John Smeaton Academy Leeds offers £15 supermarket vouchers to children eligible for free school meals

A secondary school in Leeds is offering £15 supermarket vouchers to feed pupils eligible for free school meals over half term.
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John Smeaton Academy, in Cross Gates, will offer the vouchers to all children at the school who are entitled to a free school meal during term time.

A spokesperson for the academy said: "If your child is entitled to a Free School Meal during term time we will be providing a £15 supermarket voucher during the half term period for your family.

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"In order to arrange for this to be collected from school please email [email protected]"

John Smeaton AcademyJohn Smeaton Academy
John Smeaton Academy

It comes after MPs voted against Marcus Rashford’s bid to extend free school meals over the holidays.

Labour’s motion, which called for the scheme to be extended over school holidays until Easter 2021, was defeated by 261 votes to 322 – majority 61 - on Wednesday, October 21.

The England and Manchester United forward, 22, urged politicians to “unite” to protect the most vulnerable children and vowed to continue campaigning, writing on Twitter: “For as long as they don’t have a voice, they will have mine.”

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Downing Street ruled out performing a late U-turn ahead of the vote, with Boris Johnson also telling Prime Minister’s Questions: “We support kids on low incomes in school and we will continue to do so.

Marcus Rashford has vowed to continue campaigning after Labour's motion was defeated in the Commons (PA Wire/Nick Potts)Marcus Rashford has vowed to continue campaigning after Labour's motion was defeated in the Commons (PA Wire/Nick Potts)
Marcus Rashford has vowed to continue campaigning after Labour's motion was defeated in the Commons (PA Wire/Nick Potts)

“But the most important thing is to keep them in school and not tear off into another national lockdown taking them out of school.

“We will continue to use the benefits system and all the systems of income to support children throughout the holidays as well.”

Rashford's campaign has prompted an outpouring of support on social media.

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He posted a string of tweets to his 3.6 million followers on Thursday night and Friday morning, highlighting cafes, bars, restaurants and other organisations who had volunteered to help children going hungry.

Leeds restaurants Mumtaz and Little Bao Boy are among businesses and organisations in the city who have offered free food to children over half term.

All of Yorkshire's Labour MPs voted for the motion to extend free school meals.

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Two Conservative MPs rebelled against their party and voted in favour - Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney and new Scunthorpe MP Holly Mumby-Croft.

Below is the full list of MPs that voted against the proposal:

Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole - Conservative)

Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley - Conservative)

Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes - Conservative)

Mark Eastwood (Dewsbury - Conservative)

Nick Fletcher (Don Valley - Conservative)

Greg Knight (East Yorkshire - Conservative)

Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell - Conservative)

David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden - Conservative)

Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough - Conservative)

Robbie Moore (Keighley - Conservative)

Andrea Jenkyns (Morley and Outwood - Conservative)

Miriam Cates (Penistone and Stocksbridge -Conservative)

Stuart Andrew (Pudsey - Conservative)

Rishi Sunak (Richmond - Conservative)

Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley - Conservative)

Robert Goodwill (Scarborough and Whitby - Conservative)

Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty - Conservative)

Philip Davies (Shipley - Conservative)

Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon - Conservative)

Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton -Conservative)

Imran Ahmad Khan (Wakefield - Conservative)

Julian Sturdy (York Outer - Conservative)

The following two MPs did not vote:

Graham Stuart MP (Beverley and Holderness - Conservative)

Lia Nici (Great Grimsby - Conservative)

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