Hot meals off the menu at school (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Hot meals off the menu at school
10:00pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Local By Josh Layton
Francesca Cassie and her mum Sharon outside East Wichel School. Picture: JAMES DOUGLAS
A MUM has criticised a newly-opened school for failing to serve hot meals – and giving her daughter an out-of-date yoghurt.
Sharon Cassie claims her daughter Francesca is being given unappetising fare, including the ASDA own-brand dessert. She is even considering pulling the five-year-old out of East Wichel Community Primary School and Nursery unless the menu improves.
“The children need a hot meal, especially with the snow and ice, but there hasn’t been a cook since the school opened in September,” said the 42-year-old.
“Every time I ask my daughter what she had for lunch she says ham and cucumber sandwiches, they don’t seem to get much else.
“My daughter is entitled to free school meals, which I think are meant to cost around £6, but what she’s been getting can’t be anywhere near that.
“I complained before Christmas at a parents’ evening and said they should bring in food from other sources, but I was told it was too expensive.
“I also mentioned it again a couple of weeks ago but nothing happened. I feel like I'm being fobbed off.”
Mrs Cassie, of Old Town, claimed the school should have prioritised hot meals from the start.
The full-time mum said: “One of the only changes was on Monday when my daughter had jam sandwiches, and everything seems to be ASDA and Sainsbury’s own-brand stuff.
“I have been giving her food as well, otherwise she would be absolutely starving.
“On Tuesday she came home with an ASDA Smart Price yoghurt in her lunchbox which was three days out of date. It was dated the 18th. I’m really not happy about it and I have been thinking about taking her out of the school altogether.
“They are supposed to get a cooked meal and a pudding and a drink. I appreciate it is a new school but setting up hot meals should have been a priority.”
The school, on the Old Town-Wroughton border, has 420 places which it expects to be filled over the next few years.
Headteacher Caroline Henham said: “We have a complaints procedure and this is not something which has been taken up by this parent.”
The school has surveyed parents to find out what they expect from school meals, and expects to roll out hot food before the end of March.
Mrs Henham said: “There is quite a lot of expenditure and staffing implications and we worked closely with the governing body to collate all of the parents’ responses and present that information to the governors, who then gave authorisation for me to recruit a catering manager, who started on Monday.
“She has been working flat out and I take my hat off to her enthusiasm in getting the kitchen established as quickly as she can.
“She will be doing some simple tasters for the children and has been pro-actively talking to them about their favourite meals. We will also be providing tasters for parents, governors and staff and will be taking onboard their feedback as well. In three or four weeks we will be generating hot meals for all the children.
“We are putting all the things in place according to plan and the school governing body is fully supportive.”
Mrs Henham added that the yoghurts had been frozen and removed while still being suitable to eat.
Comments(46)
LordAshOfTheBrake
says...
11:04pm Wed 22 Feb 12
Quote... "The children need a hot meal, especially with the snow and ice"... Does that mean every parent that chooses to send a packed lunch not containing hot food is a bad parent? After all they apparently NEED it according to this individual.
Criteria for school meal eligibility is at this link.
http://www.direct.go
v.uk/en/Parents/Scho
olslearninganddevelo
pment/SchoolLife/DG_
4016089
adver
says...
11:18pm Wed 22 Feb 12
greenpacer
says...
11:48pm Wed 22 Feb 12
GO TO THE BACK OF THE CLASS "adver says..." She is a full time mum not in job elsewhere full time.
Suppose though give her a job in the school kitchen and she can help cook the meals. Note the young one with hands crossed ready for a life of adver photos. Complaints here , complaints there !
moaning
says...
6:26am Thu 23 Feb 12
BERT BLOGGS
says...
6:31am Thu 23 Feb 12
What does she want? Harrods? There is a saying that "beggars can't be choosers". Of course, she COULD always get a job and stop scrounging.
M4 Bypass
says...
6:43am Thu 23 Feb 12
Another nothing story from the Adver. How many schools in Swindon no longer provide cooked meals?
hog man
says...
7:41am Thu 23 Feb 12
umpcah
says...
7:50am Thu 23 Feb 12
hog man wrote:Of course it should. Did the teachers have jam sandwiches and out of date yoghurt too ? Rubbish planning i.m.o.
THE SCHOOL KITCHEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN UP AND RUNNING FROM DAY ONE WHEN THE SCHOOL OPENED ITS DOORS FOR THE FIRST TIME , ALL BUDGETS FOR FOOD DONE
moaning
says...
8:06am Thu 23 Feb 12
NORRO
says...
8:18am Thu 23 Feb 12
But, i wouldn't say a child NEEDS a cooked meal during the day, even with a few days of snow and ice. Does the mum not cook at home ? Which is why she seems so annoyed with the school not cooking for her child ! And if she is at home all day, then there is plenty of time to prepare a nice hot meal for the evening.
