Poorer children ‘more likely to be lonely’ at senior school

POORER children moving to secondary school are five times more likely to feel lonely, according to official data revealed yesterday.

Fourteen per cent of all pupils aged 10 to 12 admit to often feeling lonely.

But more than a quarter (27.5 per cent) of children aged 10 to 15 who received free school meals said they were often lonely, compared with just 5.5 per cent of those who did not get them.

Children without a stable family or strong relationships with parents and friends also suffer from isolation, the Office for National Statistics research revealed. Another key time was when children left education to start adult life, it said.

Sam Royston, director of policy and research at The Children’s Society, which was involved in the ONS research, said: “Now the heartbreaking scale of loneliness among children has been laid bare.

“It’s time for action to put more support in place and to understand the underlying issues.

“Loneliness can be something that passes. Many children who use our services move through these difficult periods.

“But for some children, loneliness can lead to mental health issues and mean they struggle alone to cope with other challenges in their lives.

“In the most serious cases, it can leave them more susceptible to grooming by sexual predators or criminal gangs.”