'One parent was left with a single can of beans and no money to buy food' - Leamington assistant headteacher expresses his frustration over the roll out of free school meals

The assistant headteacher of a Leamington school says the roll out of free school meals has been catastrophic - and has exposed deep inequality.

Campion School assistant headteacher Nick Hawkins said 28 per cent of his students are reliant on free school meals and the government’s government’s food hamper and meal voucher scheme out has left some people struggling to eat.

Over the last few days, social media has been flooded with images of measly food parcels delivered to deprived schoolchildren by contracted firm Chartwells.

Footballer Marcus Rashford, who pioneered a campaign to ensure free school meals were reinstated during the first lockdown, spoke with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Afterwards, he said that Mr Johnson was “committed to correcting the issue with the food hampers and that a full review of the supply chain is taking place.”

Mr Hawkins spoke to Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western about the situation.

The assistant headteacher said: "Our families are desperate for food and money.

“One parent called me late at night saying she had only a single can of beans in the house and no money to buy food.

“She clearly needed urgent help feeding her children - so we rushed to get her food vouchers.

He added: “The government’s communication has been poor.

“They knew schools were shutting so why have there been so many problems.

“I’ve just had a meeting with 20 headteachers and they’re all saying the same thing.”

Primary schools and secondary schools were closed last Tuesday (January 5) - while special schools and nurseries remain open.

As of last April, there were 603 children in Warwick and 533 in Leamington Spa that were reliant on free school meals.

Amid the UK’s third lockdown, Mr Western says the government needs to take urgent action to fix the school meals system.

Some people have called for food parcels to be scrapped and cash payments for parents to be reintroduced.

The Warwick and Leamington MP said: “On a personal level, to hear stories of children going hungry is really upsetting – and should spur us on to support our teachers and lobby the government to take action on providing meals for schools.

“Many of Warwickshire’s poorest children are facing a crisis - and will be trying to make up for the damage done to their education for years to come.

“If anyone is upset by their school meals allocation, please contact my office on [email protected] or by calling 01926 882006."

The Labour MP hosted an urgent debate yesterday (January 13) in Parliament on supporting students in the transition to online education.