The figure reduces to 62% in secondary schools, according to a new report by the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) finds.
Around one in four primary teachers and more than one in five secondary teachers estimated having spent more than £100 so far this academic year
The report The ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis on schools is based on a survey of 1,282 teachers and senior leaders across mainstream primary and secondary schools.
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It finds that 31% of primary school respondents said more children were attending class hungry, with 40% reporting an increase in pupils arriving without adequate clothing.
The report also suggests that the financial position of schools is continuing to deteriorate and that most primary schools are cutting spending on targeted learning support like tutoring and learning resources to plug holes in budgets.
Almost all school senior leaders reported making cuts in at least one area in response to cost pressures, it adds.
NFER’s co-head of UK policy and practice, Jude Hillary, said: “The cost of living is one of a number of significant cost pressures leading to schools having to make incredibly difficult trade-offs in their core provision - including staffing, teaching and learning.
“Teachers are going above and beyond to meet pupils’ pastoral needs using their personal funds. This unrecognised, informal support is being offered at a time when teachers individually continue to face their own financial pressures.”
The report recommends that the next government extend the current eligibility for free school meals to ensure pupils in need who do not meet the current eligibility criteria can benefit.
It also suggests providing targeted financial support to help schools address pupil’s well-being needs, alongside meeting the additional direct costs associated with these improvements.
Responding to the report, Professor Becky Francis, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “we shouldn’t have to rely on the kindness of individual teachers to plug the gaps for their pupils”.
She added: “There is an entrenched link between family income and education outcomes. Widening wealth inequality will only exacerbate this. Tackling this should be at the top of the education agenda for the new government.”
