With the cost of living crisis hitting families hard, the role of schools has become more critical than ever. As parents struggle to make ends meet amid rising costs and low pay, school leaders have been sharing heartbreaking stories of the true impact it's having.
From stepping in to fund the £1 a day breakfast club because families can no longer afford it, to uniform swap shops, schools are at the forefront of the crisis gripping the country.
On top of that they're grappling with their own rising energy bills and putting plans in place for October when 'things are going to get a lot worse'.
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At E-ACT Blackley Academy in Manchester, headteacher James Hughes says families there - almost 60% of whom are entitled to free school meals - have 'always struggled', but admits things 'have got worse'.
A project last year to look at adverse childhood experiences in the community - such as poverty, parents being in prison and death in the family - only highlighted the extent of problems faced by families, largely the impact on mental health.
But he felt that initial pastoral care was merely 'putting sticking plasters' on the issues and without a more proactive approach, they would forever be reacting to immediate problems without ever improving people's situations.
After asking parents about their most common problems, they decided to create a hub at the nearby St Paul's Church - bringing organisations together under one roof, to help with everything from housing and benefits to cooking, foodbanks and budgeting.
One of the key players there is Tunde King, the man who Hughes took on as the school's social and emotional resilience coordinator.
He's the go-to for parents needing any support and, while he's employed by the school, he spends more time out of it - either at the hub, on home visits, or taking people to meetings and appointments.
It was only a few months ago, during the colder weather, when coming to the aid of one of their families, that it became clear just how vital the role has become.
"We had a family with no gas, no money and a brand new baby who needed feeding," said Hughes. "We had to take some hot urns from school so they could warm the baby's bottles.
"They were waiting for social services to help but had no money on their meter. We had some Tesco vouchers so we could go and get them some food, but it had to be from the hot deli as they had no means of heating anything.
"This was all picked up on because Tunde visited and found the baby screaming and the house freezing. We stayed late until they got the help they needed."
For Hughes, who grew up in the area and whose dad went to the primary he's now the leader of, he feels schools have 'a duty' to help out, adding 'there's no point in being angry at the government, you've just got to do it'.
"I don't really think about it because this is our family in here and the parents are part of that," he said. "You see some of the situations people are living in and it's frightening.
"You have to do the right thing, there's not even a question of 'should we be doing that?' because we do it for the children for whom we're ultimately responsible."
That feeling is shared with other leaders, including Steve Chalke, head of the Oasis Academy chain, whose trust runs 52 academies, including the likes of Oasis MediaCityUK in Salford and Oasis Academy Oldham.
He says schools - which he describes as 'the anchor institutions in communities' - 'have always been part of the welfare state,' but previously it's 'not been recognised'.
"Schools have always understood that with every child you've got to look in context of their whole experience of life," he said. "They spend more time out of school than in school, so you have to look in context of their family and community.
"Schools, particularly primary schools, are anchor institutions in communities, it's where you get the mums, dads and other families at the gates."
Like Hughes, Chalke, who is also a church leader in his own London community, is all too aware of the impact the financial crisis is having on families.
He recently came to the aid of a family where the parents' income took them just above the earning threshold for free school meals, but who were struggling to cope.
"They were in private accommodation but struggling to pay," he said. "The stress and strain on mum and dad led to some emotional and abuse problems in the home. The children were losing weight, not just through lack of food but the trauma of it all."
He believes people need to consider the long-term consequences of poverty to see just how much it will affect our children's lives.
"The short term impact is food deprivation and that creates poor physical health," he said. "Then you get poor concentration in class and that creates poor educational outcomes.
"You then get poor mental health and reduced life chances. It just spirals and if schools aren't adequately funded and if we don't invest now, we will pay later."
While some families are willing to ask for help, Chalke says it's the ones who don't ask 'you've got to watch for' and that means staff 'keeping their eyes open' for anyone who might need that extra support.
At Newall Green Primary School in Wythenshawe, headteacher Ruth Perry says there's been a distinct rise in the number of parents who do need help, with many in minimum wage jobs struggling to cover their bills or school meal costs.
The school has stepped in to subsidise lunch and breakfast. At the same time the school's energy bills have jumped by 'the equivalent of four teaching assistants', while it's also had to implement a 'printing ban' after paper costs doubled.
Meanwhile one academy chain has said it is stopping referring families to foodbanks, but launching its own instead.
Star Academies, which runs The Olive School in Bolton, says a quarter of its schools run them already, but they will be in all 31 from September as family circumstances are expected to 'worsen'.
It's that uncertainty that Chalke is telling headteachers and staff to be prepared for this autumn. "I'm not saying it's not bad already", he told us, "but on October 1st it's going to get a lot worse.
"That's when the cap on energy bills will change at the very moment that everybody starts to turn on their heating."
He says larger groups such as Oasis can club together to make things work, but admits it will 'be a struggle for any school on their own'. "We are getting ourselves geared up for it," he said. "It's going to be hard work and a long recession."
Back at Blackley Academy and Hughes and his staff are determined that no child will go without. Since February they have distributed 5,080 frozen meals to families thanks to The Caring Family Foundation.
They've always had a uniform swap shop where parents can get what they need for their growing kids and now it's all going online with the Uniformd app - a second hand uniform market place - which will make things easier to organise.
"We've always had things passed down at the school," said Hughes. "It's become unmanageable because of the amount we have so it will mean families can just go online and pay £1 to get the items they need. If someone was desperate, we wouldn't see them without though, and I hope our families know that."
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