One in four teachers in England brought in food for hungry pupils out of concern for their welfare, a survey has revealed, as headteachers said it was “unsustainable” to expect schools to keep stepping in to support desperate families.
Just days before the start of the new school term, more than a third (35%) of the 9,000 teachers who took part in the poll said their school regularly provided food for children and their families, rising to almost half in the most deprived areas of England.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The work that schools are doing, while hugely valuable, is not sustainable in the long term and is merely papering over the cracks of a deeply unequal society that it is incumbent on the government to fix.”
The survey was commissioned by the food waste charity FareShare, which offers surplus food from local supermarkets to charities and community groups, among them breakfast, after-school and holiday clubs for children and young people.
The FareShare survey, conducted by the daily survey app Teacher Tapp, asked: “In the past term, how many pupils have you personally provided with food because you were worried about their welfare?”
Responses showed that 26% of teachers personally provided food to at least one pupil in the summer term because they were worried about their welfare. They also showed a nine percentage-point gap between different areas, with 31% of those in more deprived areas of England bringing in food for pupils, compared with 22% in more affluent areas.
Barton said schools were going “above and beyond” to provide food, clothing and support to desperate families. “But following a decade of austerity, a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis that have left a large number of families struggling to cope, schools are fighting an uphill struggle.
Fareshare, which has worked with the Premier League footballer Marcus Rashford in his campaign against childhood hunger, is struggling to cope with increasing demand for its help, yet points out that 3m tonnes of food goes to waste on UK farms every year.
FareShare’s chief executive, George Wright, said: “Our teachers should be teaching, not forced to fill the gap because the government stands by and allows this to happen all the while food goes to waste on farms. A new school term will undoubtedly bring huge demand for our services. We need to see the government act urgently and show that it takes tackling hunger seriously.”
James Bowen, assistant general secretary for the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said: “Children who arrive at school hungry, cold or tired cannot focus properly on their learning and our members are increasingly having to go above and beyond to help struggling families by providing basic necessities. But this isn’t sustainable, especially as school budgets are also under considerable pressure.
“Targeted measures like extending free school meals to all pupils in households in receipt of universal credit would make a real difference, but the government also needs to provide more support for families beyond the school gates and address the root causes of shameful levels of child poverty.
A government spokesperson said more than a third of pupils in England received free school meals compared with one in six in 2010. “This includes introducing new eligibility criteria for families receiving universal credit, to ensure even more children were eligible for a free school meal.
“We are providing record financial support worth an average of £3,300 per household. We have also raised benefits in line with inflation, increased the National Living Wage and are helping households with food, energy and other essential costs.”
