Courthouse Green is a large, inclusive primary school based in Coventry that looks after 700 children from ages 2-11.

Sadly, of these children, 32 per cent are in the vulnerable category that means they are entitled to free school meals. 

With Covid-19 wreaking havoc on our economy and many households, this number is certain to rise, as more and more families are facing extremely difficult financial pressures.

Marcus Rashford identifies with many of our children here at Courthouse Green and his achievement in persuading such an important government U-turn on the provision of free school meal vouchers, which will ensure our children will be fed this summer, is an astonishing and welcome moment of relief in these tough times.

Marcus’ selfless demonstration of his commitment to support those less fortunate than himself is a true act of philanthropy and kindness and we will all benefit from looking at how he has presented himself throughout.

It’s just a shame that this was even up for debate in the first place.

Why are we letting children go hungry?

Every child deserves to have a nutritious meal three times a day. It appals me that anyone should think anything to the contrary.

Yet, year on year we witness the challenges that our parents face over the long summer holidays, trying to juggle the many demands on their finances as their food bill more than doubles.

It is a real concern for us all.

Covid-19 has heightened the challenges for our parents across the socioeconomic scale, as they find themselves facing much graver financial difficulties for the foreseeable future, with unemployment on the rise and zero-hour contracts providing no job security.

With the vouchers amounting to £15 per week, per child, a family with two children will receive £120 a month towards their food bill, which really helps.

This little bit of financial support, alongside the furlough schemes and grants, will hopefully allow the majority of our parents to not just survive the holidays with their children, but bring a little bit of enjoyment and a much-needed reprieve from the daily worries around feeding their family.

A yearly problem

However, as Marcus acknowledged in numerous interviews, the government’s decision is a step in the right direction, but it only provides a six-week reprieve, so there is much more to be done.

A mighty challenge for us at the start of lockdown in March was getting food to our children who are entitled to free school meals.

Although, as a school team with our main focus always on the wellbeing and safety of our children, we acted quickly and developed a voucher system by day two of lockdown.

Unfortunately, due to the late implementation of the government’s FSM scheme, many schools and families were pushed to the brink.

There are also many families that have fallen through the net when it comes to this scheme as they have only just found themselves in the vulnerable category and are not on the system as yet.

Logistical headaches

Another difficulty is the logistics around spending vouchers and redeeming the food, as there are still only a number of outlets that are part of the current scheme.

Therefore, we’ve had parents who are self-isolating, or without cars, that are unable to get to these outlets even though they have vouchers to spend and are very much in need.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of our teachers and pastoral support, we have done our utmost to help out.

But this is far from ideal going forwards. 

Not only this, but as 28 per cent of parents at our schools speak English as a second language, they often experience difficulties accessing and understanding the online application forms, so perhaps there needs to be more guidance or help at hand.

Perhaps most fundamentally, we cannot allow a situation to occur in which families and their children are finally freed from the burden of summer food poverty and financial strain, only for it to return next year, or the year after that.

I hope Marcus Rashford’s wonderful efforts this year lead to a wider debate about a much-needed overhaul of the FSM system including a fresh look at the voucher scheme and an ongoing commitment for summer, Easter and Christmas holiday support.

Children across the UK deserve this and so much more.

Sarah Malam is CEO of Triumph Academy and took her third headship role at Courthouse Green in 2009