Parents of children at The Cotswold School in Bourton-on-the-Water have raised £1,240 for local NHS staff.

The money has gone towards providing healthy ready-meals for busy staff on wards.

Karen Organ of Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals Charity, who received the donation, said: “We want to thank everyone from the Cotswold School community for helping to support our NHS staff as they continue to work throughout the pandemic.

"Our teams are working long hours on Covid wards and to be able to give them a healthy hot meal, that they do not have to think about, is really important.

"The staff feel so valued by this kind and generous support and we would like thank everyone that has donated.”

Will Morgan, principal of The Cotswold School, said the school community is incredibly generous and caring, with local families previously donating laptops during lockdown to support learning and often raising tens of thousands of pounds for students.

“We knew that they would get behind a request to support our NHS and we are delighted that we have been able to channel their help for this cause," he said.

The initiative came about when Pamela Stevenson, a former nurse at Cheltenham Hospital and now a community nurse for Kate’s Home Nursing, based in Bourton-on-the-Water, felt compelled to help caring colleagues.

Her daughter, Poppy, is a pupil at The Cotswold School, so Pamela asked if the school could add to the support that she wanted to give during the most critical weeks of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Pamela and Poppy were creating bags of treats – from sweets to hand-cream – to distribute to ward staff.

The school put out the call to its families to donate to Pamela and Poppy’s campaign. Within a fortnight contributions reached £1,240.

The healthy ready-meals are being made by The Long Table, a social-enterprise based in Stroud.