'Teachers were bringing in food for hungry kids'

Free fruit stalls and cookery lessons are being funded by a Leeds group set up to help stop school pupils going hungry.

Rethink Food has started providing funding to schools to cover the costs of helping families with food parcels and supper clubs.

A recent report by the University of Bristol found that schools had become the biggest provider of foodbanks across England, with 4,000 across the country.

Rethink co-founder Nathan Atkinson said he had found some teachers and support staff were "bringing in food from their own cupboards and they were buying food out of their own wallets".

"It was really troubling so we wanted to step in and offer support because school budgets have been decimated," he explained.

Previously a head teacher at a Leeds school, Mr Atkinson started Rethink Food, a non-profit organisation, after seeing hungry children struggling to concentrate in class.

"This goes back to 2014," he said, "when a child stood in front of me and said 'I'm hungry' - how can you teach a hungry child?

"We want to get the best learning experience for children so we need to meet their needs and a big part of that is making sure they are nourished."

The group has piloted the Food Pantry network, where schools receive educational support and £100 a week to help families with food parcels, shopping or cooking sessions.

Morley Victoria Primary School used the funding to set up a weekly free fruit stall for families in the playground and a supper club for pupils.

Assistant head teacher Kevin Precious said teachers had recognised the cost of living was putting pressure on more families.

"It can be families with two working parents, struggling because everything has gone up," he said.

"Food has gone up, the bills have gone up, the cost of childcare is massive, so, even if you are a working family, a lot of your wages are going towards paying for childcare."

He said the school had also noticed more families needing help to pay for trips and PE kit and children were asking for food at school.

Anne-Marie Stobbs has three children at the school and estimated her supermarket shopping bill had almost doubled in recent years.

"Everything is just really expensive and it makes you end up buying processed foods which aren't healthy for our children," she said.

"We know we need to be able to fuel our children to be able to learn, so I think schools providing things like this is a real asset to help parents."

At the school's supper club, pupils learn how to prepare a meal and can then take it home for their families, along with any surplus ingredients.

"With the cooking clubs, you're empowering children to have those lifelong skills," Mr Precious explained.

"Without that funding, we wouldn't do it to be honest. Our budget would not allow us to be providing £100 a week on food essentials for families, because we just don't have the money."