And are you telling me that all her food at home is of a premium brand ? What is wrong with 'own brand' foods anyway ? Especially when it comes down to yogurts and snacks.
I never once had a hot meal at school. Packed lunches saw me through school perfectly well and are just as cheap, if not cheaper to make than the good old school dinner.
And as for the classic 'i have been hard done by' pose for the Adver paparazzi...........
.
LordAshOfTheBrake
says...
8:31am Thu 23 Feb 12
Hmmmm.....
Here's an idea, perhaps she could have volunteered to help out in the school kitchens.
Another example of the 'its everyone's problem to sort out' and 'gimme gimme gimme' attitude to life that has become prevalent in the UK.
mrsdoubtfire
says...
8:59am Thu 23 Feb 12
When my son was at school he had a packed lunch and a good home cooked meal in the evening.
Alot of parents who's kids get free school meals use it as an excuse "not" to cook for their kids in the evening.
Jim Royle
says...
11:01am Thu 23 Feb 12
Robfm
says...
11:05am Thu 23 Feb 12
Hmmmf
says...
11:33am Thu 23 Feb 12
.
This full-time mum states that she's complained to the school twice, once before christmas at a parents' evening, and again a couple of weeks ago. But the Headteacher sniffs haughtily and announces that since the official complaints procedure hasn't been followed, then the complaint clearly doesn't exist. That's the kind of weasel nonsense you people mank loudly about when it comes from the SBC, but today it's pitchforks and flaming torches for stay-at-home mothers day.
.
The Headteacher in the same breath freely admits the school hasn't had any kitchen staff at all until Monday, when they hired a 'catering manager'. But today it's hurrah for the headmistress of a school that opened 6 months ago which still won't be 'generating hot meals for all the children' for another 'three or four weeks'.
The Goverment wrote:
Local authorities must provide free lunches for eligible pupils, paid-for meals where requested and good facilities and supervision so pupils can eat safely. All food provided by local authorities must meet national nutritional standards. These ensure that children are provided with a healthy, balanced diet including high-quality meat, poultry or oily fish regularly available, at least two portions of fruit and vegetables with every meal, bread, other cereals and potatoes regularly available.
So never mind that for 7 months the LA and school governors have failed to provide the basic services our council taxes pay for. Never mind the fact that the headteacher thinks frozen yoghurt and a jam sandwich meets national nutritional standards for growing children, let's just burn the witch eh, yarr!
cherryblossom
says...
12:12pm Thu 23 Feb 12
chelsiemegs
says...
12:35pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Here's an idea! Get a job and send her to school with a packed lunch you have made which includes everything she likes - labelled brands of course!!
When my youngest child started school I went back to work full time. I take my children to school and yes they have a packed lunch every day and a cooked meal in the evening! Am I a bad parent??
Hmmmf
says...
12:41pm Thu 23 Feb 12
.
This lady is 42, her child is 5, for all you know she took early retirement from a successful career to raise her daughter. For all you know she paid more in tax and national insurance than some people posting here will earn in a lifetime. She has a right to complain that a taxpayer-funded institution is failing to meet the basic requirements set out by government. You might be perfectly happy, cherryblossom, that your taxes are being squandered and that a school is failing to meet its legal obligations, and that's your perogative. Denying this lady has a right to complain and suggesting she should solve the school's problems for them instead, isn't.
ManWithCar
says...
1:04pm Thu 23 Feb 12
It wouldn't take 10 minutes to make a lunch each morning - but oh dear, I am forgetting the obvious stresses and strains of looking after a child whilst not having a job to go to. The terrible society we live in today eh. Meanwhile, in Syria things are a whole lot worse... GET A GRIP WOMAN!
Hmmmf
says...
1:04pm Thu 23 Feb 12
.
And for all you know, chelsiemegs, that is precisely what this lady is trying to do now that her daughter has started school. But don't let that stop you from joining the torch-and-pitchfork brigade. No, you conveniently forget that you also took at least five years off while your 'youngest' was growing up, and conveniently forget how long it took you to find work afterwards. Are you a bad parent? I'm going to say yes, you are, especially since you advocate crisps for a child's lunch. After all, if you can make blind assumptions without any facts to back them up (Here's an idea!) then so can I.
moaning
says...
1:11pm Thu 23 Feb 12
No the school doesn't have a kitchen, but in my mind they are providing for the children in it's care. I am sure you will come back and say that its not BUT perhaps you are of the society that feels everyone else will help you to look after and pay for the things you can't afford?
I am a stay at home mum too, the difference is I don't claim benefits so am not entitled to "free this and free that" I have to provide for the children I chose to have. Sometimes this means going without myself in order to provide for them. Can this mum honestly say she has gone without to provide for her daughter, or does she just simply say no society provides most of it for me???
