CARING teachers at a Govanhill primary school are hand delivering food parcels to ensure their pupils know they are still "supported and cared for".

A team from St Bride's Primary, working with charity Launch Foods, have been out in the community giving healthy meals to youngsters.

And, as well as helping feed their families, depute head teacher Lesley McConnon said the move was important to let teachers keep in touch with their young people.

She said: "The staff are so committed to the families and so being able to do whatever they can do to support their children is really important to them.

"Staff have still been phoning and checking in with families. The staff really care about the school community, which is very close, and so it's hard not being in class every day.

"It's quite upsetting for everyone but particularly for our P7s, knowing we are not getting to support them with that transition to secondary.

"It's important to us to show we are still visible and there for our kids.

"We want our families to feel supported and cared for."

Working in small teams of four and using protective equipment, St Bride's teachers leave food parcels at front doors before phoning or buzzing to let families know the food has arrived.

Lesley had worked with Launch Foods, founded by Craig Johnson, in her previous school in the East End.

She added: "When I became depute head in August I thought it was something that would ease the pressure on parents in Govanhill.

"I contacted Craig and he came out for a visit to see the demographic in Govanhill and agreed to help out."

The van comes to the school one Monday after school each month and pupils are given nutritious hot meals that they can take home to their families.

Lesley said: "When the schools were closing, Craig had emailed me to ask if there was a way of continuing to support families.

"We thought we could deliver directly to the families.

"I spoke to the staff and was quite blown away by the way they were up for volunteering to support those in the greatest need.

"This week it's 40 families and each family member gets two meals.

"It has given us the opportunity to see some of our families and have that ability to be checking in with them.

"The majority of our families don't have English as a first language so to let them know we were doing this, we wrote out a text message for them that was translated into their home language.

"All the families were delighted to have that bit of help, even more so when they found out it would be ongoing."

Lesley said Launch Foods is now hoping, when life gets back to normal, to secure government funding so that the van can come to the school once a week and also visit other schools in the area.