When free fruit is put out at Ferndale Community School, staff have learned to turn a blind eye as some hungry take extra.

Some pupils arrive hungry each morning because their families cannot afford enough and there is even a small group who don't have beds to sleep on.

This isn't a tale of Victorian-era deprivation, but the reality in many schools in the UK in 2025. Ferndale is a former mining village high up in the South Wales valleys and has the most deprived community in its local authority area. Some 37% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals and it serves an area listed as the fourth-most deprived in Wales.

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Walking through the doors it doesn't feel grim or hungry. Staff know their community well and are doing all they can to help. This now includes free fruit and vegetables in cooking classes, a free breakfast club and free fruit in bowls on tables at break and lunch.

"In this community there is need because of a lack of food. There is hunger and lack of warm, safe spaces for some. The level of poverty in some of our families is quite scary," says the school's community manager Michelle Coburn-Hughes. "There is a lack of carpets, lack of beds, siblings sharing beds. There is a correlation between poverty and mental health."

The data about deprivation and hunger is depressing and Michelle's job is to tackle this, which she does with cheerful energy. She's not going to gloss over facts but she is doing something real to address them. Ferndale is one of around 400 schools across the UK to receive free fruit and vegetables through Tesco's fruit and veg for schools programme.

The programme is part of Tesco's Stronger Starts, which provides more than £8m a year of financial support to community groups and schools.

Michelle, a mother of three herself, is well aware of the rising price of food, even for families not in poverty. She applied for the school to be part of the fruit and veg scheme last term and since October it has had £500 a week loaded on a card to buy free fruit and veg from Tesco.

Michelle's job is to know families and the community and she is also executive of the Fern Partnership, the school's charity which raises £1.4m a year for the area. She knows that many children don't get enough to eat, let alone fresh produce and says the Tesco scheme has helped their learning and health as well as stopping some from being hungry at times.

It's hard to do your best when you're hungry and while the free school meal allocation may be enough in principle it does little to stop the hunger for children arriving on empty stomachs hours before lunch, she points out. The Tesco scheme goes some way to addressing this with its free fruit served alongside free bread from at the school's free breakfast club which has been running for 18-months.

Around one in four of the school's 660 pupils come to the free breakfast club each morning between 8am and 8.30am before lessons start. Michelle says it's helped attention and attainment and concentration before exams. "We do see some of our children hungry and even more so now with cost of living. There is an absolute correlation between being hungry and not being able to concentrate at school," says Michelle.

Speak to staff at other schools in the UK and you'll hear a similar story. Diane Fowler is wellbeing coordinator at Ballycraigy Primary School in Antrim, Northern Ireland, which uses produce supplied by Tesco to run a breakfast club for children, which she says has made a "real difference" to concentration and anxiety levels about pupils in the school.

"We have had occasions, for a number of children, in numerous different years, where we have fed a child or children as they have been caught taking food from others lunch boxes or have gone pale, dizzy or nearly fainted because they were hungry," she says. "We think that there is a direct link to nutrition and the ability to learn."

The supermarket giant's fruit and veg for schools programme launched in September 2024. So far almost 2.5 million portions of fruit and vegetables have been served through the scheme, which has now been expanded for another year to reach more schools across the UK.

Michelle and other staff at Ferndale say the effect goes beyond addressing hunger and nutrition in the here and now. It also helps children do better at school and gives them knowledge and habits for healthy eating for life, which in turn they'll pass on.

Being familiar with different foods and learning how to prepare nutritious, tasty meals is vital, says Ferndale food and nutrition teacher Hannah Darbyshire (CORR). She knows not all families have the money to buy fresh produce for each meal and says some children arrive in year seven with limited experience of tasting some foods, or how to prepare them.

"Some have never tried strawberries or pineapple. Sometimes they haven't tried certain fruit and vegetables so we do tastings. We have pupils who have never tried things and they have all gone away from tastings saying they want to eat something new now. Every pupil in our school is eating more fruit and vegetables since the Tesco scheme. You see them walking around eating fruit instead of a bag of crisps."

Rachael Claypole is a class teacher and early years foundation stage lead of St Martins CofE Primary and Nursery in Oldham, , where being able to supply additional fruit and vegetables to pupils as a result of the Tesco scheme has allowed them to change health and habits among their population.

We have noticed a worrying decline in the oral health of some of our children and the reluctance to try new foods and 'home-cooked' meals," she says. "We want to encourage our children to try new, healthier alternatives that will help them to make health choices both at home and at school.

"We have noticed that when children come to school after having a sugary breakfast, their listening and attention decreases and their behaviour for learning can become negative. When children come in without eating breakfast we have noticed a dip in their concentration levels.

"Each class in our school is provided with bagels and fruit. We know that a healthy start in the morning has a significant impact on positive learning behaviours."

It's children like these that the Tesco scheme is targeted at. On average, 18% of 11 to 18 year-olds have low intakes of vitamin A1, which is important for the immune system, vision, and healthy skin and just 4% of 11 to18 year-olds meet recommended fibre intakes, according to the Nutrition Foundation.

Ferndale Community School staff collect their order from Tesco each week. Produce from it goes to the food and nutrition department for cooking lessons as well as the free fruit bowls and breakfast club. At a food and nutrition class, a group of year seven pupils are busy chopping bright piles of peppers, avocado, tomatoes and spring onions for chicken and salad wraps.

Ethan Evans admits he’s not keen on tomatoes or cauliflower and thinks he probably should eat more fresh ingredients. Folding his wrap like a pro, the 12 year-old boy says he does cook at home sometimes. "I cook with my grandparents and help with the Sunday roast but prefer eating to cooking it," he jokes, adding, "I try to eat fruit and vegetables because it is very important and I like grapes best."

Mason Anthony clearly loves cooking and is happy to explain how to make the best wrap. He doesn't like sprouts and is "not the biggest fan of cauliflower" but he loves parsnips, carrots and peas.

"I like making stir fries and I like bananas and oranges but I don’t eat fruit every day," he admits. At school Mason, 12, tasted mango and peaches for the first time and now likes both. Across the room, 11 year-olds Darcie Wilkins and Grace Depace (CORR) are slicing veg carefully. Darcie cooks at home "sometimes" and Grace's favourite food is "mac and cheese".

Both girls are more keen on fruit than veg. They list blueberries and watermelon among their favourites. On the opposite table two boys, heads together, are discussing the best way to slice a tomato and shave off carrot ribbons.

Everyone is getting stuck in and being creative with the bright vegetable colours and the careful piling and folding of the finished wrap. Their teacher is pleased with the class progress as the year sevens leave the room with their wraps carefully boxed. Some open the boxes and take sneaky bites as they head for their next lesson of the day.

For now, no one in this class is hungry.