It was reported in the media that Colchester’s Cherry Tree Primary school removed scotch eggs from lunch boxes.
On the basis that teachers, school governors, parents, politicians and government want to do what’s best for our young ones. What’s going on here and why?
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”Cherry Tree Primary school”]”Research shows children’s health and educational attainment are closely linked and we are committed to ensuring every child is given the best opportunity to achieve their potential in the classroom.”[/pullquote]
Okay, so where is the research?
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”Cherry Tree Primary school”]”Our healthy lunch box policy has been in place for some time and the majority of parents are very supportive of it.”[/pullquote]
How many parents out of all parents have actually agreed, you may search their children’s lunch box?
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”Cherry Tree Primary school”]”The decision to take additional steps to ensure all pupils are adhering to the policy was taken following feedback from parents and as part of our continued efforts to make improvements to all areas of the school.”[/pullquote]
Could you show me the feedback please. And when you talk about improvements, does that mean you are allowed to enforce your own and possibly the governments diet rules on children who have had their lunch boxes prepared by their parents?
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”Cherry Tree Primary school”]”All school meals we serve comply with the government’s school food standards, as required by law.” “Research shows children’s health and educational attainment are closely linked and we are committed to ensuring every child is given the best opportunity to achieve their potential in the classroom.”[/pullquote]
I found one government report with a link here; Government Briefing PDFÂ
In the report I found a number of key points;
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”Government Briefing”]”Three studies show promising associations between diet and academic attainment. However, it is difficult to attribute a causal link between diet and attainment because of the range of other factors in the school environment that also affect academic attainment.” “There is evidence that eating breakfast, compared to skipping it, has a positive influence on short-term cognition and memory but these effects may depend on the type of assessment. Breakfast clubs will help some groups of children have a breakfast they may otherwise not have had, and as part of a whole-school approach this may have wider effects on attendance and readiness to learn.”[/pullquote]
So the government commissions a report which shows some kind of link with food but states “it is difficult to attribute a causal link between diet and attainment.” Cause is not proven.
I find it most odd when my daughters school suggested children have sweets to suck whilst doing SATS exams because it helps their concentration. So it’s okay in SATS to suck sweets but it’s not okay when they are learning, presumably because they don’t need to concentrate so much… D’oh
Schools are now so trapped with SATS targets that they run extra teaching after normal school hours so pupils can get better results.
“Our healthy lunchbox policy has been in place for some time and the majority of parents are very supportive of it.”
I will get onto what I think is the biggest problem at the end of this article but quoting this is too general a point and has lost it’s meaning; “Our healthy lunchbox policy has been in place for some time and the majority of parents are very supportive of it.”
And then we get this quote; “The decision to take additional steps to ensure all pupils are adhering to the policy was taken following feedback from parents and as part of our continued efforts to make improvements to all areas of the school.”
I may be on my own here but I don’t want teachers rummiging through my childs lunch box. Why is it okay to do something to a child when it’s not okay to do it to an adult? What right has a school got to decide what is right for my childrens lunches? In what way is this making an improvement? Surely, it’s better for a child to have enough to eat and so aid concentration rather than being hungry (which is indicated in the government report above). Show me the specific feedback from parents who said it was okay to police children’s lunch boxes.
The biggest problem though is I believe this; “All school meals we serve comply with the government’s school food standards, as required by law.”
The assumption here is that the government know what food is best for our children. The school believes they have understood these food standards. It’s required by law.
I guess we should hope that the government knows what’s best for us then but does it?
Is a so called balanced diet really good for us?
Should we cut down on salt? Low Salt Diet Kills
What about the very scary cholesterol problem. surely the government is right in asking our dear doctors to prescribe us with statins or await certain death! Dr. Malcolm Kendrick suggest cholesterol is not the problem (his book is below)
Everyone knows we must not eat saturated fat or it will clogg up our ateries and will cause us to die in our own fat juices.
If you have even a tiny smidgeon of concern, you might want to take a look at these resources
