What's the procedure for dinner money at your DC's junior school?

[sameagain]

DS1 is 8, year 3.

Dinner money £1.70 to be paid on the day, by handing the cash to the dinnerlady, at lunchtime, in exchange for his lunch.

Which means that he has to look after the cash until lunchtime, including in the playground and I sometimes get a note from the school saying that I owe the school office, as he was short at lunchtime, because he lost it.

It's only happened a couple of time to DS, but other mums tell me it happens a lot. It's bad enough having to pay it once, but twice? and it must create an opportunity for children to be bullied for their dinner money?

I am inclined to make a fuss and recommend that it's paid at the start of the day, like it was at my school and is in the infants, but am I over reacting? Should I just accept that it's a way of teaching them to look after it - except that it's not because the office replace it, then I have to reimburse them.

Is this system commonplace?

Either we pay a term in advance, by cheque, on receipt of the bill (in which case you pay for lunch every day) or else parents can buy books of ten tickets in advance from the school office and then bring one ticket on the day they want to eat lunch at school.

£1.70! Tickets cost EUR 14 each at DD's school!

we are £1.90
Is parentpay good?

thye have a purse tray which is automatically given to dinner staff.

We pay by cheque or cash on a Monday for all dinners to be taken that week. Each child needs a separate cheque.

We pay cash or cheque, weekly, monthly, half termly.

Even at secondary ds doesn't need cash. We pay half termly in advance and he has a card to charge the lunch against.

We are in Scotland. The children say on the day whether they will have a hot dinner, 'pick and mix' (sandwiches), bring own packed lunch or go home for lunch. School lunches (whether cooked or p&m) are a flat £1.50, and the children have to take the money in each day.

Given the choice, ds would come home for lunch, with a packed lunch as next best option. DH, who does all the catering in our house, says sod that for a game of soldiers and so ds has school dinners most days and is mostly fine with that. So far as I can tell from the menus, the food is pretty good although it still smells very school dinnery.

I have found it a bit of a pain always having to have the right money, but ds has coped with it pretty much OK since year 3 - he was at another school before that which had a different system. Advantages are total flexibility and giving the kids small amounts of money to practice with - it has really helped him to be confident with cash. We forget to give him the money sometimes, but they still feed him and send a note home to ask for double the next day. We have had the occasional note home when we did send the money, maybe 3 times in 3 years, but to be honest it works pretty well.