Trolley good! Schools stock up on breakfast club items
A SCHOOL in a deprived area of Rotherham has stocked up on healthy breakfast club food items thanks to the generosity of supermarket shoppers.
Pupils and staff at High Greave Schools, including High Greave Infants and High Greave Juniors, were “blown away” after a food drive expected to bring three trolleys full of goods ended up with 11 thanks to the generosity of Asda Dalton customers.
Cllr Michael Bennett-Sylvester said: “The breakfast club has operated for a number of years, is free and from 8am to 8.45am and offers a healthy breakfast.
“The East Herringthorpe neighbourhood is in the most deprived one per cent of all English neighbourhoods and our ward, Dalton and Thrybergh, is the most deprived in Rotherham in terms of household income affecting children.
“My fellow councillor Jodie Ryalls and I have prioritised improving facilities and services for children young people and families and tackling health inequalities in our ward.
“Thanks to Tracey Cox – community champion from Asda – we held a food drive for store cupboard items for the breakfast club for items such as healthy cereals, UHT milk, tinned fruit, honey and preserves with Tracey in addition providing a generous donation of bread and bagels.
“In terms of how they bring children on from age four to 11 High Greave Schools are in my opinion among if not the best in Rotherham.
“The breakfast club is part of a great ethos at the schools where children from some of Rotherham’s poorest households get a great start to the day and every tin of fruit or box of cereal donated by Asda shoppers means the funding the school gets can go further in giving its children the best in life chances.”
Cllr Jodie Ryalls – a former pupil at the schools from nursery to secondary – said: “We’ve been absolutely blown away by the generosity of Asda shoppers whether donating a jar of jam to literally shopping bags full of the essentials.
“It led to shelves being stripped bare and the team having to do an early replenishment.”
Tracey Cox added: “It was a pleasure to host this as times are really tough for majority of families at the minute.
“One extra box of cereal for one person might not be much but to one child it means the world.
“Doing my job in the community really opens your eyes and I am thankful to be in a position to be able to help.”