Some pupils have never even tasted strawberries… until now

When free fruit is put out at Ferndale Community School, staff have learned to turn a blind eye when children take extra. Some pupils arrive hungry each morning because their families cannot afford enough food.

There’s even a small group who don’t have beds to sleep on.

This isn’t a tale of Victorian-era deprivation, but the reality for many British schools in 2025. Ferndale is a former mining village high up in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, and has the most deprived school community in its local authority area.

Some 37% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals and it serves an area listed as the fourth-most deprived in Wales.

Yet walking through the doors it doesn’t feel grim or hungry.

Staff know their community well and are doing all they can to help.

This now includes free fruit and vegetables in cooking classes, a free breakfast club and free fruit at break and lunch.

“In this community there is need because of a lack of food,” admits the school’s community manager Michelle Coburn-Hughes. “There is hunger and lack of warm, safe spaces for some. The level of poverty in some of our families is quite scary.

“There is a lack of carpets, lack of beds, siblings sharing beds. There is a correlation between poverty and [poor] mental health.”

The data linking deprivation and hunger is profoundly depressing and it is Michelle’s job to tackle this – which she does with cheerful energy.

Ferndale is one of around 400 schools across the UK to receive free fruit and vegetables through Tesco’s Fruit & Veg For Schools scheme, which the Daily Express is supporting. The programme is part of Tesco’s Stronger Starts, which provides more than £8million a year of financial support to community groups and schools.

Launched last September, the inspirational scheme has now been extended for another year to reach even more youngsters across the UK.

Mother-of-three Michelle is well aware of the rising price of food, even for families not facing poverty. Since October, the school has had £500 a week loaded on a card to buy fruit and veg from the supermarket giant.

Michelle is also executive of the Fern Partnership, the school’s charity which raises £1.4million-a-year for the area.

She knows many local children don’t get enough to eat, let alone fresh produce, and says the Tesco scheme has helped their learning and health as well as stopping some from simply being hungry. It’s hard to do your best when you’re hungry and while the free school meal allocation may be enough in principle it does little to stop the hunger for children arriving on empty stomachs hours before lunch, she points out.

The Tesco scheme goes some way to addressing this with its free fruit served alongside free bread from Greggs at the school’s free breakfast club which has been running for 18-months.

Around one in four of the school’s 660 pupils comes to the free breakfast club each morning between 8am and 8.30am before lessons start. Michelle says it’s helped attention and attainment and concentration before exams. “We do see some of our children hungry and even more so now with cost-of-living crisis,” she continues. “There is an absolute correlation between being hungry and not being able to concentrate at school.” Speak to staff at other UK schools and you’ll hear a similar story. Ballycraigy Primary School in Antrim, Northern Ireland, uses produce supplied by Tesco to run a breakfast club for children. Wellbeing coordinator Diane Fowler says it has made a “real difference” to concentration and anxiety levels.

“We have had occasions, for a number of children, in numerous different years, where we have fed a child or children as they have been caught taking food from others lunch boxes or have gone pale, dizzy or nearly fainted because they were hungry,” she says.

“We think there is a direct link to nutrition and the ability to learn.”

At Ferndale, Michelle and other staff say its impact goes beyond simply addressing hunger and nutrition. It also helps children do better at school and gives them knowledge and positive healthy eating habits, which it’s hoped they’ll pass on. Being familiar with different foods and learning how to prepare nutritious, tasty meals is vital, says Ferndale food and nutrition teacher Hannah Darbyshire.

She knows not all families have the money to buy fresh produce and says some children arrive in year seven rarely having tasted some foods, let alone knowing how to prepare them.

“Some have never tried strawberries or pineapple,” she says.

“Sometimes they haven’t tried certain fruit and vegetables so we do tastings.

“We have pupils who have never tried things and they have all gone away from tastings saying they want to eat something new now. Every pupil in our school is eating more fruit and vegetables since the Tesco scheme. You see them walking around eating fruit instead of a bag of crisps.”

On average, 18% of 11 to 18-year-olds have low intakes of vitamin A1, which is important for the immune system, vision, and healthy skin and just 4% of 11 to 18-year-olds meet recommended fibre intakes, according to the British Nutrition Foundation. Ferndale Community School staff collect their order from Aberdare Tesco each week.

Produce goes to the food and nutrition department for cooking lessons as well as the free fruit bowls and breakfast club. At a food and nutrition class, a group of year seven pupils are busy chopping bright piles of peppers, avocado, tomatoes and spring onions for chicken and salad wraps.

Pupil Ethan Evans, 12, admits he’s not keen on tomatoes or cauliflower and thinks he probably should eat more fresh ingredients. “I cook with my grandparents and help with the Sunday roast but prefer eating to cooking it,” he smiles, adding: “I try to eat fruit and vegetables because it is very important and I like grapes best.”

Mason Anthony, 12, clearly loves cooking and is happy to explain how to make the best wrap. He doesn’t like sprouts and is “not the biggest fan of cauliflower” but he loves parsnips, carrots and peas.

“I like making stir fries and I like bananas and oranges but I don’t eat fruit every day,” he admits. Mason tasted mango and peaches for the first time at school and now likes both.

Tesco estimates that almost 2.5 million portions of fruit and veg have been consumed since its Fruit & Veg For Schools scheme launched in the autumn.

Claire De Silva, head of communities at Tesco, says: “Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools is making a significant difference by providing young people with the essential vitamins and minerals they need to thrive.”