Pupils at Banbury school receive special Christmas gift boxes

Christmas lunch just before school let out for one special group of students has been more than just an opportunity to share joy through turkey with the trimmings. It has also been a chance for them to see how much their teachers care about them.

Staff from the nurture and welfare team at Wykham Park Academy produced a festive lunch over four days for the 40 children they guide.

Each sitting has been for a group of 10 students, who are in years 7, 9 and 10, with food and table crackers donated by local businesses including a butchers in Hook Norton, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.

A Christmas box filled with small gifts, toiletries and other essentials was also given to each child. The items have been donated by staff or purchased using money gifted by the Leamington Spa branch of technology company ARM.

Around 155 shoe boxes were packed this year ready to distribute to students who would benefit most from the gift. The special Christmas lunches were given out during the last week of school with the last one on Thursday December 17th.

Unfortunately the year 8 group did not have their Christmas lunch as they were isolating, and will dine on their roast turkey when they return in January. Their Christmas boxes were delivered to their homes by the nurture and welfare team.

Justine Williams, senior assistant principal at the Banbury academy, said: ‘’This year my nurture team decided we would cook Christmas lunch for about 40 children over 4 days.

‘’We’ve had some fantastic donations from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Hook Norton Butchers.

‘’The generosity shown means the children have enjoyed sitting at a table and eating turkey with all the trimmings. This year has been a difficult one due to Covid-19 and the lunches have been a great opportunity for us to spread some festive joy.’’