Father criticises primary school for serving children with allergies plain jacket potatoes every day

'It hurts so much to see our boys suffering,' says father

(KMG / SWNS)

A father criticised his children’s school for not providing adequate meal options for his two young boys, who are allergic to gluten and egg whites.

Jorg Braese said his two sons, Alvin, four, and Victor, five, were given the same plain jacket potatoes for lunch every day at St Peter’s Primary School in Aylesford, Kent.

“We filled in these allergy forms before school started, but then when term began they just got given baked potatoes,” he said.

The father-of-two went on to describe the school as "incompetent" given that it had not provided a wider range of lunch options.

Braese explained that Victor started at the school in 2018 and never had a problem with his school lunches before. But in September, Alvin joined just when the school’s catering firm changed its menu and since then, both boys had been served exclusively jacket potatoes for lunch.

Braese says he complained to the school but nothing had changed.

”We don’t understand why it is happening again. It’s frustrating, and it hurts so much to see our boys suffering,” he said.

“They are really sad. They don’t want to go to school, and the other boys are always laughing at them. It’s such a shame, because they always loved going to school.”

Braese explained that he and his wife work hard to feed their sons with nutritious meals at home but said that the school is “letting [them] down” when it comes to their meals there.

Other children at the school are served a range of dishes, he added, such as fish and chips.

Jim Holditch, head teacher at St Peter’s Primary School, told The Independent that the boys were served jacket potatoes while the school was waiting for Braese and his wife to approve its suggested a tailor-made menu.

"When a parent informs them that a child has a food allergy, they provide the parent with a specific form on which they are asked to give all relevant details of the allergy," he explained. "The company then draws up a specific menu for the child, which is implemented. Until that process is completed, their policy is to limit the food offered and in this case that is to baked potatoes.

"In this instance the allergy form was sent to the parents on the 14 January and returned by them on the same day. The proposed menu was sent to the parents on the 23^rd for their approval. The parents approved the menu and it was introduced yesterday.

"So yes, the boys have had baked potatoes for a period whilst the new menu was drawn up and agreed, but after the parents approved it last week, it was implemented yesterday."