Laura Clark Mail
Inspection: Schools should monitor pupils’ packed lunches, officials say. (Posed by model) Schools should pry into every child’s lunchbox and snoop on what they eat in the canteen, inspectors have declared. Warning that too few schools are complying with the Government’s Jamie Oliver-inspired food rules, officials urged them to ensure pupils follow advice on a good diet. In a report out today, the schools inspectorate said many schools have ‘packed lunch policies’ and keep detailed records of children’s purchases from the school canteen. And it urged heads to do more to monitor pupils’ eating habits. According to Government advice, packed lunches should contain no crisps, chocolate or sweets and processed meat, such as sausage rolls, only occasionally. Meals bought at school must have the correct levels of 14 nutrients. Chocolate and crisps are barred outright and processed meat products such as Turkey Twizzlers are severely restricted. Ofsted admitted advising parents on lunchboxes risked coming across as ‘interfering’ and ‘bossy’, but said schools could issue the information ‘sensitively’. In 2006, tighter school food standards began. But there was a decline in take-up of school dinners as pupils went to fast-food outlets or took in packed lunches instead. And in today’s report, Ofsted also admitted that focusing on good diets at school can drive pupils to binge on junk food at weekends.’In one primary school, for example, the pupils explained that they were now eating more chips when they were out with their friends because they could relax from ‘ Ofsted admitted many heads were ‘reluctant’ to develop such policies as ‘they did not wish to be patronising’. But it urged heads also to devise policies on whether birthday cakes can be brought to school. Margaret Morrissey, of the lobby group Parents Outloud, said: ‘Schools can suggest to parents healthy food options but it cannot be right for them to dictate what their children should eat.’ Some children of only 4 find it difficult to eat the suggested food and so go hungry all day. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289398/Schools-urged-monitor-lunchboxes.html#ixzz0rqZhdcM0