Bradley Stoke Community School students help out with North Bristol Foodbank

Over the past couple of months, Year 9 students from Bradley Stoke Community School have been working closely with North Bristol Foodbank and the local primary schools. Their aim has been to raise awareness about local food poverty and to collect food for the new distribution centre.

The students- Ben Maxted, Connor Maule, Heidi Sermulins and Chloe Webster were inspired to take action after visiting the Foodbank distribution centre and finding out how the charity works. The idea that people are in need so close to them made them want to get involved and do something to help.

As a result, they have organised food collections, not only in their own school, but also in three of our local primary schools. With help from the Foodbank representatives they have led assemblies in Bradley Stoke Community School, as well as at Meadowbrook, St. Marys and Bowsland Green primary schools. During these events, they shared information about the charity, increased the children s understanding by leading some games and encouraged other young people to help.

Tony Matthews, joint Foodbank manager, said “It has been inspiring to see these young people owning this initiative and getting involved themselves in very practical ways, from sharing in assemblies to packing food at the distribution centre. We are really grateful for the huge amount of food collected that will help people in crisis points in life. ”

The collections in all four schools have been really successful with a combined total of just over half a tonne of food (552kg) collected.

Claire Wilson, teacher at Bradley Stoke Community School, said “This joint work has had so many positive results. Not only has there been a lot of food collected for a very worthwhile charity, but also the confidence of the young people involved has grown enormously as they have seen the effects of the work they have done. We very much look forward to further developing this link with the North Bristol Foodbank in the future. ”

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