The school has apologised and blamed ‘teething problems’ with a new menu
A mum was left “shocked” and “disgusted” after her 16-year-old daughter sent her a picture of the school lunch she had been served.
The teen was served a meal of just three potato wedges and beans at West Monmouth School, Wales, on Monday, November 7.
She sent a picture of the meal to her mum who was shocked by what she saw, and told her daughter to ask for more. But the pupil was told this was a “normal portion”.
Mum Michele said that school lunches were charged at £2.60 a day and that she was “disgusted” at the portion served to her daughter. She later acknowledged that the school had written to all parents to apologise for the error.
The headteacher said pupils had mistakenly been given sides for the price of main meals as a result of “teething problems” with a new caterer.
Michelle shared the pitiful meal in a post on social media. A number of other parents responded with similar concerns about the portions size their children had received.
She told WalesOnline: “She text me on her lunch break to say ‘this is my lunch today’, and I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked. I thought that they had made a mistake so I told her to ask for more and she said that she had but was told that this was a normal portion.
“She said a teacher had raised it too and was told the same.”
Michele added that her daughter had never had any issues with school lunches before and that this incident was “totally out of the blue.”
“We take these concerns very seriously and I met with the manager of the new company first thing this morning to discuss the issues raised.
“It appears that yesterday’s issues were the result of some ‘teething problems’ with new menus and a few pupils having been incorrectly charged for main meals instead of the ‘sides’ they received.
She said that “any child for whom this was the case” will be reimbursed.
The letter continued: “We are really disappointed that some pupils were unhappy with their experience yesterday and I offer my personal apologies to those pupils. We are hopeful that our work with the new providers today has alleviated the issues but we will continue to monitor the provision closely over the coming weeks.
“In the meantime, I would ask any parents with concerns to contact us directly so that we can address them promptly.”
In response to the apology, Michelle said “it really can’t happen again” and that she was “so really hoping it’s all sorted.”
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