THOUGHTFUL pupils from Nova Hreod Academy cooked up a feast for homeless people which included a vegetable pasta bake - and eight Christmas puddings.

A cookery class of 14 Year 10 pupils and one Year 8 stayed for three hours after the home-time bell rang to chop up vegetables and whip up delicious dishes to donate to the Alternative Angels charity.

Students and staff then brought the meals to the Wyvern Theatre car park, where the charity volunteers operate on Monday and Tuesday evenings from 6.30pm, and gave out portions to grateful rough sleepers.

Ella Blackholly and Pollyanna Kent were two of the pupils who made the trip.

Ella said: “When you go shopping in the town centre, you see a lot of homeless people about, they’re quite secluded and want help but often don’t ask for it. More should be done to help and that’s why we did this, because not many people do help them.”

Polly said: “I think it’s given them a bit of joy and shown them that people do acknowledge them and care about them. Our teacher brought this up in one of the lessons and said it would be nice for us to help out, so we volunteered and we’d definitely do it again.”

Nova Hreod Academy food technology teacher Emily Moore said: “I’m quite proud of them, they’ve given their time and effort to do this and I hope to make it a regular thing every term and get even more people involved in donating ingredients and meals.

“The staff thought it would be good to get students involved in something like this and as soon as people here heard about it they were keen to be part of it.”

The nearby Morrisons donated a £10 voucher which pupils and their parents used to help stock up on supplies for the big cook-off.

This followed on from the reverse advent calendar the academy made before Christmas, where pupils from other year groups donated hampers full of meals and gifts like hot drinks, blankets and gloves to homeless people throughout December via Alternative Angels.

A spokesman for the charity said: "A huge thank you to Emily Moore and the students. I think they found it very rewarding but also very eye opening. Our homeless friends were very grateful "