A primary school which runs a foodbank for struggling families has issued a heartbreaking plea.
The Alt Academy's foodbank is open to any parent who need it, and also works with the Co-Op through the Food Share scheme, picking up unsold food close to its expiration date. It can then be handed out to families in the morning 363 days a year.
The Oldham school, in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country, is asking for help.
The primary school for pupils age between 3 and 11, will be opening its doors on Christmas Eve for a special event to bring joy to students and their families - as teachers fear the area's high levels of poverty might leave some families unable to celebrate the holiday this year.
Teachers will be coming together to cook hot turkey sandwiches, and provide hot chocolate with marshmallows by a a campfire, offering families a place to be warm and fed this winter when the cost of living crisis is expected to hit the hardest. They are asking for locals to make donations to make Christmas special.
Tamsin Wood, assistant principal at the school, told the Manchester Evening News that the situation in the area had only worsened in recent years.
The school runs a foodbank, which is open to any parent who need it, and also works with the Co-Op through the Food Share scheme, picking up unsold food close to its expiration date which can then be handed out to families in the morning 363 days a year. The only days the scheme doesn't run are Christmas Day and Easter Sunday, when the store is closed. It also runs a breakfast club, and a tea club, to make sure pupils are fed both before and after school.
Miss Wood said: "We're in quite a high deprivation area of Oldham, the area is really poor and we know Christmas is really tough usually and this Christmas will be particularly difficult with cost of living so we thought hope can we make it that little bit special. We do a lot to support out families, breakfast clubs every day, and the Food Share scheme. When we started the food bank last January there was some stigma around it but by around March people were queueing up for it.
"Everybody’s in the same boat, we've seen a massive escalation in the number of families in hardship. We have something called Mother Hubbards Food Cupboard, where staff bring tins in like the supermarket ones. We send food parcels and parents know they can contact us if they’re struggling but it's also up to us to identify families in need.
"We''ve seen an increase in deep hardship in an area that was already poor. It’s had a massive impact on health and wellbeing. There might not be as much money coming in, and things are going through the roof, so we have a tea club where people can come and have their tea with us so the kids are fed. It's always really busy because they know how much we’re trying. It’s tough.
"I’ve been working in Oldham for 20 years and you used to have families that would ask what topics were coming next so they could take their kids on trips but now it’s about the hardships our families are facing.
"Before we did the food share scheme we knew it was a problem we knew people were struggling we just didn't realise how much. Now that we’ve seen it in its entirety we knew we had to do so much more."
Alt Academy is in the Alexandra ward of Oldham, a neighbourhood which is within the top two per cent of the most deprived areas in the country. Official data from the 2019 Indicies of Deprivation, published by the Office for National Statistics, ranked Alexandra as the 562nd most deprived neighbourhood of 32,844 in the country.
There are around 330 pupils enroled at the school, with around 200 families sending their kids to the site. Although the school have been supporting the most vulnerable families for years, the level of poverty has risen recently, with children coming to school without jumpers, coats, and even shoes. Staff have taken to bringing items in to help clothe children too, bringing hand-me-downs from their own children that are still in good condition.
The school organised a uniform stall this year, asking for people to donate old uniforms from children who had outgrown their current items, or who had left the school, so families could come and pick up the donations for free. All of the uniform was gone within two days.
Now, the school is planning to bring some joy to their pupil's faces this Christmas, providing gifts and food for children whose families might struggle to stretch the budget to cover the celebration. Miss Wood is hoping that generous locals will help them to make their vision a reality, as the school doesn't have any money to spare either.
She added: "We've decided to make this Christmas special for the children we see every day. We’re going to open on Christmas Eve and have a special visit from the big guy and his wife and we’re giving out tickets, they’re not for sale and there’s no cap to them but it’s just so we’ve got numbers and ages to give appropriate gifts, then there’s going to be hot food and a campfire, just to make it a little bit magical.
"What we’re looking for donations of toys appropriate for 1-11, turkeys so we can cook them, cranberry sauce, stuffing, things we can cook ourselves - we’re asking for staff volunteers to come to school on Christmas Eve and Autumn term is always really hard so we’re essentially saying ‘go home for three days and come back’ which means there’s no catering staff. We’re looking for marshmallows, hot chocolate, chocolate coins, wrapping paper.
"We’re trying to make it as much fun as we can for hardly any money because we haven’t got any. We need any help we can get and we’re hoping people will help, we always see Christmas as about giving back. We’re trying not to tell kids exactly what’s going on, just told them that something really special is happening.
"It’s soul destroying and heartwarming at the same time, we're trying to do our best and that makes us feel good but the fact we have to do that in 2022 for the families we care about is just tragic. we know that it’s going to be difficult we want to make memories, we want people to be warm and fed on Christmas Eve."
If you're able to help provide any donations to the school, please contact info@alt.theharmonytrust.org.
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