School children benefit from free hot meals project

Head teacher Katy Last said 95% of children at Southwold Primary School were eating hot meals each day

School children have benefited from a parish council project providing free hot meals.

Feed All Children aims to ensure all pupils at primary schools in Reydon and Southwold in Suffolk receive a hot meal during the day.

Academy head Katy Last said 95% of pupils were now eating school lunches daily.

Reydon Parish Council chairwoman Pam Cyprien said: "No child should go without a nutritious meal."

Head of kitchen at Southwold Primary School, Zoe Dawkins, has been serving the free school meals for pupils

The initiative was launched in collaboration with local charity Sole Bay Care Fund and Latitude Festival volunteers who helped fundraise.

The project relies on donations.

Cllr Cyprien continued: "Following the success of our community pantry, we are delighted to be able to extend support to the children in our community through the Feed All Children initiative."

She said the scheme was designed to benefit all in the local community, "de-stigmatising" those in need during the cost of living crisis.

In Suffolk, pupils are only entitled to free school meals if their household receives certain government support.

The meals are provided by the Feed All Children community project, lead by Reydon Parish Council

Ms Last said "seeing the results" from volunteers and fundraisers was "amazing".

Dr Cathy Ryan MBE, from the Sole Bay Care Fund, said she was "delighted" to facilitate donations for the project.

"Knowing all children in our nursery and primary schools have access to a hot meal during the school day, through the winter months, is an amazing achievement," she said."