Christmas is a stressful and expensive time of year for a lot of families, but a junior school in Belvedere has tired to ease the burden.

Santa made his way to Belvedere Junior School on Monday, 18 December, to give families a well earned break.

The school provided a free three Christmas dinner to over 200 children and their families in a packed out school hall.

Belvedere Junior School, part of The Pioneer Academy, teamed up with Nourish Catering to provide the free of charge meals to children and their families.

Headteacher Rebecca Lomax said: “The school is in an area of high deprivation. We wanted to support our families at this expensive time of year. It was an amazing way of getting everyone together for a great three course Christmas meal. This was an opportunity to support our families; something we are extremely proud of."

"Putting children first in everything we do, is a core value of The Pioneer Academy. Having the opportunity to support our children and parents with a meal and gifts has helped ease the burden on some of our most vulnerable families and spread some good, old festive cheer!"

The school is planning to do it again, bigger and better, next year.