Lunch Time routines

Dear Parents/ Guardians,
 
                It’s been brought to my attention that there are some concerns about our students and their lunchtime procedures. I understand that some parents / guardians may feel their child has not had enough time to eat lunch before being told they have to go outside. To clear this matter as best I can, I’d like to go over what the expectations are from both our noon hour supervisory staff and our students.
 
                For brevity and clarity, here are the major points in numbered form:
 

1. Students are provided at least 15 minutes to eat their lunch each day – this runs from 11:30 – 11:45. Younger students are often started earlier than this by their classroom teachers.

 

1. It is hoped that our students are finished eating by 11:45 and heading outside for the remainder of the lunch period until 12:23. As you know, this play time is critical in developing young minds!
    
2. We understand some students may not be finished eating by 11:45. We have a plan in place that allows those students to be given extra time to eat- this would be in the classroom and supervised by the noon hour supervisors while on their hallway rounds. Students also have the option to take food outside at this time if they choose to.
    
3. Those that are not finished by 12:00 may be asked to head to the office to finish their lunch. This is for safety reasons only (it is NOT disciplinary in any way). Office staff are able to supervise children still eating lunch. Once kids are done eating lunch in the office, they are free to go outside and join their friends on the playground.
    
4. Individual teachers may have more concrete classroom rules, but our overall philosophy around hydration and nutrition is that kids are welcome to drink or eat at any time of day should they feel the need to. Brain work can take a lot out of a body and we encourage our students to replenish as much as possible!
    
5. It is not our intent to “force” a child to eat a certain amount of food in a given amount of time. Ideally, our students have eaten by 11:45 and are ready to go out and play. As a staff, we have talked about and implemented flexibility into our lunchtime routine to accommodate those children who are not ready by 11:45. We feel that it is normal and expected that some students will eat at a slower pace than others.
    

I certainly hope these points clear up any concerns you may have, and I remind you to please feel free to call me or drop by any time should there be further issues around this (or any other) matter to discuss. T
 
Sincerely,
 
Kevin McLennan