School's 'cost of living cupboard' helps families

A cupboard filled with clothes, food and other essentials is helping around 45 families each week who are struggling with the cost of living.

The service, at York High School, is free to use and can be accessed in confidence by parents who need additional support.

Supermarkets, a church and local residents have all donated goods.

The school's attendance officer, Aimee Stewart, manages the cupboard and said: "There's no restrictions at all, parents can take what they need."

Any family with children at the school can use the cupboard but it is primarily those eligible for free school meals who are using the resource.

Stewart added: "We do have a set group of parents who use it on a regular basis."

The school's principal, Gavin Kumar, said: "We are a true comprehensive school so we do serve a split section of society and with that we have on average around 40 to 45% of our families on pupil premium and able to access free school meals."

As well as clothing and shoes, the cupboard also stocks personal hygiene products and laundry detergents.

Kumar said: "We feel that it is absolutely essential that we can offer a range of goods to keep a house ticking over."

The cupboard originally began operating in 2020, and Stewart took it over in 2022 when she started working at the 750-pupil secondary school.

She added: "Unfortunately we have seen with the cost of everything and everything's going up, we do see a lot more parents using it.

"Parents are always eternally grateful, they will always drop us a message, or drop us an email. We got flowers once from a family who said that it was life-changing knowing that this support was there."

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