School apologises over bread-and-butter lunch plan for pupils who cannot pay for school dinners

Alban Church of England Academy forced into u-turn over new policy after backlash

The school was forced to apologise after it proposed to serve bread and butter to children who did not have money to pay for their meal (PA)

A school has apologised to parents after warning children would be given butter and bread if they did not have any money to pay for their lunch.

Alban Church of England Academy in Great Barford, Bedfordshire, was forced to perform a u-turn on its school meal policy after a backlash from parents over the new rule.

"I apologise if this has caused any offence, this was not our intention," head teacher Sue Lourensz said in a letter to parents.

Mrs Lourensz had previously warned parents from that children who came to school without a packed lunch or money to pay for their meal would be served a drink and bread and butter if their parents could not be reached.

She explained the school had paid for children's dinner more than 100 times in a month because pupils had come to school without any money to pay for it.

She said school meals cost £2.10 and were provided by catering company Caterlink, which enforces a strict "no debt" policy, obliging the school to fund pupils' unpaid dinners before claiming it back from parents.

At a time when the school is encountering a tighter budget, she said this took a "considerable amount of time...and extra cost for the school".

But after parents made it clear they objected to the new system, the head teacher wrote a second letter saying the new "trial" policy would not be implemented.

"The letter itself was intended to explain the situation and trial a policy that has been successfully adopted by other schools," she added.