Poverty warning in UK classrooms

Activity Centre in Chepstow has been described by his commanding officer as an “exemplary soldier”.

The 27-year-old who joined the Army in 2010 had previously served in Afghanistan in 2012. HEAVY rain and snow closed roads and caused disruption for travellers on Easter Monday as yellow weather warnings were issued for most of the UK.

Up to 10cm (4ins) of snow blanketed areas of north England, north Wales and Scotland, while torrential rain lashed southern swathes as millions of motorists returned from Bank Holiday celebrations. There were 206 flood alerts and 23 flood warnings across the UK, MALNOURISHED, grey-looking, children are turning up to school in dirty uniforms and stuffing food in their pockets because they are living in poverty, headteachers have warned.

In some cases, youngsters have failed to arrive for class because they do not have shoes, while others have been spotted in their uniforms at weekends because they have nothing else to wear, it was suggested.

Speaking to reporters at the National Education Union annual conference in Brighton, primary school leaders described how children are turning up at the school gates showing visible signs of poverty, such as grey skin and poor teeth, hair and nails.

One said that education issues such as league table positions are fast becoming secondary to dealing with the impact of financial hardship among pupils.

The Government said it is taking measures to close the attainment gap and to support disadvantaged children.

In 2015/16, there were four million children in the UK living in poverty, according to the Child Poverty Action Group – equivalent to nine in every classroom of 30 pupils. A head from a primary school in Cumbria, according to the Met Office, with more than 40mm of rain falling in parts.

Many sporting fixtures also had to be abandoned due to icy pitches and poor conditions.

Images posted online showed roads and parks submerged underwater and cars struggling on snow-covered motorways in what the AA warned was likely to be one of the busiest Bank Holidays in recent years. Meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “A who would only give her name as “Lynn”, said she was aware of pupils putting “food in their pockets to take home because they’re not sure if they’re going to get another meal that day”.

“In some establishments I would imagine that would be called stealing, but in ours it’s called survival,” she said.

She described seeing children from a nearby affluent secondary school and comparing them to youngsters who had been to her school.

“My children who have gone from me up to the local secondary school have grey skin, poor teeth, poor hair, poor nails, they are smaller, they are thinner,” she said. The students she had visited at the other secondary weather system has moved up from the south west which has hit existing cold air.

“That’s why we’ve seen a band of heavy rain falling with snow and sleet mixed in.

“The rain and snow are going to push northward, meaning it will get worse in Scotland, but for most parts it’s an improving picture as the week goes on.”

Brighter and milder conditions are expected in the south today, with temperatures around the mid-teens. had “clear skin, good hair, good nails, strong looking children.”

Louise Regan from a Nottinghamshire primary school said she noticed a difference when taking pupils to sporting events with other schools.

“You think ‘our kids are really small,’ you don’t notice it because you’re with them all the time. When you then see them with children of the same age that are in an affluent area, they just look tiny.”

Jane Jenkins from a Cardiff primary school said that children have turned up with just a slice of bread and margarine in their lunchbox, adding that the school supplements lunches, and frequently gives out fruit from the fruit tuck box if they cannot afford the 20p to buy it.

Howard Payne, from a Portsmouth primary school, said he had opened his school during the snow three weeks ago because he was concerned about youngsters missing out on a hot meal that day.

Around 45% of pupils came in, many of who were eligible for free dinners, he said.

A poll of around 900 teachers found that 87% think that poverty is having a significant impact on the learning of their pupils.