A mum has criticised a school for serving a "sad" slice of "cardboard" pizza and a "tiny" dessert for her child's dinner. She said Thornaby Academy in Stockton-on-Tees was charging too much for its lunch portions and claimed its actions were "contrary" to its ethos of putting children's welfare first.
Posting a picture of the pizza, she said: "This monstrosity is what Thornaby Academy thinks is suitable to serve the kids at £1.65 a slice. Yet wouldn't allow my daughter with medical issues to wear her trainers, until she had a note from the musculoskeletal department.
"Costing me, a single mum of three, 100 quid for three pairs of new shoes." The mum told TeesideLive: "We were actually howling at how bad (the dinner) was.
"I thought 'what on earth are you feeding these kids for £1.65'. A sad-looking slice of pizza that looks more like cardboard. People were saying 'is that a little bit of bacon on the dessert' but it isn't, it's a tiny slice of strawberry.
"They put a post on saying the dinners would be much better than last year. I keep thinking 'what delicacy are they going to come up with today?'"
The mum had already taken issue with the academy after her daughter was reprimanded for wearing the wrong shoes and ended up "in agony" due to a musculoskeletal condition. "My child has a problem with her joints," she added.
"She's been referred to the musculoskeletal department. I went in and explained to the school, I said she needs some sturdy shoes that she can put insoles in.
"They wouldn't let her wear trainers until she got a note, which was going to be a week away. A brand new pair of shoes I bought her didn't fit, they gave her blisters.
"So I sent her in black Converse trainers for one day. Three different teachers took her out to have a go at her."
The mum says she was forced to buy another pair of shoes, which could only be worn without insoles. "Not only did she have blisters, she had to wear these flat shoes because they wouldn't let her wear her Converse.
"It's affected her feet and hips again. The poor kid was in agony.
"I don't drive, so she had to walk there and back, and walk round school all day. Finally, we got the note and I had to buy another pair of shoes.
"That's £100 on shoes in two weeks. I'm a single parent, that £100 could have gone on food.
"I used to be a parent governor, and used to think quite highly of the school. It's ridiculous to expect someone to pay all that money when they could have just waited a few days.
"If kids can't afford the uniform at the minute, there should be some leniency - I would've expected that. But sadly not. The school prides itself on putting their children's welfare first, well this is all contrary to that."
A spokesperson for Thornaby Academy, said: "Whilst we would not make a comment on individual cases, the academy has a clear uniform policy in place. We believe that the wearing of uniform plays a valuable role in contributing to the ethos of the academy and in setting the tone for our work with students.
"We aim to ensure that our policy is fair and reasonable and that school uniform is affordable and sustainable, especially in the current financial climate. We provide free school uniform for all year seven students when they start at the academy, as well as providing a pre-loved uniform scheme. We hold a stock of other uniform items, including school shoes, to support our students and their families.
"The academy is disappointed to learn of a possible issue regarding its new catering supplier Mellors, as this matter had not been raised directly with the school. The academy has a clear policy on the use of mobile phones by students during the day which are not allowed.
"Thornaby Academy takes standards of school catering and compliance with food school standards seriously and will be investigating the matter in conjunction with the caterers. Mellors however, have already apologised unreservedly."
Teesside Live also approached Mellors for comment.
