School staff bring Santa to deprived community

A PRIMARY school has opened its doors to serve 800 Christmas dinners to vulnerable families.

Staff volunteered to work at the “Christmas Eve Eve party”, which aims to bring “love and smiles” back to the local community.

The 328 pupils at Parklands Primary School in Leeds were also given gifts and had the chance to meet Father Christmas.

Headteacher Chris Dyson said: “It broke my heart when I started at the school and found out that some families don’t go to visit Santa, so I said I would bring Santa to Parklands and get every child at least one present to open.”

The school serves one of the largest council estates in Europe and only a third of working-age adults in the area have jobs.

At Parklands’ first party six years ago, 150 people attended. But yesterday, more than 800 locals benefited from Mr Dyson’s festive initiative, which was made possible with donations from local businesses and Leeds City Council.

Mr Dyson, who has been hailed “an inspirational leader” by Ofsted inspectors, said: “We are situated in one of the most deprived areas of the country, with 70 per cent of pupils on free school meals.

“For some people, this is the only hot meal they will get this week.

“It’s a great day for everyone and it’s not just for kids in our school – anyone can come, and they do.

“Schools are shut all round the country, but not us. We want our community to know we love them.”

Mr Dyson took over at Parklands in 2014 after it went through five headteachers in just one year.

At the time, the school had the country’s highest number of annual exclusions and a padded cell was used as a form of punishment.