Happy birthday to you . . . but leave the cake at home
CHILDREN have been banned from bringing birthday cakes to school to share with classmates.
The ban, said to be supported by most parents, has been introduced by around half the primary schools in East Lothian over concerns about disruption to lessons, healthy eating, and allergy sufferers being left out.
Teachers are said to have grown concerned that parents felt under pressure to provide expensive cakes, as youngsters bring in ever more elaborate confections. Food allergies have been raised as another reason to back the ban.
Peter McKenzie, education leader with East Lothian Council, said the ban did not go far enough, adding that he would like to see a complete removal of unhealthy treats in school.
But one ex-teacher called the move an “absolute piece of nonsense” and an intrusion into the lives of parents and children.
Maureen Tremmell, headteacher at Gullane Primary School, near North Berwick, defended her decision to introduce the policy.
She said: “Teachers really don’t have time to share out birthday cakes during class time. Children’s birthdays are special without cakes and sweets. We still sing ‘happy birthday’ in class.”
She said most parents had been supportive, with only one raising concerns about the policy. Ms Tremmell called on parents to back her stance in a recent school newsletter in which she pointed out that many children suffer from a range of allergies.
She added: “There is also a thought that children and parents may feel under pressure to bring things in so their child does not feel ‘left out’.”
Ailsa Kellagher, the chairwoman of the parent-teacher association, who has four children at the Gullane school and nursery, said: “The majority of parents are absolutely fine with the decision. This has been a dilemma for a while. Some children are bringing in bigger and bigger cakes, and you don’t want others to feel left out if they can’t do that.
“By the time the teacher’s shared out the cake, it could take half an hour.This is time better spent teaching, in particular in the early years.”
A spokeswoman for East Lothian Council said 20 out of around 40 primary schools had adopted similar policies. The decision is up to individual schools.
Councillor McKenzie said: “You never know the origin of that cake. In view of the obesity epidemic, anything we can do to discourage eating sweets has to be good. Parents should be encouraged to send their children to school with healthy food.”
But Robert Dow, 73, a former teacher and grandfather-of-two from Tranent, said: “This is taking the healthy eating message too far. What’s wrong with taking in a birthday cake to share?
“The whole thing is an absolute piece of nonsense. There’s far too much intrusion in people’s lives already. If they are concerned at childhood obesity, they should be building more playing fields.”
Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, Edinburgh’s education leader, said all schools in the Capital were promoting healthy eating.
She said: “It is the responsibility of the headteacher in consultation with parents to introduce initiatives where parents can voluntarily stop their children from taking foods such as sweets and crisps into school. You can’t force people to eat healthy food, you can only encourage them to do so.”
