A couple of weeks ago I came across a story that stopped me in my tracks.
It was about a child in the London borough of Lewisham who had been spotted pretending to eat out of an empty lunchbox.
This child did not qualify for free school meals and didn’t want friends to know their parents couldn’t afford to provide them with a packed lunch.
So instead of speaking up, they kept their head down, motioning to eat imaginary food, hoping no-one would notice.
Not only was this story utterly heart-breaking to read, but it brought back memories of the shame and embarrassment I often felt as a child standing in the separate queue for those on free school meals.
