Pupils "Holiday Hunger?"

Pupils who rely on free school meals can face hunger in holidays, a teachers’ union conference has heard.

18:10 06 April 2016

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) annual conference has seen the need to address holiday hunger that affects pupils who rely on free school meals.

 

John Puckrin, a teacher from central London, said: "For many the school holidays provide a chance to relax and enjoy new experiences, meeting new people, going to places, perhaps different cultures and languages, the chance to grow their 'cultural capital' or improve sporting skills.

 

"But for the poorest it is often a closed in isolating experience with a lack of any positive stimulation,"

 

Niamh Sweeney, a delegate from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, added: "The number of people relying on food parcels has not been higher since the Second World War.

 

"A dangerous combination of low and unreliable income, multiple part-time jobs, benefit cuts and sanctions and the inability to pay bills from this income has, in every part of the country, brought an unprecedented hunger.

 

"In 2016 there are people for whom going hungry on a daily basis is now almost inevitable.

 

"You know you have children in your own school and class who come to school hungry and go home not knowing when they will next have another meal."