Lunchtime is About More Than Just Food
If the kitchen is said to be the heart of the home, then the Family Dining Program is certainly the heart of our school.
Lunchtime at Peck isn't just for eating—it's an opportunity for everyone to come together, chat, and learn more about one another outside of the usual classroom setting. For more than three decades, our Family Dining tradition has played a pivotal role in fostering a sense of unity and connectedness across our community. This cherished practice allows students and faculty from different grades and homerooms to build deeper relationships while sharing a meal.
At Peck, We Eat Together
Our daily schedule allocates ample time for our family-style lunches. In both the Lower School (grades 1-4) and Upper School (grades 5-8) lunch blocks, students are grouped two-per-grade at each round table, rotating every three weeks. An adult lunch proctor, who is a teacher, staff member, or parent volunteer, helps serve food and facilitate conversation.
Students also practice leadership and community responsibility by setting tables, retrieving meals from the kitchen, helping younger students at the table, and cleaning up.
In the kindergarten, both homerooms eat together at round tables in the K’s “big room” with their teachers.
Nuts & Bolts
Cultural Meals Build Belonging and Cultural Competence
As part of an ongoing commitment to celebrate cultures around the world and within our own community, twice-monthly we serve World Cultures menus inspired by heritage and cultural recognitions. For example, during past Hispanic Heritage Months, students have enjoyed meals highlighting Hispanic flavors from countries like Colombia, Cuba, Spain, and Bolivia. Other culturally-inspired menus—to name a just few!—have included recipes celebrating Indigenous American food traditions, customary foods and desserts for Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, and Eid al-Fitr, and Soul Food and dishes that pay homage to African American chefs for Black History Month.