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Posted on: 25/01/2021School provides hot lunches during lockdown
With our usual meal contractors closed during lockdown and the kitchen staff on furlough, Minerva has decided to offer hot lunches to all children attending school. The meals are available to all children in school and are in addition to the Free School Meals vouchers provided to eligible families.
Mrs Phillips and Mrs Elliott, who both hold Food Safety certificates, have been preparing popular meals such as fishfingers and chips, pasta in tomato sauce, and pizza. About 40 children have signed up so far and have been clearing their plates - and enjoying seconds when supplies allow. Some of the older children have also been having fun helping with the cooking.
Food has been generously donated by Taunton YMCA and Asda, and the children were thrilled when Mademoiselle Desserts - previously Ministry of Cake and before that Maynards - sent a car-load of delicious cakes and puddings, with the promise of more to come. A spokesperson for The Redstart Learning Partnership said: "We want to extend our thanks to the Taunton YMCA, Mademoiselle Desserts and Asda Taunton for all their kind support.
"We would also like to make a very special thank you to Mrs Phillips and Mrs Elliott and the staff at Minerva for going above and beyond and for looking after our children by providing them with a hot lunchtime meal. It’s an absolutely fantastic effort by all involved and we applaud you."
To show their gratitude to the companies involved, the children are making thank you cards to send to them next week.
Mrs Phillips said “I wanted to make sure that although our kitchen was closed, these children still had the chance to eat a hot meal each day. In this most difficult of times, I didn’t want to be moaning and not helping. So I used what I could, asked for provision and made sure we loved these kids in the best way we can.”
