naughty dc denied snack at preschool

[stella1w]

Genuinely puzzled by this. Picked up dc1, 4, from preschool today and was asked to speak to the leader. Apparently my dc had been defiant and would not listen or do what she was told. So teachers told her she could have a drink but no food at snack time (which is always fruit).
She also had a bite mark on her, but no one could explain that.
Preschool runs from 9am to 12.15, so it seems a long time to me to make a child go without a snack.
Plus my dc, like most others, only gets worse if she is hungry. I'm also not sure that withholding of food should be used as a discipline measure.
What do others think?
Apart from this incident, I like the preschool, though recently dc1 hasn't seemed so keen.

I'd be unhappy too. My dd eats little and often and her behaviour gets markedly worse if she's hungry, so with-holding food would be a sure-fire way to send her down the road to devilment.
As an aside, I work as a teacher in a setting which hosts school trips. I insist that every primary school child has a snack before we start our workshop (they've been on a coach, they're in a new setting, they need to spend the next while concentrating on someone they don't know....). I don't expect children as old as Year 6 to be able to function well without something to keep them going (even when the teachers tell me they'll be fine - I smile politely and make time for snacks anyway!). I certainly wouldn't expect a 4 year old to manage. Maybe on a quiet day at home, or out and about with you when you can monitor things and quietly put food in front of them when you sense they are getting ratty, then that time frame is fine. In a classroom, when everyone else is eating, and when the next chance for food is set in stone, and when they are supposed to be concentrating - not at all the right way to approach discipline.

quoteunquote..fantastic post x