Parents at a primary school in Trafford raised enough money in a few hours to feed hungry children this half term and beyond.

Manchester United and England player Marcus Rashford launched a national campaign to end child food poverty this week after the government voted down his petition to extend free schools meals into the school holidays.

Now, efforts from across the country to help struggling families are coming to light.

Families from St Mary’s Primary School in Sale were invited to donate £5 via a fundraising link sent out by school staff last night.

In just a few hours, between more than £400 had been raised, and they’re aiming to raise more.

The cash is enough to feed all of the children eligible for free school meals at the school throughout October half term and over the Christmas holidays too.

Headteacher Wayne Hitchcock said: “Our parents felt strongly that children eligible for Free School Meals should receive a food voucher over holidays.”

The current cost of a school meal is £2.35 a day – which provides a hot meal cooked and served in school.

When the government’s voucher scheme operated during lockdown the weekly amount was £15 per child per week to reflect the higher cost of purchasing food in shops.

St Mary’s are replicating this amount in the form of Tesco food vouchers, which will be used to buy food for the school.

Parents were asked if they wanted to donate towards a voucher and within hours the school had raised £449.

They are now aiming for £675 which will also cover the Christmas period.

Mr Hitchcock added: “It’s great that parents are thinking about others during this difficult time. No child should have to go hungry and the generosity of St Mary’s parents will bring hope to many families.

“Caring for each other is part of our caring Christian ethos.”

Jane Deane, Chair of the PTA and Deputy Chair of Governors said: “I’m delighted at how quickly and strongly parents have supported this idea.  We’ve raised several hundred pounds in a matter of hours.

“There is a lot of strong feeling amongst the parent community at St Mary’s.  We are a close knit, small church school and wanted to pull together to support each other in these challenging times.

“We will not see those families on free school meals, going without over the school holidays.  Whatever the National Government decides we decided we would step in.

“We are Manchester. We are Trafford – we do things differently, and support each other.  We hope the government changes its current policy, but until they do we stand together to support our parents.

“We are now raising the money for the Christmas holidays and want to hear from local traders who can support us too.”

Similarly, families in Trafford are being supported with food packages this half term thanks to grants from Trafford Housing Trust.

The Trust has provided £70,000 of funding this year as part of its Active Appetites programme, which provides meals and activities for youngsters during the school holidays.

The four community groups supporting families are Our Sale West, Bridging the Gap in Old Trafford, Sale Moor Community Partnership, and Hideaway Partington, providing a combination of food vouchers, hampers, lunch bags and meals throughout the holidays.

Aileen Edmunds, head of social impact at Trafford Housing Trust, said: “Holiday hunger pushes many families into food poverty and insecurity. With the loss of free school meals given out during term time, in addition to the extra childcare costs around the holidays, families already struggling with low budgets find it difficult to feed their children. This is why we are committed to funding projects that ensure our neighbours can find support when they need it most.”

Already this year 394 primary school pupils and 239 high school students have attended Active Appetites projects, enjoying 5,570 meals and taking part in 68 days of activities including multi sports, games, online cooking and arts.

Trafford Housing Trust also has plans in place to continue the programme during the Christmas holidays – for more information contact active.appetites@traffordhousingtrust.co.uk.