Children shouldn’t go to school hungry says Surrey charity
A recent survey revealed 31% of primary school teachers are regularly seeing pupils showing up to class hungry
A foodbank in Surrey has seen a rise in the number of families with children needing to use its service.
It’s after a report found nearly one in three primary school teachers are seeing more pupils showing up to class hungry.
The survey also revealed around 40% of teaching staff saying the number of students coming into school without adequate clothing, such as proper uniform or a winter coat, had increased.
According to the report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), around 79% of primary school teachers and 62% of secondary school teachers reported spending their own money buying items for their pupils or school.
Alison Buckland, Project Coordinator at Woking foodbank, says there are multiple factors causing this growing issue.
She said: “The cost of housing, benefit deductions, family breakdown, and the rising cost of bills are the sort of things that will bring someone to a food bank. We have over the years definitely seen an increase in families.
“We're part of a wider charity called the Lighthouse in Woking where there's projects that support families. They do a back-to-school project where they do vouchers for shoes and uniform, and they've seen a huge increase on the numbers of families being referred to that project. I think it's gone up from something like a couple of hundred to 800 families being referred each year.”
Alison wants to encourage families to seek support.
She said: “I think it's important to get the message out to people that there are places to go to get support. I think there's a lot of people who are sitting at home struggling, who don't reach out for support. The sooner they contact someone like their local Citizens Advice or their council and start making inquiries, there's a lot of support out there for people.”