On Tuesday 30th April 2019, we helped St Michael’s Junior School in Twerton officially launch its new Breakfast Club initiative by welcoming parents and students to hear more about how the club will work and where the food for it will come from.
As part of a £20,000 grant we were awarded from the St John’s Foundation earlier this year, we are now able to expand our work into the Bath and North East Somerset area, with our new partnership with St Michael’s Junior School being just one of the planned projects.
Twerton is an area of high deprivation, with 1 in 3 children living in poverty and 58% of pupils within St Michael’s Junior School receiving free school meals with the national average at 15.5%.
St Michael’s Headteacher, Clare Greene, says: “FareShare will transform what we do at St. Michael’s. I can now offer free breakfast to all but also guarantee that all my pupils have a mid-morning snack so they are fuelled and ready for learning. We’d noticed many were coming to school hungry and did not have a snack to sustain them until their lunchtime.
We’ve already been receiving some fresh food from FareShare South West in the past few weeks and already we are seeing the children try new things: hummus, celery and blueberries have been a real hit! The children now get excited to see the range of food we get in and I know that the Breakfast Club will fast become a favourite part of the day for many! As well as the Breakfast Club for all, we’re also going to be providing bags of shopping for families who may need a little extra support to provide nutritious meals in the evenings. I am proud of our partnership and rave about it to many!”
FareShare South West CEO, Julian Mines, says: “With 8.7 million people in the UK struggling to afford to eat and 4.7 million people living in severely food insecure home, it is unsurprising that children are going to school hungry and without the food they need to sustain them for a day of learning.
We are delighted to partner with St Michael’s Junior School and play our part in supporting the children of Twerton to give them the best possible chance of success for their days at school. Twerton is one of a number of areas in BANES that struggles with high deprivation and resulting food insecurity.
In response to the need, we have big plans to expand our provision across the BANES area and support more families and individuals to have access to a nutritious diet- saving hundreds of tonnes of good food from becoming waste in the process. We hope to have the support of the BANES community as we grow.”
