Teachers have been revealing the worst pack lunches so far this school term – including an eight-year-old boy from Manchester who took in a can of dark fruits cider.

The youngster said he mistook it for a soft drink.

Another child who turned up with no packed lunch or cash for a meal said he’d had cereal with water on it for breakfast because ‘mum needed the milk for her coffee’.

The teacher – one of dozens sharing stories on Facebook – said: “I’m not ashamed to say I cried when he told me that.”

Over in West Yorkshire, a primary school pupil went in with a pork pie and a can of shandy.

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He told teachers at his school in Halifax that he had made the lunch himself because ‘that’s all there was in the fridge’, the Mirror reports .

Another student was sent in with a can of Red Bull and a bag of Monster Munch corn snacks.

In Birmingham, a child arrived at school with a Happy Meal box with a cold McDonald’s burger and fries.

According to their gran it had been bought the day before but the pupil hadn’t wanted it so it was a ‘shame for it go to waste’.

A teacher in Leeds said a youngster turned up with nothing but a packet of ginger biscuits explaining mum had been ‘too tired’ to go to the shops.

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She also questioned the mother of a pupil with a can of Red Bull and was told: “He’d had a late night on his Xbox and seemed like he needed a pick-me-up.”

Staff in primary schools monitor packed lunches.

Unhealthy or unsuitable items can be confiscated and handed to parents at the end of class – instead children get a free school meal worth around £2.20.

The NHS’s Change4Life healthy eating campaign advises parents making packed lunches to include a healthy sandwich or wrap, a piece of fruit, a treat like a jelly or malt loaf and a bottle of water or sugar-free drink.

They are urged to replace crisps, chocolate and biscuits with homemade plain popcorn, plain rice cake, or fruited teacakes.