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One in seven children go to school HUNGRY ac-
cording to shock report
Read the following passage and answer the related questions
Food poverty is at an all time high with one in seven children going to school hungry, a
shock report reveals today.
There are 820,000 children in classrooms across Britain who are forced to skip breakfast
at least once a week as parents struggle to put food on the table.
According to the study, in the last year 28% of teachers have reported more children
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turning up for lessons without eating since the night before.
And the cost of missing the morning meal is estimated at £5.2 million a year in lost teach-
ing hours as hungry pupils are unable to concentrate on vital studies like maths, science
and English.
The research by cereal maker Kellogg’s found one child going to school hungry once a
week for the duration of their primary school life, loses 8.4 weeks of learning time.
More than half of teachers say kids who sit exams while hungry don’t
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perform as well
as those who have eaten breakfast and eight out of ten have found lack of food is the
first thing that affects focus and behaviour in the classroom.
Worryingly, a quarter of teachers revealed children have fallen asleep in class because of
hunger.
Yet for almost a million children who go to school hungry at least once a week, breakfast
is not an option.
Pete Mountstephen, chair of the National Primary Headteachers, said: “It’s a shocking
fact that children in our classrooms across the country are missing out on critical learn-
ing time by not being fed in the morning.
“This shortfall could mean a child is missing out on some of the essential basics taught
at primary school to help their development before beginning their secondary educa-
tion.”
In the last 12 months food bank charity the Trussel Trust fed 346,992 people of which
126,889 were children and Oxfam figures show 500,000 Brits who have fallen on hard
times
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rely on food rations to
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get by.
Netmums founder Siobhan Freegard said hungry kids in 21st century Britain was “unac-
ceptable”
“At every turn, from school teachers to parents in the playground, we are hearing more
and more reports of kids going hungry at school.