Nearly three in five teachers have noticed pupils showing signs of hunger, research by the NEU teaching union shows.
The proportion has risen slightly, up to 59 per cent from 56 per cent last year, according to a survey of nearly 15,000 teachers and school staff.
And 52 per cent of teachers working in the most deprived schools have noticed signs of physical underdevelopment in their pupils.
Across all schools, this figure was 39 per cent - an increase from last year, when 36 per cent of teachers reported noticing this.
On most of the metrics of child poverty that the NEU polled teachers about, respondents reported similar or increased levels compared with last year.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “A government calling for ‘high and rising standards’ cannot at the same time stand idly by in the face of high and rising rates of child poverty. The government must take action.”
Poverty ‘causing pupil fatigue’
Eight in 10 teachers surveyed reported pupils showing signs of tiredness and fatigue in school as a consequence of poverty.
More than a third said their school provides a food bank, and more than half said they personally provide food for pupils.
One respondent to the NEU’s survey said: “We have a lot of children/families struggling with poverty who are working families not classed as pupil premium. Therefore they do not qualify for free school meals/extra support, etc. We support the children where we can at a cost to the school.”
Research last year showed that schools had become the biggest source of charitable food and household aid.
The most recent poverty statistics published by the government show that 4.5 million children were in poverty in the year up to April 2024.
The cost of extracurricular trips
Speaking to the press at the NEU’s annual conference in Harrogate, deputy head Chris Dutton said: “What I’m seeing is more and more children not taking part in extracurricular or residential trips, and we’re offering the same trips we did 23 years ago.”
He added that this situation often relates to pupils with two working parents, whom schools can no longer afford to subsidise.
Some 82 per cent of teachers responding to the survey highlighted an inability to concentrate in lessons as a concern for disadvantaged pupils.
More than half of teachers reported that their school provides a free breakfast, and 42 per cent said their school provides extra food for hungry pupils.
School funding difficulties
This research comes after school business professionals warned that next year schools are “looking at one of the most challenging [financial] forecasts in probably the past two decades”.
The School Cuts campaign has said that more than nine in 10 secondary schools and three-quarters of primaries will not be able to afford their costs next year.
Mr Kebede said: “Child poverty is a political choice, one that has been sustained by successive governments which have failed to get to grips with the solutions.
“It is profoundly worrying that in one of the richest countries in the world, we continue to expect schools to plug the gap.”
The government has launched a child poverty taskforce, which is being jointly led by the education secretary. However, MPs have warned that there is an “absence of information” on what resources are available to deliver the child poverty strategy.
Free breakfast clubs
The Department for Education has named the first 750 primary schools that will offer free breakfasts to all pupils before the scheme is rolled out nationally to address the problem of children coming to school hungry.
Speaking to the press, Kari Anson, head of a special school in Birmingham, said breakfast clubs are difficult to implement for special schools that use corporate transport to get children to school.
“They also assume that the level of funding for breakfast clubs for us is just like mainstream, and it’s not,” she added.
The NEU survey attracted responses from 11,628 teachers and 3,165 support staff across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Polling was conducted from 28 January to 9 February.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered every weekday morning, sign up for the Tes Daily newsletter
