NSW children pulled from class, sent to school tuckshops to work

A shortage of parents volunteering at NSW schools has seen students pulled out of lessons and sent into tuckshops to prepare, serve and clean which schools say will teach kids “responsibility”.

Young children are being pulled out of class and being put to work in canteens preparing food, serving students and cleaning as schools grapple with a shortage of parent volunteers.

Canteen industry insiders say primary schools are recruiting the Year 6 students because they cannot persuade time-poor parents to give up a day’s paid work to do the tuckshop while schools believe it promotes “leadership” skills and counting change helps them with their maths.

Kiama Public is the latest school to conscript students into the canteen which is run by an external catering company, sending parents permission slips to allow their child to be put on the roster.

“Kiama Public School will be providing an opportunity for Year 6 students to volunteer in the canteen during lunch on Monday and Tuesday each week on a rotational basis,” the note from the school said in July.

“Students will be assisting Lucassen Catering staff with serving at the counter, handling money by calculating transactions and giving change.

Children at one school are told to leave class early to go and help serve food to their peers.

At Cooerwull Public School in Lithgow, parents were told in 2020 that children would leave class early and do food preparation and as well as cleaning up but volunteering would depend on class commitments.

“They will usually be required 10 minutes before recess and 10 minutes before lunch and for the entire recess and lunchtime,” the school told parents.

It is a similar story at Elanora Heights Public where parents were told children would be restocking fridges, serving students, and would stand near a hot oven but would not handle knives.

That school also gives them training for when they will feel overwhelmed when their peers inevitably try to put pressure on them to give them a discount.

Canteen proprietor Pino Favaloro from Mel’s Tasty Bites, which leases numerous canteens in public schools across Sydney, said there was a volunteer shortage.

“Parents are not going to work for nothing now, the cost of living has meant the schools can‘t get people and they tender it out,” he said.

The volunteer shortage at NSW schools is helping to teach students responsibility, it has been claimed.

But he warned school canteens were no place for children.

“You shouldn’t let kids into a hot food area because it is a liability,” he said.

P and C Central Coast president Sharryn Brownlee said schools usually said it helped children develop leadership skills and teach them about responsibility but she said students were at school to learn, not to work.

“Fair work would have a view about unpaid child labour,” she said.

“A student who is struggling might be happy to help, but it is not going to help them with their schoolwork,” she said.

. Sharryn Brownlee, P&C Central Coast president.

At Curl Curl North Public, getting children to work in the canteen was going well until two students were caught stealing from the canteen back in 2019.

P and C president Andrew Whitaker said that was a minor incident and said the children wanted to work in the canteen.

“The kids really enjoy it, they’re not preparing food or anything, you give them $1.50 worth of food and they can take a garlic bread or a slushie at the end, that’s all they want,” he said.

A Department of Education spokesman said all students were supervised when completing tasks.

“Some schools offer students the opportunity to assist canteen staff during recess and lunch to develop their maths skills, leadership and responsibility,” he said.

“All students assisting in a school canteen are supervised.”