School Lunches
Lunchtime at my first school was a big part of my day! We had a dining room where we sat on tables of eight children, and lunch was served by the dinner ladies from large dishes in the middle of the table. I really enjoyed the meals, my favourites were turkey burgers and roast dinner, but my worst dish was ravioli! The puddings were all homemade by the lunch staff and were delicious – my favourites were butterscotch tart, and Arctic Roll. Devonshire tart was another I really liked; it had lots of layers of fruit and sponge. After lunch was over, we were all given a square of cheese to clean our mouths of sugar from pudding. Most days we were given water to drink, but we had squash or milkshake on Fridays. I was so upset that on my last ever day at the school we were given ravioli for lunch!
The lunch hour was a really good time for me to be with friends and make new ones too. Each half term we would move to a different place in the dining room, so I got to know children who I wouldn’t necessarily have played with outside.
At my next school I also had school dinners, which were home cooked too but they were not as good as my first school meals. We ate in the school hall on tables of mixed school meals and packed lunches. The girls having cooked lunches had to go up to the hatch to collect their plateful. This wasn’t so good for me as my helper always went and got mine for me, so I couldn’t choose my portion sizes. In my first and second years (year 4 and 5) at this school, we had two girls from the top class (year 6) on our table as lunch prefects. I always enjoyed talking to the one who sat next to me! When I got to year 6, I became a lunch prefect on a table with 8 girls from year one. At this stage I was one of the only ones in my year to still have school meals, and wasn’t enjoying the food so much. However I loved being a prefect and I was always fascinated to see what the girls who brought packed lunches had in their lunch boxes. One girl always had ‘cheese cow’ in her sandwiches which I eventually discovered was Laughing Cow spread!
By the time I moved to the senior school, I had decided I wanted to have packed lunches as school dinners were not really ‘cool’ any more! It was better in some ways – I got to eat what I liked, but annoyingly, all my friends ate faster than me and I was left still eating whilst the hall was packed up and everyone went outside for lunch break. I always had a friend who stayed with me until I finished, but often I just wanted to get outside with everybody else.
When I moved to Manhood Community College in year 10, it was great to find the school had its own canteen. Every break and lunch time, I went in and bought what I wanted and found it much better than taking in sandwiches and boxed up food from home. The food helped my brain keep going through all my GCSE studies too!
Then when I got to Chichester College – even better! As well as Coasters (the refectory) there was a shop called Grab & Go where I could buy any kind of snack I wanted! I loved the openness of Coasters and the fact that students were in there at any time of the day. It was a great place to meet people as there was such a lot of space for my wheelchair.
I continued to buy my lunch from the canteen at university and normally sat with friends, but as I have got older I’ve found it more difficult to eat and talk at the same time.
I feel quite sad that many primary schools have given up cooked meals, as I don’t think unpacking a lunchbox is as good as sitting down to a ‘proper’ lunch. I learnt a lot through sitting at a table with friends and will always remember school lunchtimes as good times, especially the pudding at my first school. I’m still trying to find the perfect recipe for butterscotch tart!
Lizzie Baily 2008
The lunch hour was a really good time for me to be with friends and make new ones too. Each half term we would move to a different place in the dining room, so I got to know children who I wouldn’t necessarily have played with outside.
At my next school I also had school dinners, which were home cooked too but they were not as good as my first school meals. We ate in the school hall on tables of mixed school meals and packed lunches. The girls having cooked lunches had to go up to the hatch to collect their plateful. This wasn’t so good for me as my helper always went and got mine for me, so I couldn’t choose my portion sizes. In my first and second years (year 4 and 5) at this school, we had two girls from the top class (year 6) on our table as lunch prefects. I always enjoyed talking to the one who sat next to me! When I got to year 6, I became a lunch prefect on a table with 8 girls from year one. At this stage I was one of the only ones in my year to still have school meals, and wasn’t enjoying the food so much. However I loved being a prefect and I was always fascinated to see what the girls who brought packed lunches had in their lunch boxes. One girl always had ‘cheese cow’ in her sandwiches which I eventually discovered was Laughing Cow spread!
By the time I moved to the senior school, I had decided I wanted to have packed lunches as school dinners were not really ‘cool’ any more! It was better in some ways – I got to eat what I liked, but annoyingly, all my friends ate faster than me and I was left still eating whilst the hall was packed up and everyone went outside for lunch break. I always had a friend who stayed with me until I finished, but often I just wanted to get outside with everybody else.
When I moved to Manhood Community College in year 10, it was great to find the school had its own canteen. Every break and lunch time, I went in and bought what I wanted and found it much better than taking in sandwiches and boxed up food from home. The food helped my brain keep going through all my GCSE studies too!
Then when I got to Chichester College – even better! As well as Coasters (the refectory) there was a shop called Grab & Go where I could buy any kind of snack I wanted! I loved the openness of Coasters and the fact that students were in there at any time of the day. It was a great place to meet people as there was such a lot of space for my wheelchair.
I continued to buy my lunch from the canteen at university and normally sat with friends, but as I have got older I’ve found it more difficult to eat and talk at the same time.
I feel quite sad that many primary schools have given up cooked meals, as I don’t think unpacking a lunchbox is as good as sitting down to a ‘proper’ lunch. I learnt a lot through sitting at a table with friends and will always remember school lunchtimes as good times, especially the pudding at my first school. I’m still trying to find the perfect recipe for butterscotch tart!
Lizzie Baily 2008