“I found out last week that a third of my class sleep in their uniforms as they don’t have pyjamas.”
That was the response of a teacher to a survey into pupil poverty, carried out by the NEU teaching union last month.
“We are buying them coats on a scale never seen before,” said another teacher, while another responded: “We give free school dinners to children who don’t qualify for free school meals because their parents work but have contacted us to say they have no money that day.”
The survey interviewed a total of 1,026 teachers in England, of whom three-quarters worked in secondary schools and the rest in primaries.
A total of 53 per cent said they believed more children and young people would go hungry over Christmas, while 40 per cent said their schools were having to provide extra items for pupils and their families because of increased poverty.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, called for urgent change to national policies.
She said: “This is a Dickensian picture of the poverty that far too many children and their families are having to endure.
“The government is out of touch with the distressing new reality of children’s daily lives: with what it means to live without enough money for basics, such as food, shoes and adequate clothing.
“The government has failed to recognise the human cost of its cuts to schools and other children’s services and to the social security system, and its failure to address the in-work poverty faced by one in five workers.”
A total of 46 per cent of teachers said “holiday hunger” had got worse, and that there were now more housing issues, including poor quality housing, overcrowding and children living in temporary accommodation compared to three years ago.
“One student wore his trousers backwards as he didn’t want anyone to know he had holes in the knees,” said another teacher.
A Government spokesperson said: “Teachers shouldn’t have to step in to tackle the issues highlighted by this survey, and we’re already taking action to make sure that they don’t have to.
“Since 2010 there are 300,000 fewer children living in absolute poverty, employment is at a record high and we’re committed to ensuring that every child gets the very best chances in life.
“We continue to spend £90 billion a year on welfare to support those who need it most, have introduced the National Living Wage and helped workers keep more of the money they earn by cutting taxes for 31 million people by an average of £1,000.
“On top of this, we’ve introduced funding to support thousands of disadvantaged families in the school holidays to ensure they get the extra help they need.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last month praised teachers who were feeding pupils out of their own pocket amid poverty levels that, he said, shouldn’t exist in the world’s sixth richest country.
