Free School Meals

Each holiday we offer free school lunches for children and young people whose families are stretched by current costs of living. We started small in October 2020, and our free lunch programme has grown and grown. This year we have given out over 5,000 free lunches.

We work with the nurture team in our local primary schools and family support team in our local secondary school, as well as the Methodist church food bank, Chippy Larder and St Mary’s Outreach to reach local families who could use this support.

In summer 2023, we moved to a voucher programme and we now give out lunch vouchers along with a craft morning and free take-home art activities every fortnight of the school holidays. Each major holiday we have free film screenings or free tickets to our shows. The families who take part in this programme are the heart of our theatre – and from this their children have participated in targeted projects, holiday programmes, moved into our free youth theatre places and even joined our team.

With huge thanks to Wise Investments and Evenlode, who make our free lunches possible, and to Chipping Norton Town Council for supporting our events and art programme around the free meals.