Tilly

I must say having been a dinner lady I thoroughly enjoyed it. A lot of the dinner ladies take on the job because it is convenient for school holdays etc. and not that they particularly enjoy working alongside children. Quite worrying when you think about it. Tilly

Lovely article Thanks Clair Tilly

In my daughters school [sEN ] all the dinner ladies have done a Nurturing course. I think it would be a good idea for all dinner nannies to take part in this mainstream or otherwise. The majority of children would benefit from being spoken to calmly. I found it daunting to think that this woman could tell a child to keep their "mouth shut" in front of a parent. I dread to think how she behaves when there is no one to see her actions Tilly

Cling

Hi Michelle Does Callum go to a mainstream school and if he does how much support does he get over the lunchtime. If he doesn't get 1-1 over the lunch time is there any chance you could get it ? Speaking from experience a lot of mainstream schools prioritise the supervision of children who have a school lunch because that is where the funding comes from to pay the dinner nannies etc. Not fair I know but it does happen My daughter was in mainstream and was never offered the chance to stay for lunch so I had to collect her. She was delighted but it was very difficult to get her back for the afternoon session. She now attends a SEN school and on her first day there she stayed for packed lunch. She has a very limit diet but it is no big issue there as the dinner nannies are all aware that our children have different needs. My friends little boy who has ASD attends mainstream and stays for school lunch but he is taken to a room with his support worker as he finds smells of certain foods and the noise of the dining hall overwhelming. Initially an adult family member took him into the hall to familiarise him with queuing for lunch etc. Could this be an option for your son Hope you get the support for you little boy. Tilly

Hi I'm Tilly and have 9 year old dd diagnosed ASD 6 years ago and I think that in that 6 years I've aged 20 years. I've been reading the posts for some time but have just sussed out how to post I am a real technophobe so please be patient lol. Tilly