The School Food Trust wants to clamp down on parents who do not comply with their children’s school healthy-eating policy, by sending out warning letters. Also in a patronising fashion, parents who pack a good lunch for their children will get a congratulatory letter.
The majority of schools already ask that children are not given crisps, sweets and cans of juice, but the School Fund Trust looks to harden the approach to unhealthy lunchboxes.
In guidance sent as an example to head teachers and governors, the trust lists the foods pupils should not take to school: crisps, chocolate bars, chocolate-coated biscuits and sweets. “Cakes and biscuits are allowed but encourage your child to eat these only as part of a balanced meal,” it says.
Nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit are welcome, as long as they have no added salt, sugar or fat. “Packed lunches should include at least one portion of fruit and one portion of vegetables every day.”
Most parents are happy to comply with a healthy-eating policy, but could be irritated by the way the trust recommends it is assessed. “Parents and pupils who do not adhere to the packed lunch policy will receive a leaflet in the packed lunch informing them of the policy,” the trust says.
“If a child regularly brings a packed lunch that does not conform to the policy, then the school will contact the parents to discuss this.”
A spokeswoman for the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations said: “It’s no way to communicate with parents and doesn’t put healthy food in a positive light. It may make parents feel underrated, dismissed and dictated to.
“As a parent, I’ll sometimes have a biscuit with a cup of tea - everything in moderation is what’s needed for adults and children. It makes you wonder what the staffroom lunchboxes look like.”
Justine Roberts, the founder of Mumsnet, the online forum for mothers, said that advice on packed lunches was “helpful for parents because it assisted them to say no to their children. But receiving a letter would feel a bit like the lunchbox police”, she said. “Just occasionally there is really nothing in the cupboard because you haven’t done the shopping in time, and you just bung in anything.”
She believes that the policy should, instead, be made clear at the beginning of each term.
