school dinners

quietheart

I think this is outrageous. They have no evidence, they have made up a figure that you owe them because they haven't managed to be in control of the school meals system. It's laughable. I would not pay a penny, she's a small child it isn't down to her, when you hand her over in the morning they take over responsibility for her. Let us know how you get on with the head....

Little_Miss_Winner

Yeah i agree, i wouldn't pay any money either.
As far as your concerned.. she's down for packed-lunch, she takes the packed lunch is every day, she eats the packed-lunched, and brings her back home empty.

End of!

Bagpuss1973

southwestmaid wrote: »

I'm a mealtime assistant in an infant school and we would know right away if there was an 'extra' dinner. Seems very strange to me. We would also notice her packed lunch box and query it with the teacher. There is no way we would sit a child with a pack lunchbox with children eating school dinner. I would speak to the head.

Maybe your childs school has the above policy and she wants to sit with her friends who have school dinners?? Just a thought.

I would see the head of the school to sort it out.

Goodluck

Bagpussx

Anniek1969

In my daughters school they either get a ticket if they get free meals or they pay so she wouldn't get a dinner if she didn't have either a ticket or money. On the rare occasion she forgets her money they have to go to the office and they supply them with a ticket and send a note home with her to let me know I owe them for that days lunch.

Why not ask to speak to the dinner ladies and ask them if they have seen her taking a dinner, they should know better than anyone. I wouldn't pay until it's proved that she has had dinners.

happychikadee

Aat my daughters school they have to say int he morning at register what they are having, wither a hot dinner or packed lunch. My friends son didn't realise he was having a packed lunch this morning as his mum was in a rush and placed the packed lunch in the area and didn't think to tell him it was there. He went for a hot dinner and by home time she had a bill for the hot dinner! They would know straight away that there was extra meals as they only cater for the amount given in the morning, unless of course the school doesnt take a register and you pay at luchtime when you eat.
This is not right and I would go to straight to the head teacher before it gets out of hand.

webbie

Is there any chance they are mixing your child up with someone? If she was called Emily for example, is there 2 or 3 Emilys and a dinner lady just chose the wrong one?
I would also query with the school where the food has gone - surely the caretaker would notice uneaten lunch in a bin on a regular basis?

Poppy9

Depending on the system in school they may not notice she has a packed lunch as many kids just take their food in a back pack and put them on their peg.

In my DD primary school each day at registeration they were asked if they were "dinners". The school clerk then totalled up the dinner ticks and gave the cook the total number for dinners that day. Come lunch time the dinner children just went and queued up and many sandwich children did join the queue because they fancied dinner. It was such a problem with the kitchen running out of meals (only 200 children in school) that the school clerk had to monitor the dinner queue and tick off the children. She then updated her dinner money record to ensure she collected all the money in. In theory dinner money was supposed to be paid in advance on Monday for the week (or part of) but many didn't. I used to pay termly as I found it easier and I was always given a refund without asking if DD missed school lunch for whatever reason.

I think you need to establish the system in place for dinners and how they monitor it. You should also ask the Head to talk to your DD about the matter with you present to see if you can resolve the matter. Try not to be agressive with the school and have the situation disolve into an "I'm right and you are wrong" situation. Remain calm and say you need to get to the bottom of the situation as if you DD is taking school dinners you are very concerned because not only is she lying to you, which is out of character, it may indicate she is being bullied etc (i.e. handing over her packed lunch to another child - it happens) or she is over eating and may have a health problem.

Mumstheword

Anniek1969 wrote: »

In my daughters school they either get a ticket if they get free meals or they pay so she wouldn't get a dinner if she didn't have either a ticket or money. On the rare occasion she forgets her money they have to go to the office and they supply them with a ticket and send a note home with her to let me know I owe them for that days lunch.
.

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Hmm, I'd hate that, the poor kids who are on free lunch would stand out!I'm not sure what system they run at our school, but it's a lovely place and if a packed lunch child forgot his dinner, or even just didnt like it, they would let them have a meal. If it happened on many occasions, I'm sure they'd have a chat with mum to see how best to resolve whatever problem was there. We are only a 200 ish child school, and they ask us to let them know before the holidays if we want to change lunch arrangements when we go back in.

Nenen

Poppy9 wrote: »

Remain calm and say you need to get to the bottom of the situation as if you DD is taking school dinners you are very concerned because not only is she lying to you, which is out of character, it may indicate she is being bullied etc (i.e. handing over her packed lunch to another child - it happens) or she is over eating and may have a health problem.

I absolutely agree with Poppy... IMHO it is not so much about whether or not you owe the money (although of course it is extremely annoying that the school have created this situation) it is what has been happening to your DD. You really do need to find out if she really has been having school dinners and, if by any chance she has, then why has she done so and then felt she has to lie about it?

Bossyboots

I used to be the clerk in the school office that sorted out the meal figures. Each class had a separate dinner register and the children had to indicate each day whether they were packed lunch or school dinner. It was easy therefore for a child who had brought a packed lunch in, or had forgotten their lunch, to order a hot meal and it wouldn't be queried. When I did the register, if no money had been handed in for the meal then a letter went back in the register with the date of the meal taken to go home to the parents. Under this system, I could see instantly which children had had hot meals and on which days.

The dinner ladies were given the class numbers for each sitting but not names so children could swap without being noticed but then it wouldn't come to my attention that a child had eaten a hot lunch that hadn't been paid for. However, the dinner ladies would not allow six children to line up if they had been told only five meals had been booked for their class.

I agree with the others who have suggested an underlying problem here. The little girl could be eating a hot lunch because otherwise she can't sit with a particular friend or perhaps she is embarrassed by the contents of her lunch box. As well as working in the office, I often covered for absent dinner ladies and I soon learned that dinner time can be one of the most stressful times of the day for children, particularly the little ones.

I also agree that you need to find out what system they use for checking who is having what dinners and what has gone wrong, to make sure they have got their facts right. It really was not unknown when I was working at the school though for children to book school dinners their parents knew nothing about until they got the note home or, even worse, a letter from me asking for payment immediately because the child actually had not handed over the first note.