£5k grant helps offer holistic support to students in Derry school

Long Tower Primary School in Derry has been boosted with news of a special £5,000 grant from Tesco’s Stronger Starts scheme. The money is being used to fight food insecurity among its pupils and offer them emotional, physical and cultural support.  

The school had originally applied to the scheme, which awards funds to charities and community organisations that make a positive difference in the lives of children and young people, for a Breakfast Club. The school is in one of the city’s most deprived areas, where food poverty is growing.

“We had hoped for the £1,500 grant and receiving the special one was a brilliant surprise,” commented Nursery Teacher Rebecca Ramsay. “The money is very necessary and welcome to the holistic approach we would like to offer our pupils.” 

According to Rebecca, the school already relied on FareShare, a charity that redistributes store-level surplus food to people in need, to receive a monthly order from Tesco and provide a snack during school hours, such as toast, fruit, cheese and ham.

“Now having warm toast in the morning helps pupils concentrate on their academics and no one has to be worried for not being able to bring in a snack from home or not having breakfast; everyone is treated the same,” she commented. 

The unexpectedly higher grant has also allowed the school to address other issues. The school now offers a Lego Brick Club to help children who have health and wellbeing difficulties, or who have been through trauma or family breakups, for example.  

The next steps include acquiring music and PE equipment to support the pupil’s physical and cultural de development. “Our budget was so short before and, without a proper government at Stormont for so long, there has been no more investment, so we would like to thank Tesco and our community for their amazing support,” Rebecca added. 

The Stronger Starts scheme, in partnership with the Groundwork charity, aims to support many Northern Ireland community projects and good causes in the coming years, with thousands of pounds to give away. The scheme typically gives shoppers a chance to vote for local good causes to receive a £500, £1,000 or £1,500 grant. 

Pupils from Long Tower Primary at the Breakfast Club

Claire De Silva, Head of Community at Tesco, said, “We’re delighted that we can help groups and clubs like Long Tower Primary School. Stronger Starts invites our customers to use their blue tokens to vote for local schemes they feel will benefit children and young people, and it’s so good to see the impact that the funding makes.” 

Derry shoppers can support their local school and children’s groups by dropping the Tesco blue token they receive at checkout into the relevant voting box as they leave the store. 

Go to https://tescostrongerstarts.org.uk for further information.