Schools are using their own budgets to stop children going hungry, with nearly 40 per cent of school leaders saying they provide free school meals to pupils who are not eligible.
A new survey, commissioned by the charity School Food Matters, polled 10,000 teachers in England about the extent of pupil hunger at their schools and the impact it is having on children and their learning. It found that four in 10 (38%) teachers surveyed said pupils in their class were regularly too hungry to learn, with the figure jumping to 63 per cent in the most deprived areas.
