Dinner Money Silliness

[jennifleurs]

DS just recently changed to school dinners and I was unsure of the correct etiquette with money etc. It costs £9.75 per week.

Sent him with a £10 note 2 consecutive weeks expecting change, none came home. 3rd week sent £10 and noted on envelope please can you give DS the change. School office phoned me to say that no, they cannot send DS or any child home with change as "it would be too much work".

I thought this rather snappy remark was interesting, and pondered how my boss would react if I started telling customers at work that I couldn't be bothered giving them correct change because there are so many of them each day it's simply too much work.

This week I have counted out £9.75 in correct change, in 10s, 5s, 2s and 1s.

I shall brace myself for a phone call!

[RevoltInParadise]

We often don't get change until the office cashes up at the end of the week and has the correct change to send it out. Either that or they just credit the account, do this long enough and you will eventually have a 'free' week.

[ChocolateWombat]

Dusty, I agree that the OP probably did not respond well to this.
It does sound like the office staff were not terribly helpful (might this have been related to the attitude shown towards them by the OP? Doesn't excuse office unhelpful ness, but might explain it ) but this isn't actually a big deal is it. With these minor difficulties, we need to have some perspective and not let them turn into big things, which require a vendetta against the school.

Totally get that you might not have the right change. You might not want to keep change in a jar. You don't need to. Just send £10 some weeks and £9.50 the next week.

Above all though, don't see the school as out to get you. They really aren't. Be positive towards them. Deal with any minor issues, as minor issues and either raise them politely or ask for clarification politely. If someone seems a bit rude, just rise above it. You don't need to descend to that level (or lower).

[practicallyperfectornot]

We always round off the amount to the nearest pound as it's easier than finding the correct change, which they carry over. I keep a note on the calender and then towards the end of the term just pay the remainder minus what I was in front with. I'm wondering if it may be because some change isn't making it's way home with other Dc, or it's just easier to carry it over?

We had a similar letter about making sure the correct amount £9.50 is paid on the Monday of each week so they can keep the account up to date. I think it was directed at the parents only paying in dribs and drabs or not paying until mid week.

Either way ask how much in credit you are and just make a note. It can be a pain finding change for the sake of 25p.

[jamtoast12]

Schools dinners are free for all infants in state schools from this sept so you won't have to put up with this for long!

[ilovepowerhoop]

dont think it applies to Scotland so i will keep adding to the kids dinner cards as usual

[BeaLola]

Ours are£2.25 a day and you can pay online, to the school by cheque or cash and you can pay daily. My son usually has packed lunches but like some of his peers sometimes wants school dinners and so I find the cash and send it in for that day - they are fine with this.

[ivykaty44]

Why on earth don't they have a cashless system, I top up dd lunch card with a debit card at home online. I pay for school trips and anything else like this

The school do not accept cash or cheques and everything is done online so that no work is made for school clerks

Unlike your boss at work op the school is not a for profit organisation and the less work that has to be done on admin the more money is saved yo be spent in stuff for the dc

[lambbone]

Ask the head teacher to set up ParentPay at the school. No more faffing about with change for you or the office staff.

I use it both as an administrator and a parent and it is bloody brilliant and a piece of piss to use.

[lambbone]

Oops x post with ivykaty. Bloody daft not to these days.

[Aelfrith]

Some schools don't have online payments because they can't afford the charges ...a % of the money taken, which they aren't allowed to add on to the prices. When budgets are as tight as they are sometimes schools can't afford it (used to work in a school).

Also need payments in cash 'on Mondays' as not allowed to keep cash on premises...so someone has to go and bank it. Can't be going to bank everyday, not enough staff, might be miles away in a rural area.

Giving change...almost impossible when you can't keep cash on the premises! Unless someone else happens to have sent in an envelope full of loose change. And certainly can't give 25p change to 50 parents, simply don't have the cash.

