Meadowfield Primary School: Leeds shop owner rallies community so children get 'experience of a lifetime'

Every year, Meadowfield Primary School hosts a trip for its Year Five children to Whitby. With the ongoing cost of living crisis and a much tighter school budget, staff had regretfully announced that they would not be able to send the children away to the seaside town as usual.

Deputy headteacher Nick Hemingway said the school had needed to find a further £3,000 for the trip to happen. He said: “It’s a really important experience, but it comes with a price. The price without any subsidy would be £120 per child and we can’t ask parents to do that – 64 per cent of Year Five come from a low income background, a number of them rely on food banks so asking them for a school visit is out of the question. You can save money by buying a few less pencils but it won’t cover £3,000.”

Local store owner Kevin Wilson had heard the news from upset parents and believed he could help to save the trip by raising funds through his shop, Barry’s Convenience Store. He said: “I thought, ‘The amount of customers we get through our doors each week, we can certainly raise this money without a doubt’. We are the hub of the community, the store is right in the centre. The kids come in every morning and Mr Hemingway and the teachers here are fantastic – what is there not to help?”

Kevin united the community over a number of months, welcoming donations from other local stores and parent company Premier, as well as donating food for the school’s internal raffle. Those efforts raised a total of £3,100 – and he’s already started raising money for the 2024 trip. He added: “I have pledged to help every year to send these kids to the Whitby trip, every year we will do what it takes so they go.”

The trip, which Nick describes as “an experience of a lifetime”, is important to the school as it allows the children to experience things beyond the curriculum for the first time and teaches them independence and social skills outside the school setting. It may also be the only trip that some of the children go on.

Nick said: “With Covid and the cost of living, many of the children haven’t left the estate, let alone visited the centre or the seaside. It’s really important that we take them somewhere, no else is able to. This community of Halton Moor and Osmondthorpe is too often linked with crime and antisocial behaviour. Yes things do happen sometimes, but I’ve worked in this community for 20 years now and it is full of good people who care about the wellbeing for children and want the best for them – and there isn’t a lot of money but they dug deep. Just a great big thank you to Kevin and the community for making it possible.”