (apart from grocery shopping, I live an exciting life :roll: ) and I've been extremely cold.

IT IS COLD, no ifs, ands, buts or maybes. It has dropped in temperature dramatically these past few days and these children should not have to endure eating outside. If they CHOOSE to eat outside that's different, but I bet if they were offered the comfort of a classroom, even unheated, they'd take it.

There are laws which says it must not fall below a certain temperature to work in - surely there must be something like this for children?

At the very least I'd be speaking to the class teacher, making enquiries about it - they should then get the hint you are aware of it and not best pleased about it either.

Poor little things - have they got gloves?