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One in seven children go to school hungry according to shock report
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
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 teaching 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 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 learning 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
education.”
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 rely on food rations to get by.
Netmums founder Siobhan Freegard said hungry kids in 21st century Britain was
“unacceptable”
“At every turn, from school teachers to parents in the playground, we are hearing
more and more reports of kids going hungry at school.
A toxic combination of growing poverty, the rising cost of living and troubled
families with chaotic parenting mean innocent children are being denied the best
start to the day – and to their lives.
“This is unacceptable in modern Britain and must be tackled now.”
Experts say school breakfast clubs are one way of filling the food gap and seven
out of ten teachers believe they have a positive impact on a child’s ability to learn.
Sue Kennedy, school business manager at Atherton St. George’s Church of England
Primary School Manchester, launched a breakfast club eight years ago after one
pupil arrived at school every day at 7am without having any breakfast.