What she is effectively saying is that as she is given free meals she wants as much as she can get! When others, myself included are of the opinion that she should be grateful she is getting anything!
cherryblossom
says...
2:15pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Mr_Spunk
says...
3:03pm Thu 23 Feb 12
And the photo!? Pleaseeee!!! The reporter gave the classic "Arms crossed please and pretend your pet rabbit has just died" Looks like they just been made homeless not having to eat a packed lunch rather than a hot meal.
I would be embarrassed if I was her. PUT THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE WOMAN.
chelsiemegs
says...
3:49pm Thu 23 Feb 12
I too would have been annoyed if my child was given an out of date product, but to be fair I wouldn't have run to the Swindon Advertiser to make my point!
mw1990
says...
4:24pm Thu 23 Feb 12
At least i have a backbone and i am not afraid to stand up for my child, I'm so glad I'm not one of the ones that moan in the playground to other parents and don't say anything to the teacher.
Hmmmf
says...
4:51pm Thu 23 Feb 12
.
The fact is, our council tax contains an amount to provide for free schools meals which meet national nutritional standards. The fact is, the school hasn't been meeting those standards since it opened. The fact is, we have all paid for a service for the last 7 months which has not been properly provided to those who are entitled by law to it.
.
If your bins aren't emptied and you pay council tax do you complain and get them emptied, or do you cart them to the tip yourself (and pay a second time to empty them there?).
.
The headline could just as easily have been "School Serves Jam Sandwiches and Out of Date Frozen Yoghurt Shock." It could just as easily have been "Headmistress thinks frozen yoghurt and jam meet two-a-day fruit and vegetables requirement." But the Adver chose instead the trite and banal rather than undertake real journalism. No surprise there.
.
The real story isn't about a 'freeloader' or 'whinger' or 'an ungrateful waste of space' or all the other rabid insults being bandied around. It's about a primary school failing to fulfil a basic obligation for months on end and a headmistress who, when the accusation was made, could think of no better excuse than "There is quite a lot of expenditure and staffing implications and we worked closely with the governing body to collate all of the parents’ responses and present that information to the governors, who then gave authorisation for me to recruit a catering manager, who started on Monday." to explain away 7 months of failure.
.
But it seems many people can't see past those three little words: full-time mum.
Jim Royle
says...
4:52pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Hmmmf
says...
5:32pm Thu 23 Feb 12
.
You are paying for healthy nutritious meals to be provided to every eligible pupil. But while you (and I) are paying the price for quality meals, what is being supplied is jam butties and frozen yoghurt.
.
And telling this lady to provide her own packed lunch just means you'd be paying all that tax for nothing. It's not FREE, you've already paid for it, but the kids aren't getting what you paid for.
ManWithCar
says...
5:35pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Does your situation stop you from providing what you think is a balanced lunch for YOUR child? Or would you rather shirk the responsibility onto a school? I know what most mums would do.
mw1990
says...
5:39pm Thu 23 Feb 12
LordAshOfTheBrake
says...
5:54pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Are you saying that you did follow the complaints procedure and therefore the school is lying when they say that you didn't?
The article has a clear statement that says you didn't.
Schools are supposed to publish their menu's so you should be able to check what is being served when. Post the menu to the thread.
You claim in your post your not complaining about the fact its own brand yoghourt, however this statement in the article "Sharon Cassie claims her daughter Francesca is being given unappetising fare, including the ASDA own-brand dessert" suggests otherwise. Is the adver mis-representing you?
It is statements like that that will give people the impression you are complaining about quality/branding.
Your comment "At least i have a backbone and i am not afraid to stand up for my child, I'm so glad I'm not one of the ones that moan in the playground to other parents and don't say anything to the teacher" will rile most people since according to the article you didn't go through due process and ran to the papers for a quick publicity story. The adver seems to want to attack the council at every opportunity.
Out of curiosity does the Adver pay a few quid for these types of stories. I've asked this on a few threads, but no one seems to have an answer.
LordAshOfTheBrake
says...
5:57pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Best Before is not the same as Use By.
chelsiemegs
says...
5:57pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Having read my first comment, I agree my comment regarding 'get a job' was out of order, but irrespective of your comments above, I agree with the ladies complaint regarding the out of date yogurt I would have felt the same. I just think going to the adver was a bit extreme. Perhaps contacting the schools dept at the council may have been more appropriate, if she hasn't already done so.
TinkeyWinkey
says...
6:12pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Doesn't seem a week goes by where you aren't posting a complainers story about something within the council.
for goodness sake give us some "proper" news and stop wasting space on the whingers of this borough
marryjm
says...
