A school where it was claimed staff were "taking" children's school dinners from their plates has apologised to parents.
Parents have come to The ECHO claiming Liverpool College on Queens Drive, Mossley Hill "humiliated" pupils as they sat to eat lunch in the canteen on Thursday, February 2. Lunch staff reportedly came through the lunch hall with tongs to remove slices of pizza, cookies and bottles of water from plates in front of other pupils.
The parent said staff then told children, who were "in tears" to inform their parent about their bills.
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One parent, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "The school wrote to parents last week threatening to take legal action over minimal balances. They then decided to humiliate scores of children as their accounts for school meals had slipped into a negative balance.
"The lunch staff publicly shamed the children by coming through the lunch hall with tongs and removing slices of pizzas, cookies, and bottles of water from their plates. I think the word from one of them was 'not today' as they took one of the child's two slices of pizza.
"To add insult to injury the food then had to be disposed of as the children had touched it. Children were left in tears, ringing their parents to have their accounts topped up, but even this wasn’t enough as they were then told it took time to register and sent them away again."
Another parent claimed their son had a half eaten pizza removed from his plate over a £10 debt.
Now, an internal school memo, seen by The ECHO, shows the school apologised to parents for "any upset" following the introduction of "new procedures".
The memo, which was sent to parents by the Vice Principal, said: "I am writing to explain a change in catering options at lunchtime for those pupils whose account is overdrawn. Pupils who have an overdrawn account will be able to purchase a main meal but will not be allowed to buy any additional items.
"Please be assured that we have tap water available for pupils to drink along with the main meal. If pupils are unsure of what the options and combinations that make up a main meal, they can speak to a member of catering staff to clarify.
"Pupils will only be prevented from buying additional extras if the account is in deficit on arrival at the till. We will not prevent pupils buying extra items if on that one occasion it causes the account to become overdrawn.
"We have introduced this change as we believe that it is unethical to continue to allow pupils to buy extra items when this just increases even further the amount that is owed on the account. These changes have been explained fully to the pupils today and we apologise for any upset the introduction of this new procedure may have caused yesterday.
"We appreciate that times are very difficult, and we will not see pupils go without a lunch, but we do need to take action as the amount currently owed due to outstanding balances is at an unsustainable level for the school. We ask for your support in addressing this by regularly checking your child's account and settling any outstanding amounts as soon as possible.
"You are also able to add a cap on your child's spending on their account if you wish. The Finance Department will continue to send out reminders to parents if accounts do fall into arrears."
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