A briefing report, published by academics at University College London (UCL), finds that schools serving populations with high levels of poverty shouldered a significantly higher burden in addressing problems relating to food insecurity and housing during the height of the health crisis.
The study, which interviewed dozens of parents and staff at seven schools across England with both high and low levels of deprivation and numbers of coronavirus cases, shows that addressing food insecurity was the most immediate priority for all the schools involved in the research.
“Schools went to considerable lengths to ensure that all their pupils received at least one meal a day, in some cases distributing food directly from the school to the door”, the report states.
One head teacher told researchers: “What we’ve noticed over time was that the people who were coming to our food pantry, and we still run it now, weren’t the free school meal parents. […] It was this tier just above, the people who’d been furloughed, the people who had always had a job.”
Schools also reported dealing with children in need of clothing, families living in inadequate housing with inadequate space and resources to maintain learning at home, families with limited digital connectivity, individual pupils facing mental health crises and children experiencing difficult domestic circumstances, including domestic violence.
Co-author of the report, Professor Gemma Moss, from the UCL Institute of Education, warned that “funding offered through pupil premium does not cover or adequately reflect the work schools do to support children living in poverty or struggling with difficult issues at home”.
“That families are so reliant on schools highlights fundamental weaknesses in our current welfare system that urgently need repair,” she said.
Professor Alice Bradbury, from UCL Institute of Education, who also co-authored the report, added: “Our research shows that the lack of services that support children, particularly child and adolescent mental health services and emergency housing for domestic violence cases, puts schools in the position of first responder, coping with families facing complex challenges.
“Schools are picking up the pieces from a welfare and social services system that no longer provides a real safety net for families. For those schools, the impacts of poverty on children’s lives are impossible to ignore.”
Responding to the report, Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “This research demonstrates the determination of schools to deal with the effects of poverty in their classrooms. But schools cannot act alone and urgent action to tackle the scourge of child poverty is needed from the government.
“We know that even before coronavirus, 4.3 million children and young people were growing up trapped in poverty and this is only going to be made worse as the pandemic continues to take its toll. Covid-19 has exposed the endemic levels of poverty and inequality in the UK.”
The publication comes as the Department for Education announced the roll-out of superfast fibre broadband to more than a 1,000 schools with poor connectivity in rural or hard-to-reach areas.
Meanwhile, construction, residential development and property services company, Wates Group, and London-based charity, the Children’s Book Project have joined forces to tackle book inequality nationwide.
The pilot project, which began in 2019, saw Wates provide a donation point on its construction site at Borough Yards, south London, for members of the public to leave books.
Nearly 8,000 books were donated and now Wates and the Children’s Book Project plan to take the scheme nationwide, as part of a long-term social value strategy with three new collection sites set up in the capital and more planned for Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester.
