School apologises for 'bread and butter' letter for pupils who forgot lunch money Published duration 22 January 2016

image copyright Thinkstock image caption The school made the u-turn "following a number of parental concerns", said the headteacher

A school has apologised for telling parents their children would be given bread and butter when they forget their dinner money.

Alban Church of England Academy in Great Barford reversed the decision after complaints from parents.

The school said children had turned up without a packed lunch or dinner money more than 100 times in the past month.

In a letter to parents, headteacher Sue Lourensz wrote: "I apologise if this has caused any offence."

She said the meals cost £2.10 a day and that its suppliers, Caterlink, had a strict "no debt" policy.

That meant The Alban had to fund the cost of each meal and would then have to recoup the money from parents.

image copyright Google image caption The headteacher said: "I apologise if this has caused any offence, this was not our intention" in a statement

She wrote: "Pupils are reminded to bring the money in the next day but frequently forget and parents then have to be sent texts and even letters if they fail to pay.

"As I am sure you can appreciate, this takes a considerable amount of time to administer and incurs extra costs to the school, which can be ill-afforded with the increasing tightening of school budgets."

The Bedfordshire school had decided that from next month, if a child arrived without dinner money or a packed lunch, office staff would first try to call parents.

However if no provision were made "the child will be provided with a drink and bread and butter only."

However following complaints from parents, Mrs Lourensz wrote a second letter.

It said: "Following a number of parental concerns regarding the recent school meals letter we have decided to re-think our policy and will not be introducing the new system outlined in that letter.

"I apologise if this has caused any offence, this was not our intention.