Clear signs that the cost of living crisis is increasingly affecting young people’s education are laid out today in new research published by the Sutton Trust. A survey of school teachers across England, carried out by Teacher Tapp, reveals that teachers are seeing growing numbers of pupils facing serious issues linked to living costs this autumn term.
Despite calls to widen access to Free School Meals from the 22.5% of pupils currently eligible, the government declined to do so in the November budget. However, the research reveals that over half (52%) of Senior Leaders in state schools say that during the autumn term, the number of children in their school unable to afford lunch who weren’t eligible for free school meals increased. Leaders working in the most deprived schools, with the highest proportions of existing pupils eligible for Free School Meals, were more likely to say there were more pupils unable to afford lunch, at 59%, compared to 44% of those in the least deprived schools. This indicates that pupils falling just outside of Free School Meals eligibility are increasingly going hungry.
