school dinners

katiesmummy

got a letter from dd school yesterday saying that i owe 22.50 for school dinners. dd on packed lunch so went this morning to tell them that there was a mistake. reception said that dd has been eating school lunch on & off since january, but because they dont know how many days it is they are only charging me for 3 weeks! dd goes off to school every day with pack-up & this is the first i have heard of it. i dont see why i should pay for what is essentially the school's mistake, but they are insisting that i have to pay

any advice?

Little_Miss_Winner

I am a little confused, if your daughter has been taking her own pakced lunch, but eating a school dinner, did you not notice when she brought her full lunchbag home untouched?

katiesmummy

potogold wrote: »

I am a little confused, if your daughter has been taking her own pakced lunch, but eating a school dinner, did you not notice when she brought her full lunchbag home untouched?

this is the thing- most of the time her bag is empty. sometimes she might leave her apple or yog. have asked her about it & she said that she hasnt had any school dinners, but dont know if maybe shes telling porkies for fear of me telling her off

carolpinkdreamer

Was your DD on hot dinners before this time, and if she was did you inform school that she was changing to sandwiches?

In our school, dinner ladies would have noticed the packed lunch and queried it sooner.

If she has NEVER had hot meals I would certainly not pay a penny.

katiesmummy

carolpinkdreamer wrote: »

Was your DD on hot dinners before this time, and if she was did you inform school that she was changing to sandwiches?

In our school, dinner ladies would have noticed the packed lunch and queried it sooner.

If she has NEVER had hot meals I would certainly not pay a penny.

she was previously on hot meals, but has been on pack up since september 06 (at least). even receptionist acknowledged that dd is down as pack-up in the dinner register, but they are saying that if i dont pay, dd cant go to the after school club run by them. dont know what the bloomin 'eck to do!

Psykicpup

Right so they have her down as Packed Lunches & they dont know how many times she has had School Dinners.......How do they know she has had any?
I would tell them to prove it & IF they can, agree you will pay!

Take it to the top if you have to!

carolpinkdreamer

I would imagine that person ordering the meals has made the mistake in ordering meals for your child. Can't believe that they don't know how many and are just guessing at 3 weeks.
Head teacher probably has no knowledge of this matter.
If it were me, I'd write polite letter to Head stating that DD has taken packed lunch every day and you don't wish to pay for meals that you knew nothing about and didn't request. I'd also state that I didn't see why DD should be excluded from after school club because of an admin error that you were not responsible for.
Hopefully you'll find that admin staff will soon drop this rididculous claim especially if the dinner register shows that your daughter is on sandwiches.
I think that as long as you present the facts and take a reasonable tone with school, they should sort it out themselves. I work in a school office and know that there is always a bit of 'slush' money lying around that could be used to sort incidents like this out.

Little_Miss_Winner

Something is going on here, and i would need to find out what?
How old is your little girl?
Could you possibly let her know what has happened they way you have explained it to us, and tell her that you won't be upset if she HAS had the cooked meals, just that you need to get your story straight before you pay?not pay.

Can you not speak to the headmaster? we have an open-door policy at our school and the headmaster is always in the playground every morning from about 8.45, we simply need to ask if we can have a word and he will take you straight to his office when the whistle has gone and the children have gone to their classes.

You really need a word with the head about this one.

snails's_pace

write to the governers. they cant just expect to put a general figure on something that you havent asked for and expect you to pay it.

katiesmummy

Psykicpup wrote: »

Right so they have her down as Packed Lunches & they dont know how many times she has had School Dinners.......How do they know she has had any?
I would tell them to prove it & IF they can, agree you will pay!

Take it to the top if you have to!

said this to receptionist this morning- spent half hour trying to establish how a child who is on packed lunch, who is marked down as packed lunch and who's class teacher knows is on packed lunch could be given school dinner, and not just once- on and off for 3 months!! the only answer she could come up with was that dd must have lined up for a hot meal- isn't that what they have dinner assistants for??

katiesmummy

should also add that i have just had another chat with dd, told her that i wont be cross with her, but is she sure that she hasnt had any school dinners, even just pudding- dd is adamant that she hasn't