The King’s School community comes together to support those most in need

The kitchen at the King’s School has become a community kitchen for the Stroud-based charity, the Long Table, and this week has cooked over 600 meals for NHS staff and vulnerable local groups in our community.   

The School, together with local partners Ben Creese County Butchers and school caterers Thomas Franks, has enabled the Long Table, which is working in conjunction with the Diocese of Gloucester, to expand their deliveries. King’s Sixth Form pupils have volunteered to work alongside the chefs and Ben Creese, well-known local butcher and former King’s pupil, is donating meat and dairy products, in this fight against Covid-19.

The King’s School is an educational charity which has been a key part of the Gloucestershire community since 1541. The school has consistently supported local charities through fundraising, pupils volunteering their time and sharing facilities with the local community. Since the Coronavirus pandemic, King’s has remained open to care for the children of the county’s keyworkers and quickly established a dynamic online learning curriculum for pupils. However, with such a long history in the community, many King’s staff and pupils, using their skills, resources and time, wanted to do more to help their friends and neighbours.

This week, King’s Design and Technology staff have made over 400 face shields and delivered them, along with gloves and face masks from the school’s supplies, to Gloucester Royal Hospital and local residential care homes. Pupils have helped from home where they can, including Year 6 pupil Magee and Year 7 pupil Harry, who have also been producing the face shields on their 3D printers at home to contribute to the effort.

The School car park is being used for free parking by the NHS staff at Gloucester Royal Hospital and pupils have been busy baking cakes and biscuits and delivering them to the elderly and keyworkers in care homes and doctor’s surgeries.

Headmaster, David Morton, commented “The last few weeks have been very challenging for us all, but in a school with such a long history in Gloucestershire, King’s families are proud to be contributing in our own small way to assist those in need so that our great local community can flourish for many years to come.”