Tesco grant helps Leith pupils start their day correctly with healthy boost

The Leith Academy Breakfast Cafe project was established 12 years ago to make sure pupils attending school can set themselves up for the day ahead, providing healthy breakfast snacks such as cereals, yogurts, juices and slices of toast.

To bolster the service, the school applied to Tesco’s Stronger Starts scheme, which awards funds to charities and community organisations that make a positive difference in the lives of children and young people.

The school’s application was successful, earning it the special £1,500 grant, and teacher Sheila Ralston said the money will go towards giving young people further support at the beginning of the day, allowing the school to provide food products and new kitchen equipment for the café sessions.

Leith Academy received the £1,500 Stronger Start grant to support their Breakfast Cafe for pupils

Sheila said: “When a child arrives at school, they sometimes haven’t been able to have access to a full, healthy breakfast, which makes focusing during school even more challenging for them. Our experience has shown that a breakfast club plays an integral role for pupils from all backgrounds, ensuring that every pupil has a positive start to their day.

“With a wide range of students from a variety of backgrounds, we strongly agree that no child should be hungry, so with our free breakfast café, we’re providing an opportunity for them to start the day right. Also, to prevent any food going to waste, any leftovers are also provided to our Community Fridge to provide support to further others in our community.”

“With this Tesco funding, we can continue to purchase healthy food items such as cereals and yogurts to support more pupils looking to start the day in the right way. We’d like to thank everyone who voted for our school and helped us to receive this grant to further boost our breakfast café project.”

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

Claire De Silva, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “We’re delighted that we can help groups and clubs such as Leith Academy. 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.”

Since Tesco launched its Community Grants programme in 2016, more than £100million has been given to more than 50,000 local schools and community groups.

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.

For further information please go to https://tescostrongerstarts.org.uk