SURGE IN ‘SCHOOL HOLIDAY HUNGER’
Pupils return to class with signs of malnutrition
This should not be tolerated in the world’s 6th richest economy
KEVIN COURTNEY NUT GENERAL SECRETARY
DEPRIVED primary school children are showing signs of malnutrition when they return to class after the holidays.
More than half the 600 teachers polled said pupils at their school were affected by “holiday hunger”.
Over a third (37%) said youngsters were returning to school with signs of malnourishment.
Some 39% of the teachers said it affects more than a quarter of their pupils – and 12% said it was more than half, according to the National Union of Teachers poll.
And 80% who reported pupils with holiday hunger said it had increased over the past two years.
NUT chief Kevin Courtney told the union’s annual conference in Cardiff: “These are heart-breaking findings. They lay bare the terrible impact of poverty on the lives and educational experiences of many children.
“This situation shouldn’t be tolerated, let alone be allowed to persist in the sixth richest economy in the world.”
Many children from poor families are eligible for free school meals during school term times, but teachers fear some go hungry at home.
One teacher said: “A large number of pupils are consistently hungry, not just in the holidays. Weekends are a particularly worrying time for pupils and a large number of pupils have just one main meal a day, school lunch.”
Another teacher said: “An increasing number of children arrive at school hungry. “The only full meal they get is a free school dinner. Grants should fund those disadvantaged families during the holiday period as well as at school too.” A third added: “More and more families have told me they rely on food banks to survive, many of these are working families.”
There were four million children living in poverty in the UK in 2015, an increase of 200,000 on the previous year, official figures show. It means 30% of children, or nine pupils in every class of 30, are officially poor.
Of those four million children, 67% had at least one parent in work – up from 66% the year before, according to the Children’s Society. Mr Courtney added: “When children come to school hungry or malnourished, it impairs their ability to learn. Teachers are working hard to achieve the best outcomes for their pupils but the challenges they face as a result of poverty are increasing, not diminishing, under this Government.” “The Government needs to take urgent action and adopt a serious poverty reduction strategy, including the implementation of universal free school meals for all primary children.”