One in four teachers in England have personally provided food to their hungry students because they were concerned about their welfare, new analysis from a food poverty charity suggests.
One school manager warned that staff were giving up their own food or buying food for children to help them quench their hunger and concentrate during lessons.
Charity FareShare, which provides food to 2,000 programmes that support children and young people, surveyed around 9,000 teachers from across the country.
Some 29.4 per cent of teachers in the South West said they had personally provided food for pupils in the 2023 summer term – the highest proportion in England. This was compared with 28.7 per cent in the North West, 25.7 per cent in Yorkshire and Humber and 25.6 per cent in the Midlands.
FareShare, which takes surplus food and delivers it to community groups, school breakfast clubs and homeless shelters, said it was struggling to keep up with demand – and has over 1,500 charities on its waiting list.
“We still do not have enough food to meet skyrocketing demand, and teachers across the country feel they have no choice but to step in to help hungry children,” CEO George Wright said. “Our teachers should be teaching, not forced to fill the gap because the government stands by and allows this to happen all the while food goes to waste on farms,” he added.
Kelly Stallwood, deputy manager at Buzzee Beez Preschool in Harlow, Essex, said: “We are in a deprived area so we see the struggles some of our families are going through. The staff have been known to give up their food or purchase food for a child when they have come into the setting hungry or they have little to no lunch in their lunch bag.”
