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Newcastle United Foundation delivers free school meals for children affected by temporary Covid school closure
More than 100 children affected by their primary school closing over Covid-19 concerns have received the free school meals they would have missed thanks to Newcastle United Foundation.
Staff at the official charity arm of Newcastle United stepped in to help deliver school dinners to pupils of North Fawdon Primary School after the site was closed last Tuesday for a two-week period.
Following a number of teachers and pupils testing positive for Covid-19, dozens of disadvantaged children faced going without the free school meals they would be entitled to at lunchtime.
To ensure no child would be left hungry, the Foundation coordinated relief efforts alongside North Fawdon staff and Newcastle City Council to hand-deliver lunches to around 90 households in Newcastle during the fortnight closure.
Andy Foster, NU Futures Manager at Newcastle United Foundation, said: "We were only too happy to help North Fawdon Primary School when the council asked if we could assist in coordinating school meal deliveries to children in the city.
"Throughout the pandemic, we've been able to redeploy staff to deliver thousands of free meals for children who go hungry as families struggle to manage finances during this really difficult time.
"We are proud to be serving the community in a unique way alongside the return of our usual provision for people of all ages across education, sport, employability and health and wellbeing programmes."
Thursday marks the final day of deliveries as the school is expected to reopen on Monday, October 5th, following a deep-clean and when safe staffing levels can once again be met.
Emma Elliott, headteacher at North Fawdon Primary School, praised the Foundation team for their support during the school's closure.
She said: "I would just like to say that we would have really struggled to get lunches delivered without the support of Andrew and his team with our current staffing levels.
"The response of everyone has certainly made a difficult situation today much easier to deal with so I would like to thank the Foundation for their support and help throughout. They have all been wonderful."
North Fawdon Primary School is one of eight schools in the north-west area of Newcastle that form the SMART Multi Academy Trust.
"Throughout the pandemic, we've been able to redeploy staff to deliver thousands of free meals for children who go hungry as families struggle to manage finances during this really difficult time."