A NORTH Belfast secondary school is offering free hot meals for all pupils during December to relieve pressure on families this Christmas.
Maire Thompson, principal of Hazelwood Integrated College, said they hoped the initiative would provide assistance to all parents "particularly during these challenging times".
From November 29 to December 21, the school will offer free hot meals to all pupils - the second year in a row that the scheme has been rolled out.
Figures show that up to 100,000 children across Northern Ireland have access to free school meals, which represents around 28 per cent of pupils.
In recent months, schools reported a fall in the numbers of families applying for free school meals - despite indications that more children are in poverty in the north.
There have been between 10,000 to 15,000 fewer applications, with suggestions a move to online applications has led to the decrease.
Amid increasing inflation costs, such as the price of gas or electricity, Ms Thompson said they hoped their initiative to provide free hot meals to all pupils - regardless of their circumstances - would "go some way to reduce the pressure on many of our families during the festive period".
"First of all whether or not you are a working parent, we are all facing so many inflation hikes at the moment, from the price of fuel to goods," she said.
"Like many other schools, we don't have extra money, but any spare capacity we have, we want to help our pupils and our parents.
"On the run up to Christmas, when the pace is life just gets so much faster, we thought that this was a great opportunity to help our parents.
"We have some families who have four children at the school, which when you can count it all up could be around £70 on school meals a week and we understand the challenges that brings.
"We hope this gesture goes some way to making family life more manageable at this busy time of the year.
"We want to give parents a break and provide hot meals for the pupils, which after receiving funding from Deloitte, we are able to make possible and do for the second year in a row."
Ms Thompson added that it was also "an opportunity to lift people's spirits".
"This has been a particularly difficult year for so many, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic," she said.
"I appreciate that budgets are tight and not all schools can do this, but for us we believe this is a practical way to help our families and we know how grateful they are for things like this.
"It provides a feel good factor as well as reducing pressure on families particularly during these challenging times."
