More than a third of primary school pupils have a classmate who sometimes does not have enough food to eat, and over a quarter report sharing food with friends several times a month, according to a new poll.
Research agency Survation polled 1,500 children and 1,500 adults on behalf of the National Education Union and its ‘No child left behind’ campaign, which seeks among other things the extension of universal free school meals to all primary pupils.
Of the children polled, 37 per cent said they knew someone at school who “sometimes does not have enough food to eat at lunch”.
Asked how often they had to share food with someone at school because they did not have enough money, 21 per cent said they did so two to three times a month, while 7 per cent said they did so at least four times a month.
