Staff and pupils in East Budleigh are participating in a national £5 million scheme aimed at providing extra food and equipment to schools. 

Mill Water School is taking part in the Tesco grant programme to allow their pupils to get extra support. The school also received £1,500 from Tesco to help transform its old play areas into spaces that meets the physical, emotional and educational needs of their disabled pupils.  

Georgia White from Mill Water School said: “This Tesco grant has enabled us to transform a tired and unimaginative play area into a vibrant outdoor gym that supports the needs of our disabled children, aged between 3 and 19 years old. 
 
“The transformation has been a huge success and pupils love spending time there, taking it in turns on the sunken trampoline, using the static gym equipment and jumping up & down on the new colourful rubber-crumb flooring. They were very excited to see it complete, as well as the staff and it’s a boost for the whole school’s morale and wellbeing.” 

Tesco’s Stronger Starts grants help schools and groups provide equipment for healthy activities or nutritious food and healthy activities, such as breakfast clubs or snacks, to support young people’s physical health and mental well-being. 

Customers can support their local school and children’s groups by dropping the Tesco blue token they receive at checkout into the relevant voting box as they leave the store. 

The Stronger Starts scheme, supported by UK community charity Groundwork, will replace the current Tesco Community Grants funding programme. 

Schools and children’s groups will be able to apply via Groundwork for a grant of up to £1,500. Grants are for activities that focus on providing food to kids such as fruit for breakfast clubs or snacks to enjoy throughout the day, and for equipment for outdoor and indoor activities.