A desperate headteacher says British schools are “broken” with hungry pupils resorting to stealing food and turning up to class without shoes or coats.
Neil Morris is headteacher at the 1,500-pupil Christopher Whitehead Language College in Worcester.
He said he's facing “huge problems” with attendance dropping and staff, pupils and families struggling to make ends meet.
Mr Morris said the school, rated good by Ofsted, was spending more than £250,000 on staff and services, including buying poorer pupils’ uniform and food.
He also revealed pupils and staff must wait years to have essential mental health services.
Mr Morris said: “We spend £256,000 on what I would say, ten years ago, we wouldn’t have spent on.
“We have three counsellors, that’s for staff and for students, we have three attendance officers, we have our own education welfare officer, we do it ourselves.
“We are spending a huge amount on food. We have children stealing food from Sainsbury’s. The system is broken.
“Everything has been cut. There is nothing left to cut. So unless we do it, there is nothing else we can do.
“We are constantly looking for money. We try and raise £40,000 to £50,000 a year just to keep going.
“It’s incredibly sad and incredibly tough.”
The situation is equally as bleak for primary schools with staff pushed to feed and buy shoes and winter coats for children.
Kate Wilcock, headteacher at Pitmaston Primary School in Worceser, said the pressure was “overwhelming”.
She said: “Teachers and school staff continue to struggle with many teaching assistants, on low wages, forced to give up and find work elsewhere because of rising costs.”
She also revealed how the school spent £7,000 in just one term to buy food for pupils.
