From Monday, 29, June, there will be a weekly delivery of groceries to homes of children who are entitled to free school meals.
Each delivery will take place on a Monday and will contain a week’s work of groceries to produce packed lunches. The last delivery will be on 3 August.
Since lockdown began on 23 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Council staff across a range of services have to date delivered more than 124,000 packed lunches to pupils entitled to free school meals.
The final delivery of this successful programme will be today (23 June) and a flyer will be included with details on the six-week summer programme.
Other key information:
- Families who opted out of the current scheme will be automatically reinstated for the summer deliveries unless they fill out a form to opt out.
- For children in P1 to P3, lunches will only be provided to those in receipt of the footwear and clothing grant.
- If there is no one home when the delivery arrives, staff will be unable to leave the grocery pack.
- Each week, the groceries will be slightly different.
Supporting those most in need
Convener of Stirling Council’s Children and Young People Committee, Cllr Susan McGill said: “We are committed to supporting those most in need, particularly during the current crisis, so it was important we continued to provide this free service to eligible families during the summer break.
“I would like to thank all our staff who have been involved in the preparation and delivery of school meals over the past three months, which has made such a positive difference to children and young people across Stirling.
“To have provided more than 124,000 meals to children in such difficult circumstances is an incredible achievement and everyone involved should be extremely proud of their contribution.”
During lockdown, lunches were prepared by catering staff, with drivers coming from Land Services, Facilities Management, Housing, Customer Services and Education teams, who have also been checking in on children during the deliveries.
Rising to the challenge
Vice Convener of the Children and Young People Committee, Cllr Christine Simpson said: “Our free school meal arrangements since the pandemic started have been yet another example of Council staff rising to the challenge to provide an essential service to the public.
“We know the summer holidays can be challenging for families in normal times so it is vital we are still able to support them over the coming weeks via these weekly deliveries.”
More information:
If you have not yet registered to receive this entitlement or if your circumstances have changed due to COVID-19 and your income has reduced, contact stringerj@stirling.gov.uk to discuss your child’s entitlement. Please include your name, address and your child’s name and date of birth.
To report a problem with our free school meals provision, please complete this form. If you have already reported an issue that has not been dealt with yet, please complete the form and add the details into the comments section.