Bexley school pupils, parents and staff collect donations to help struggling families during lockdown

Staff, parents and pupils at a school are pulling together to support families struggling in the pandemic.

Lessness Heath Primary School, in Erith Road, Belvedere, is launching Lessness Community Aid Network (#LessnessCAN), a new initiative to support people who have problems making ends meet amid lockdown.  

The school has done phone call check-ins and remote learning work for pupils during lockdown. But now they want to tackle another challenge, as many of their families have lost jobs due to the pandemic.

They want to ensure their families are not having to struggle to provide food and other essentials for their children.    

Every Friday, staff will be placing tubs outside the front and back gates of the school, to collect donations from the school community that might help their families, such as tinned food, dried pasta, cereal, toilet roll, toothpaste and other non-perishables that do not need to be refrigerated.    

Head teacher Ann-Marie Bolton wants to ensure their pupils have food security for all their time there. The school has reassured their families that confidentiality is key, and if they need help, they just need to send an email with the words ‘Lessness CAN’, and a member of the Inclusion Team will contact them to arrange support. 

 The school is also reaching out to local supermarkets and other organisations to source free or discounted supplies for those in need. They are hoping a successful launch of Lessness CAN will put them in a strong position to offer extra support for their families over the Christmas break. 

Ann-Marie Bolton, Head Teacher, Lessness Heath Primary School, said: “At Lessness Heath Primary School, our children and their families are always at the forefront of our minds. Our staff worked so hard to prepare for the children’s safe return to school, and now we want to focus on addressing the longer-term impacts of this pandemic.    

“If we can help support our families, through Lessness Community Aid Network, #LessnessCAN, we absolutely will. We ‘CAN’ do this and we ‘CAN’ make sure that none of our families go without during these unprecedented times we currently face!”