Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not want to pay £1 per day for my child to eat packed lunch at school

134 replies

cestlavielife · 04/09/2013 14:30

school have decied those who bring packed lunch should pay £1 per day to sit and eat it in the canteen...(run by a private contractor)

if they provide juice/fruit for my child yes i would pay.

but not for just the space?

OP posts:
Portofino · 04/09/2013 19:13

You are paying for the staff, not the space.

bunnyfrance · 04/09/2013 19:27

Yes, totally normal on the continent - at our school, the City provides the lunch and the supervision between 12h00 and 14h00, which comes at a price. You have the choice of going home, eating at the canteen, or a packed lunch, for which you pay a supervision fee.

friday16 · 04/09/2013 19:38

"contact the council education dept "

Why would they care? As has been repeatedly pointed out, this school is nothing to do with the UK government, being funded and operated by a foreign country. The council would, I hope, laugh in your face and tell you that you don't need to pay to eat your packed lunch in any of their schools, and would you like an application form?

OnTheBottomWithAWomensWeekly · 04/09/2013 19:41

Tell them to go away and shit. It's not like they can refuse to let children eat lunch, is it?

friday16 · 04/09/2013 19:57

"It's not like they can refuse to let children eat lunch, is it?"

They can, however, expel them with immediate effect, with no process or right of appeal. Private schools (which is what this is, from the perspective of UK law) have very wide-ranging powers, and almost no oversight.

honeybeeridiculous · 04/09/2013 20:01

my sons school have to eat their lunch outside in all weathers!! if they bring their own. theres a flimsy shelter when it rains. These secondary schools are just getting worse, jumped up jobsworths for HT think they can do what they like!

ArbitraryUsername · 04/09/2013 20:01

Children in all the schools my DC have attended have been well supervised at lunch (and DS1 has been subject to the lunchbox police encouraged to eat the healthy bits of his lunch). All without charging.

There'd be a revolt if they tried charging you to eat a packed lunch on the premises round here. DS1 isn't even allowed to leave the school premises, so it would basically be extortion.

mineofuselessinformation · 04/09/2013 20:02

In this position, I would be very interested in clarifying whether or not supervision during lunchtime was included in the fees....

Portofino · 04/09/2013 20:03

This IS NOT a UK state school.

Portofino · 04/09/2013 20:06

Op doesn't pay fees as they meet the necessary criteria. But as is the case for schools on the continent (where this school is funded) normally you have to pay for the extras.

Portofino · 04/09/2013 20:08

So this should not be the drama / shock thing that it appears to be. Presumably the op had the choice to put her in local schools.

Portofino · 04/09/2013 20:21

And as for Bonsoir, 10 euros a month yes. 10 euros a day, don't be so ridiculous.

MollyBerry · 04/09/2013 20:29

What country Are you in?

bunnyfrance · 04/09/2013 20:36

We pay just over 5 euros a day for a canteen lunch, but we're not in Paris, where I can quite believe it would be 10 euros.

megsmouse · 04/09/2013 20:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ArbitraryUsername · 04/09/2013 20:40

WeAreEternal's school is a state school though. And it charges for what the rest of us get for free.

Portofino · 04/09/2013 20:46

No I take it back. Bonsoir's school appears to charge 9 euros for them to take a packed lunch. I am Shock

Portofino · 04/09/2013 20:48

Op is in UK I think, in a French run school.

Original poster
cestlavielife · 04/09/2013 21:22

This is a last minute charge added with. No warning. School starts next week.

So here on Aibu Seems that people think it isn't unreasonable as part and parcel of being a non-uk school albeit in uk. Ie tough.
And yes maybe the advantages of the school eg bilingual outweigh charges... However....
Is a shock tho to suddenly be given this charge . It should be presented to the school council and parents association first. Not five days before school starts saying pay up now !
There are many pupils on low income (who happen to be of the nationality) it is not a posh school..... V mixed.

OP posts:
Portofino · 04/09/2013 21:30

No I get you totally. Equally my school, as I said earlier, added 10euros a month for the bus that was never there before. I think it is well annoying, but you are not subject to UK rules and regulations and there is probably bugger all you can do about it. Well maybe transfer to a UK state school.

marriedinwhiteisback · 04/09/2013 21:40

Agrees with Porto. It isn't a state school and if the OP thought the education on offer was not on a par with a UK state school she could have statutorily sent her child to an LEA run school. I imagine there is something in the small print to justify the cost.

Wonders if this is a free faith school like the Muslim school in Tooting.

FWIW my dc went to indy schools (dd still does). The school lunch charges are/were 4.50 and 4.25 respectively. The school bus for one child is about 750 per term. All charges on top of the fees which also include exam entrance fees which I have only recently found out are free for state school children. They weren't when I went to grammar school.

If the OP doesn't want to swallow the pill there are surely two options. School lunch or the local school.

If a child sits at a dining table that has to be set up and cleared and water provided, cleaning provided, etc, what is unreasonable about paying for that service. Presumably it's included in the cost of a school meal. When mine were at primary (state) they had packed lunches because the school meals were not very nice. I always thought it was probably more expensive to orovide and healthy, tasty packed lunch than it was to buy a school meal.

It sounds wrong OP but reflecting on the facts logically I don't really think it is.

friday16 · 04/09/2013 22:01

"There are many pupils on low income (who happen to be of the nationality)"

If they were in UK state schools they'd be eligible for FSM. Their choice.

Portofino · 04/09/2013 22:01

That's the thing. In the UK system this facility is included. In the French/Belgian one,traditionally it is not. If you choose to send your child to a school run and funded by another eu country, then you have to follow their rules.

Bonsoir · 05/09/2013 08:21

I agree that the school doesn't seem to have managed to communicate this new charge to parents very well.

Bonsoir · 05/09/2013 08:24

DD's school charged ?10 per day for a packed lunch last year. I am still living with tickets bought last year and the cost may have gone up again...