In Castle Vale in Birmingham, 24.9% of residents are under 18 and 35.7% of these local children live in low-income households.
Amongst these children, truancy and under-achievement, due to hunger, poor nutrition and poverty, are major concerns, particularly for teachers and staff at Lift Greenwood Academy, who have been topping up children’s meals out of their own pockets.
It’s been proven in a number of studies that improved nutrition can boost concentration, improve attendance records and increase self-esteem in school-aged children. Other studies have shown that pupils who receive free school meals score up to 10% higher in standardised tests than similarly deprived peers who do not.
The Pioneer Group – Castle Vale’s community housing association – is working towards joint educational and wellbeing programmes with Greenwood Academy and requested a shopping voucher donation from Nationwide’s Social Vale Fund as a first step towards supporting students who were arriving at school hungry.
Nationwide Windows & Doors has donated a £1,000 supermarket voucher fund to help remove the barriers to learning that come with hunger and enable teachers to support students without using their own pay-packets.
