The Park Community School near Havant is not far from one of Seaward’s serviced office buildings, Langstone Gate, and our new development at Priors Orchard, Southbourne. As a result of our local connection Seaward was approached earlier in the year to see if we would be prepared to support the pioneering MUNCH community food project at the school. We were very pleased to get involved.
MUNCH is the name of a project set up to provide pupils who normally receive free school meals with a meal during the holidays. The project also provides activities and ensures that young people have someone to talk to.
The MUNCH community food project ensures that no child will go hungry during the holidays. Where there is significant need the parents/carers will also be able to access a meal. The staff and volunteers work with supermarket schemes and Food Share to ensure that they are able to access good quality ingredients at little or no cost.
There is also a Community Fridge available which provides fresh produce for local people. This is stocked through donations and FareShare, a charitable organisation which saves and distributes food which would otherwise go to waste. When we visited the school last Thursday the large fridge had just been re-stock and was completely full. It was re-stocked later in the day and by Friday morning it looked like this. There is clearly a need for this service in the community.
All the food at lunchtime is freshly prepared with a choice of sandwiches and salads, a hot main course and pudding. There is also fresh fruit and juices. The quality of the food is excellent and the chef responsible is genuinely enthusiastic about the scheme.
The school’s motto is More than just a school. Having visited the site last week we can certainly vouch for that. There is a farm, allotment and orchard which provide produce for the school, an offsite centre for teaching pupils construction skills and an offsite print shop which also gives young people the opportunity to learn new skills. We are planning a visit to the Apex Centre to see for ourselves the work being done on developing construction skills.
Visit the schools website here for more information about the MUNCH community food project.
Register your interest in Seaward’s new development at Southbourne by completing the contact form here or calling us on 01243 790581.