Southampton school offers free meals after man donates pension

A school in Southampton has been able to launch a scheme to offer free school meals to families on universal credit following a donation from a pensioner

John Draper, headteacher of Swaythling School, had been looking into the cost of this plan when a man walked into the school with an envelope of cash. Since then about 15 families have benefited from the scheme which costs £8,000 a year.

John started to develop the plan last year. “I named this initiative ‘Operation Moonshot’ partly as a nod to the old saying ‘Shoot for the moon - even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars’ and partly out of frustration at the realisation that, in 2022, we have the wealth and technology to take people to the moon but, somehow, we can’t ensure that children are adequately nourished in the sixth richest country in the world.

“Longer term, we want to run a breakfast club and after-school provision for those working parents who need it - the small profit we generate, we will reinvest into additional free school meals.”

ELIGIBILITY GOING DOWN?

The government earnings’ threshold for free meals is £7,400 a year, or £142.30 a week; school meals are charged at £15 a week. “We’ve actually noticed over the last few years, although we can see deprivation has increased for the children, the eligibility has gone down slightly which is really surprising.” John said.

Fidaa, a school governor and parent, explained, “Now everyone knows their kids will be well-fed and they won’t have to worry about coming up with the money every month. A child going to school hungry is not going to study. If they feel left out, and everyone else is having a nice hot meal while they’re eating a cold sandwich - that’s not right. Some people are a bit proud to ask for help but the school did not disclose any names.”

John describes the donation as ‘the miracle of Swaythling’, with enough money provided to fund the extra meals for ‘a good few months’. “For some families, it will be the only hot meal that a child is getting throughout the day.”