[WoodBurnerBabe]

Gosh, our school seems really simple compared to all this faff! You can choose each day if lunches or not, and then pay on the Friday for what lunches you've had that week.y DD has cooked lunch every day as I don't have time to make packed ones and she likes everything they cook, so I pay half termly by cheque in advance. I sometimes get a note saying I'm in credit if they've had a trip or she's been I'll, I just pay less next term.

[LaTrucha]

Very interesting Aelfrith. It explains a lot. I do wish our school could have made these points clear!

[jennifleurs]

I do admit it was childish, but their original response to me can't have been because of my attitude - I've been so polite and apologetic!

I didn't get a phone call. I guess they will have plenty of change for a bit now though.

At DS' last school (he's 7 now) the office staff were so friendly and explained things to parents without getting uppity. They always sent home change for school trips etc so I (wrongly) assumed this one would too.

[my2bundles]

Surely common sense would tell you that school need notice to order extra food. Also as above its not that difficult to ensure you send in the correct change, its much easier for parents to do this than expect someone at school to sort out change for every parent who sends in £10, surely thats wasting valuable time they should be spending on something more constructive.

[insanityscatching]

Dd's school office is, I think, the weak spot in the school particularly when they are the first impression people have but they do hand out change and you can choose to have dinner on the day if you wish and swap between the two as you choose. I try to ignore the fact that they have no sort of people skills and send out letters with poor spelling and grammar as a matter of course.

[ilovepowerhoop]

Euphemia unfortunately mine will be P7 and P4 by then so wont be able to take advantage of it

[jennifleurs]

Actually they cook all the food at the school, so no, I didn't realise they would need a weeks notice to accommodate one extra 7 year old at lunch time!

I was under the impression office staff at schools did administrative duties such as sorting out dinner money and would have time to count out 25 pence once a week. My mistake.

[Impatientismymiddlename]

It wouldn't be counting out 25p once a week, because you are very likely not the only parent who sends in a £10 note. It would be 25p multiplied by 100 or so parents!
It's much easier to just carry over all the 25p's on a computerised system than it is to faff around trying to sort out lots of 25p's and then making sure that the right children get the 25p's.
If it really bothers you then why not send a cheque; you can write those out for the exact amount. Or why not pay half termly?

[ShoeWhore]

Send a cheque if you're that bothered. But they will have carried the 25p over.

[edwardcullensotherwoman]

Gosh, I'm amazed at some of the rules around dinners in these schools! Pay for a half term in advance or they'll have to have packed lunch?? That's madness. Our dinners are £2 per day, the dinner lady is available on Monday and Friday mornings to pay for the week ahead/just gone. DS doesn't like everything on the 3 week menu, so has more dinners some weeks than others, and sometimes decides on a day-to-day basis whether he want's dinners or packed lunch. We just work it out every Friday with the dinner lady and pay accordingly. There is an option to pay chunks in advance if it suits, but I like the flexibility we have. I think I'd struggle with some of the rules in this thread!

On the subject of the OP though, they could have offered up a better explanation - maybe suggested sending £10 every week for 3 weeks, then £9 on the 4th week. This would give you the time to be prepared with a fiver and coins every 4th week.

[jennifleurs]

I don't have a cheque book. Suppose I was hoping they'd be more flexible (and nicer) like his old school. I'll get over it haha.

[RaisinBoys]

Perhaps suggest to the school that they move to one of the online payment methods with the option to pay half termly as most modern schools have done already!
You pay just what you owe, overpayments (when there's a school trip, sickness etc) are already adjusted for and no need to spend ages in a queue at the office.

[newbieman1978]

School offices have million and one tasks to perform each day many of which are trying to save the school money. Having to perform tasks such as sending home lunch money change only takes away from more important things. Hence many school now don't except cash.
Lots of time is taken in school oiffices trying to make money for the school ie. trying for grants, organising the use of the school for paid for events ect.

Most school offices are running at maximum capacity by that I mean they could really do with more hours. But for school heads they have to try and minimise everything they spend on none teaching resources in order to maximise the outcomes for the children.