A local academy has raised over £1,000 for its winter food bank which will be used to deliver much needed food to the town during the new year.

Louise Goldsby, a teacher at the Everitt Academy in Carlton Colville, decided to set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the school's winter food bank.

At Everitt Academy, over half the children receive free school meals, with 20 per cent of its pupils being in care, which means anytime away from school often means children having no access to warm meals.

This led Mrs Goldsby to start the GoFundMe page to raise enough money for the school to open a winter food bank that members in the local community can use if they are struggling.

Mrs Goldbsy said: "We set upon asking local shops for donations of food to enable us to put some Christmas hampers together.

"We were soon able to collect donations from Morrison's thanks to our Deputy Head Tony Baxter, and had a promise of donations from Tesco too thanks to our teacher Chloe Shields.

"The Tribal Trust put us some food together which our TA Coral Edwards collected and The Lowestoft food bank donated us produce thanks to our connection with our teacher Hannah Warnes.

"With all these donations we were able to put 15 hampers together for our Christmas Fayre lucky dip.

"Food tech teacher Ilona Martin is aiming to write a recipe book to raise funds that will also be used to provide ingredients so students can use them for food tech homework.

"Today the total stands at £1045.

"We are so overwhelmed by everyone's generosity this close to Christmas, and we look forward to getting the food bank up and running in the new year. A fantastic way to end the term."

Alison Whitefield, headteacher, said: “We wanted to make a difference for our student’s families/carers after what has been a very difficult year for everybody.

"We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of local businesses, shops, organisations and the wider communities such as Tesco, Morrisons & Tribal Trust.

"The support has been amazing we are now able to establish The Everitt Winter Food Scheme to support our families and community over the coming months.”

You can donate here.