A five-year-old boy is eating school lunches consisting of crackers and water because of an ongoing row between his mother and headteacher.

Uriel Senior, who is called Donny by friends and family, is a pupil at Ecclesbourne Infant School in Thornton Heath but is at the centre of a disagreement which has left his mother banned from the school and him surviving on the measly rations.

His mother Donna claims her son is entitled to receive free school lunches through the government benefits scheme but has failed to produce the correct documentation - despite being asked for copies numerous times since April.

She said: "I have shown the vouchers to the school and they said that they needed to see them again. I asked the school to continue with the meals until I received copies of the documents and they said they would.

"But a couple of weeks ago, I popped in to see the kids one lunchtime and I found Donny sitting there eating crackers and an apple and some water while all the other kids were sitting around him eating their hot dinners."

However, the headteacher at the school, Camille Hendricks, says that Mrs Senior's debt ran to almost £70 and the caterers could no longer provide free meals for someone without proof of entitlement.

A council spokesman said: "School budgets are extremely limited. If the situation had been allowed to continue, then the school would have had to have made cuts elsewhere within their budgets which would ultimately affect other children."

The school has now banned Mrs Senior from entering the school premises after they claim she was abusive to staff but, despite Mrs Senior admitting that she had an altercation with the headteacher, she believes the treatment to be unfair.

She added: "A few days later I walked into the school with my son and she told me to get off the premises and she said that they were calling the police. She was doing all of this in front of my son."

The spokesman added: "While the headteacher is hopeful that the relationship will improve, if Ms Senior's behaviour deteriorates then, in the interests of health and safety for all children, staff and other parents, further action will be taken."

Mrs Senior says that Donny is now too upset to go to school and she is having to keep him at home some days as a result.

She said: "Donny has not done anything wrong and he is the one that is suffering now. Because he knows that mummy is in trouble he won't go into school.

"It is just so distressing and really unfair on him. He knows he is being treated differently and it is really upsetting him and I am now having to force him to go to school."

  • What do you think? Have your say in our forum.