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My son goes to an independent school and for us it always has been a financial stretch but one we felt important. He started nursery at the age of 3 and is now in Year one Age almost 6. He has major food anxieties but as the school had no hot meal luncheon and i could tailor his lunch bag to suit his needs that was never an issue.

The last year the parent body of the school - (I would be really grateful if anyone actually can inform me what they are made up of and stand for and what their right are) have decided to chance things first of all the uniform - which seemed ok to me even though it ended up costing 200£ more.

Recently the parent body has decided (no parent has EVER been asked their opinion) that the school is going to introduce hot meals - ok great idea for those who would like it i thought but no the parent body has now decided it is compulsory for all @ 3.75£ / day.

Apart from the fact that we cannot afford this, my son will not eat 1 thing on the menu (I checked it out) - We asked for an exemption for him but they said no - as the majority of the parent body has decided all MUST do so. No one has asked any of the parents - so if i get this right can a parent body just make any majority decision and the entire school must follow to do so?

We have written a letter to the school but it simply comes down to - well paid it or leave. We have now gone to the GP for a letter but this way to making a decision without parents consent has left a bitter taste in our mouths really.

Any advice?

My son has always been happy to go to school and done well - the last weeks has been complete hell of tears, sleepless nights, tantrums and terrible anxiety ... Horrible to see your child like this when he has done absolutely nothing wrong ...

Annie

Hi annie,
thats really terrible, I cant believe the school are insisting that all the children have hot dinners, it sounds like its a money making excersize to me, £3.75 seems a lot !! My daughters go to a state school and a hot dinner is £1.70 and they produce quite nice healthy food, so I am guessing its all about profit.

As for the parent body, i got this from the direct gov site,

The governing body is made up of:
parent governors (elected by parents)
staff representatives (elected by school staff)
local authority governors (appointed by the local authority)
community governors (members of the local community appointed by the governing body)
for some schools, people appointed by the relevant religious body or foundation
up to two sponsor governors, or four if the school is a secondary school (appointed by the governing body).

Its such a shame that they obviously assume that because you have sent your child to an independent school you have loads of money.
I hope it all works out for you and your son, let us know how you get on, Sam x

I found this link, its for the independent private schools council, might be worth a lookhttp://www.isc.co.uk