7:22pm Thu 23 Feb 12
LordAshOfTheBrake wrote:i am a P I investagating familys clamming fraud this lady claims free food for her child but her partner has a income over 36k a year. she should look at giving the school money for the food instead of claimimg benifits i have 4 weeks to mack my case aganst this family
I think the cost of a school meal is meant to be around £2/3. Quote... "The children need a hot meal, especially with the snow and ice"... Does that mean every parent that chooses to send a packed lunch not containing hot food is a bad parent? After all they apparently NEED it according to this individual. Criteria for school meal eligibility is at this link. http://www.direct.go v.uk/en/Parents/Scho olslearninganddevelo pment/SchoolLife/DG_ 4016089
marryjm
says...
7:33pm Thu 23 Feb 12
Jocksaway
says...
8:45pm Thu 23 Feb 12
mw1990 wrote:You might be happy to stick up for your child, but please do her a favour and don't help her with her homework. Your grammar, spelling and punctuation are all shocking!
Firstly can i just say thanks to people who has supported me in this debate! I would just like to say i DO NOT critise anybody who has packed lunches as it is there choice, i am simply talking about my own daughter and no other children! My concerns to the school about several issues had been raised but simply fobbed off. As regards to branded yoghurts i was not in anyway complaining about that as i have branded items myself, i was asked what sort of yoghurt it was! My main concern was that it was 3 days out of date!! would you let your child eat that?? And for others that are quick to judge you do not know me or my situation, and as for the sly comment about my daughter may get bullied at school i wasn't aware that 4 year olds could read the advertiser!!
At least i have a backbone and i am not afraid to stand up for my child, I'm so glad I'm not one of the ones that moan in the playground to other parents and don't say anything to the teacher.
LCheeseman
says...
9:07pm Thu 23 Feb 12
mw1990 wrote:I think she needs to think about the root of her ‘complaint’. She wanted the school to have a fully working kitchen, to provide hot school meals however as a new school surely the priority was to provide the children with a good education. I’m sure employing teachers and teaching assistants was high on the agenda and then they would address other issues during the year. Also why should only free school meals be entitled to a hot meal, if all the other children are having a packed lunch then the school is doing the right thing by providing free school meal children with one too, until all children have the opportunity to have a cooked meal.
Firstly can i just say thanks to people who has supported me in this debate! I would just like to say i DO NOT critise anybody who has packed lunches as it is there choice, i am simply talking about my own daughter and no other children! My concerns to the school about several issues had been raised but simply fobbed off. As regards to branded yoghurts i was not in anyway complaining about that as i have branded items myself, i was asked what sort of yoghurt it was! My main concern was that it was 3 days out of date!! would you let your child eat that?? And for others that are quick to judge you do not know me or my situation, and as for the sly comment about my daughter may get bullied at school i wasn't aware that 4 year olds could read the advertiser!!
At least i have a backbone and i am not afraid to stand up for my child, I'm so glad I'm not one of the ones that moan in the playground to other parents and don't say anything to the teacher.
LordAshOfTheBrake
says...
7:43am Fri 24 Feb 12
Your point in quoting my post was what?
The complainant made a statement about £6, so I made a comment I think its less. I seem to recall the £2/3 mark from the Jamie Oliver debacle over school meals.
The complainant made a statement that children NEED a hot meal. That's actually her opinion and not a fact; so I asked if those parents that chose to send their children with cold packed lunches are bad parents as they are not meeting the NEEDS.
The first comment asks about eligibility for school meals, so I posted a factual reference from a government web site.
house on the hill
says...
8:32am Fri 24 Feb 12
Robfm
says...
9:23am Fri 24 Feb 12
In fact the law is about to be changed because 'the public' get confused, by best by, sell by and use by.
The powers that be have not decided as yet what the new notation will be, because they are confused???.
Jim Royle
says...
9:45am Fri 24 Feb 12
mw1990 wrote:It wasn't on the shelves though was it? It was purchased and frozen within the date and was then defrosted and given to your child. Fresh produce is treated in this way all the time. Your complaint is a non starter. Why don't you make your child a packed lunch yourself ?
Oh the date does matter would you buy it if you saw it on the shelves and the shop says "oh it dosent matter as its been frozen" i think not!!
adver
says...
10:22pm Fri 24 Feb 12
Do forgive me it was late and I misread the article, indeed she is a full time mum, however you Biff I am not blind so you do not have to be rude and write in capitals.
Workingsinglemun
says...
9:45pm Sun 26 Feb 12
This artical has really annoyed me especially as it appears the family seem to have an income that would take me a very long time to earn!!!
I would like to apologise for any spelling/ grammar/punctuation as I am using my phone due to not being able to afford laptop repairs.
This lady needs to look at the bigger picture and be a little bit more thankful she is allowed the luxury of being a full time mum.
ManWithCar
says...
12:40pm Mon 27 Feb 12
adver says...
10:34pm Wed 22 Feb 12