Aussie Primary school lunchtimes

[maidensarah]

This may be a random question but I was wondering what most primary schools do for children’s lunches. Do they have the option of hot dinner or packed lunch? Do most take packed lunches or the other way round? Here all children in Reception, Year 1 and 2 are entitled to receive free hot dinners and I wondered if there’s anything like that there? My son (year 2) has the hot dinners as he loves them however my daughter (Reception) gets sent with a packed lunch as she wouldn’t eat the hot dinners. Just sort of checking they don’t all have to have hot dinners as she would go hungry. Thanks! 

[AJ]

Mostly packed lunches I would think at Primary and Kindy.  I lived in Melbourne and Perth and both schools my daughter went didnt do lunches. Maybe a bit too hot to be eating hot lunches every day!  Our primary now has canteen facilities but they are only open 2 days a week and they order in from the High school.You definately dont get them free!

[Quoll]

Packed lunches for sure. Sundry things available from canteens but not sit down knife and fork stuff. Foreign country different expectations!

[LKC]

Our school was packed lunches with the option of buying a sandwich, sausage roll, fruit etc from the canteen.  There were no hot lunch options, other than things like the sausage rolls with would be warmed through.  The canteen at our school was run by parent volunteers (I don't think there was provision for it in the school budget), so if there weren't enough volunteers to make the food, serve it at the counter and clean up then it wouldn't open.  The kids sat to eat either in the classroom or outside if it wasn't too hot/wet/cold.  The canteen owned a couple of barbies which it would roll out for special occasions (open days, school discos etc) to sell sausage sandwiches (which is a sausage wrapped in a slice of bread with tomato ketchup).

[maidensarah]

Okay thanks all. My son likes the hot dinners but if it was one of the other I’d choose packed lunch as both will be happy with that. 

[LKC]

You might find he prefers a packed lunch in the heat anyway.  My girls sure are enjoying their hot lunches here in Scotland at the moment, but once the warmer weather comes they'll probably go back to packed lunches.

[Bulya]

Before kindy (Early Childhood Education Centre) it was sit down hot lunch for daughter.  Not sure how it was at kindy and primary school

[Stung]

Early Childhood often food is supplied - warm or cold depending on season.

In Schools it is Canteen food or BYO. The Canteen in some can be of great quality, price, hot and cold and limited days or all days.

Many schools also have microwaves for use of students.

But it all depends on the school (some have strict rubbish food restrictions also).

[Guest]

Packed lunches or canteen orders around our way. School dinners as you are used to in the UK don’t really exist here that I am aware of. 

Dislike the canteen option tbh. Refuse to ever use it. Don’t see the point in paying $3.50 for a sandwich I can make for a fraction of the price. Or $4 for a bit of macaroni cheese. 

Canteen means sending child to school with money each day, they place their order on a paper bag in the morning and pay then too and the bag comes back at lunchtime with then order in. Kids eat in the classroom or when it’s good weather outside undercover in a nice seating area where they can all hang out. 

We’ve done packed lunch ever since we moved here. As has been said, in the hot weather a cooked meal and pud are really not needed or wanted. I send fresh food, ice pack in the bag and it stays cool till lunch. 

Our kids also have fruit time (even in the upper years of primary) about 9:30am and recess snack for morning playtime. The morning break is about 11am and lunch about 1pm so that recesss snack is needed. There is no afternoon playtime, they go straight through till home time once lunch is done.