"Girl suffers double humiliation after school dinner mix-up"

From The Evening Standard:

A girl of six, who had been given bread and jam instead of a hot school dinner because her mother was £4 in arrears, was humiliated further today after her mother contacted journalists from the local newspaper.

Hazel Lebby, 37, says she was shocked to discover that not all the other children at St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary in Commonside East, Mitcham knew that her daughter Hannah had been denied a lunch after she fell behind with her payments. So Mrs Lebby allowed the local newspaper to publish the story, together with a photograph of her daughter to make it easier for bullies at the school to recognise her.

Mrs Lebby said: "Hannah made me promise not to come up with lame excuses like 'my car broke down so I totally forgot' and 'the next morning I woke up with a leak. My carpet was soaking wet'. But I felt pretty confident that the older boys wouldn't use this as inspiration for smutty jokes, so I decided to go public."

The school has criticised Mrs Lebby's decision. Headteacher David Feasey said: "Sometimes children experience difficulties - like being a ginger or having a parent who is overweight - and we can work around that. But it’s a parent’s responsibility not to make themselves and their children look like complete whining idiots."