School Refuses To Give Boy Meal

Coming Home

Imagine what it would feel like to come home and hear that your child’s school had refused to give them anything to eat or drink.
And to make matters worse, they did it on a very hot day. How would you, as a parent, feel about this situation? And what would you do about it?

Sam

That is exactly what happened to 11-year-old Sam when he was trying to order lunch during his break at school.
We can understand why his parents were upset when they found out what happened to their son that day. But what was the actual problem? Why did the school refuse to serve him?

Hot Day

It was a hot day, and the students were forced to wear trousers, shirts, blazers, and ties.

Food

Sam tried to order a slice of pizza and an apple juice to the value of £3.50, but he was refused.

Reason

The staff told Sam that he didn’t have enough money on his meal card and, therefore, they couldn’t serve him.

The Problem

Sam’s parents knew that wasn’t correct at all because they had transferred around £20 to his meal card.

Statement

In a statement, Ben, Sam’s father, said, “So not providing a drink to him was just cruel.”

Dizzy

He continued by saying, “He’s really not comfortable. He’s hot, feels dizzy, and a lack of food and drink is obviously going to make it worse.”

Justification

“I don’t get how they can get away with it and justify it,” Ben said. But what did the parents do about it?

Disbelief

In their state of disbelief, Sam’s parents tried to address the issue their son had faced.

Response

The school responded that Sam had been turned away because “lots of parents run up significant debts.”

Ask

Sam’s parents were also told that their son should’ve asked another staff member to help him resolve the issue.

Outraged

Needless to say, Sam’s parents were outraged. And who wouldn’t be? But this was just the beginning of the matter.

An Email

Sam’s parents decided to show reporters an email they had received from the school.

Multiple Parents

The email stated that a number of parents had experienced difficulties topping up their children’s cards.

Technical Issues

The email continued by saying that this happened because of technical issues.

Fuming

The angry parents went on to explain that the £20 had shown up as a ‘parent balance.’

Why?

It is said that Sam’s parents couldn’t top up his account because of the glitch.

Formal Complaint

Sam’s parents filed a formal complaint stating, “Our son was left feeling humiliated, hungry, and thirsty in extremely hot weather conditions, despite the school being fully aware of the issues.”

Neglectful

Sam’s parents continued by saying, “We find the policy of refusing children food and drink on the basis that they do not have any money on their account and/or debts cruel, demoralizing, concerning, and neglectful.”

Staff

They believe that the canteen staff should have been aware of the issue and should have asked their colleagues for help.

Child Services

The parents also added. “If a child reported to you that they were not fed because their parents do not have any money, you would make a safeguarding referral to children’s services.”

Refusal

“But you are able to refuse children food and drink because their balance is £0 and/or they have debt owed to the school.”

Help

Ben, who works as an advisor, also called on the school to provide more help to struggling parents.

Debt

He said, “We don’t have any debt to them, but they’re basing it on other parents who have significant debts.”

Debt Recovery

“But my point is, there are debt recovery processes in place in this country to recover debt – use them, as opposed to using the child as a weapon and preventing them from having food.”

Spokesperson

After the outraged parents went public, a spokesperson from the school and local authorities made a joint statement.

Process

“As soon as the school was made aware of a technical issue with the ParentPay system, staff put a process in place for pupils affected by the fault to still receive a meal.”

Missed

“Unfortunately, that process was missed for young Sam, and we sincerely apologize to him and his parents.”

Investigation

“The school is acting on the formal complaint from Sam’s Mum and Dad, conducting a thorough investigation to ensure that lessons are learned and that this does not happen again.”

Apologize

“The local authority is in contact with ParentPay to review what went wrong with the system. Again, we would like to apologize to Sam and his family for the upset that this has caused.”

References:
The Sun: Our son’s school REFUSED to give him food or drink after glitch left him with no money – he was humiliated | The US Sun (the-sun.com)

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