Parents’ fury after school confiscate chocolate bar from her underweight 4st 10lbs daughter, 11, despite doctors putting her on special diet plan
Doctors say medically underweight Tamzon Scott needs to have 2,000 calories a day
AN underweight schoolgirl was BANNED from having a chocolate bar by her teachers - despite being placed on a special diet plan.
Skinny Tamzon Scott - who weighs just 4st 10lbs - needs to have 2,000 calories a day because she is classed as medically underweight.
Her furious parents have today blasted St John The Baptist Primary School in Colwick, Nottingham, for confiscating the chocolate bar from their 11-year-old daughter.
Stuart and Leann Scott pack her a healthy chicken salad in her lunch box every morning along with a packet of crisps and a chocolate snack.
But the couple were left fuming after Tamzon told them her Rocky bar had been taken from her by a teacher.
The school claimed the 106 calorie bar wasn't in line with their healthy eating policy - even though the canteen serves up the likes of chocolate ice cream and butterscotch tart.
Today Leann accused the school of teaching children it "is OK to steal".
The mum-of-three, from Gedling, Notts., said: "Everyone at the school has been informed of the situation and the teachers and staff know she is underweight and that she is on a special diet plan.
"For them to then take a chocolate biscuit out of her lunchbox without telling her is outrageous.
"She had a chicken salad in there too, it's not as if it's the unhealthiest packed lunch that someone has ever had.
"I hadn't packed her lunchbox full of Mars bars or sweets, it was one little chocolate bar.
"Is this not encouraging and teaching the children that it is okay to go through people stuff and then remove things without permission?"
Related stories
She added: "If it wasn't for Tamzon telling me, I would have been left to believe she had eaten all of her lunch.
"The ridiculous thing is that they are allowing other kids to take in Penguin bars, which has the same amount of calories in it as a Rocky bar.
"They are making us feel like bad parents and that we are sending off our kids to school with unhealthy junk food."
Tamzon was diagnosed as being medically underweight when she was checked by the school nurse last year.
Her parents decided to take her to the doctors who put her on a special diet plan to try and boost her weight.
Currently, Tamzon weighs just 4st 10lbs (30kg) - 11lbs (5kg) under the average weight for her age which is 5st 7lbs (35kg).
They are making us feel like bad parents and that we are sending off our kids to school with unhealthy junk food.
Leann Scott
Dad Stuart, a bus driver, added: "Ever since she was born she has never been at the right weight.
"But last year they did a weight check at school and they said she was underweight and put her in the care of the school nurse.
"They took her chocolate bar out without asking or telling her so when she went to eat her lunch it wasn't there.
"They teach children manners and how to be polite but they didn't say anything to her.
"They are effectively teaching children to steal. If a child went into the staff room and took something out of a teacher's bag they would be expelled."
He added: "We have sent her back to school today without a chocolate bar and have replaced it with a swiss roll which is allowed under the guidelines because it is a cake.
"We followed the school policy and have emailed the chair of governors to complain and ask why the chocolate bar was removed without anyone being told and why we still haven't had it back.
"The guidelines for a child her age say they should have 1,930 calories but we were advised to give her 2,000 calories a day.
"She eats normally but we just have to give her a bit extra to make sure she gets more calories."
Stuart, who also has a son Ethan, 10, and nine-month-old daughter Eliza with Leann, added: "Some of the children are taking Penguin bars, which aren't even different, and they are allowed.
";Those on school meals are also allowed chocolate ice cream and chocolate sponge.
"Surely it's my right as a parent to feed my children what I want to especially because she's on this special diet plan."
According to government guidance confectionery shouldn't be included in lunch boxes but cakes and biscuits are allowed as part of a balanced meal.
But Penguins and Rocky bars are both classed as confectionery because they are completely coated in chocolate.
According to the school's website, their healthy eating policy states key stage two children are encouraged to have dinners but are given the choice of taking a packed lunch.
It adds: "Children who choose to bring a packed lunch should be provided with a healthy, well-balanced meal, in line with current government guidelines.
"An audit of lunch box contents is taken randomly and parents informed if it is felt inappropriate food items are being provided."
St John The Baptist Primary School is mixed school in Colwick, Nottingham, for children aged between four and 11.
It received a 'good' rating at its last Ofsted inspection in May last year when it had 196 children on the school roll.
Chris Belton, headteacher at St John the Baptist Primary School, denied confiscating chocolate bars from pupils' lunch boxes.
He said an investigation has revealed no record of a Rocky bar being found by supervisors - and argued Tamzon's diet hadn't been revealed to staff.
He told The Sun: "Where any item is disallowed under our healthy eating policy, our midday supervisors ask the pupils not to eat the item and to put it back in their lunch box to return home or return it to them at the end of the day, depending on the age of the child.
"The incident is then logged in school and a note sent home to parents or carers advising them and clarifying our policy.
“In terms of this particular incident, the Rocky bar isn’t one that would be disallowed under our healthy eating policy which is detailed on our website.
“We have many pupils at our school who have special diets and we work hard to ensure that all relevant staff are aware of their needs.
"In this case, however, we had not received any official confirmation that Tamzon had any special dietary requirements.”
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team?
Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.