Teachers and school food banks: The 'fourth emergency service' for hungry and dirty children

All my friends who are teachers say the same thing, they spend a disproportionate amount of time doing things that parents or the state should do. Teaching is pushed down the priority list because there are always urgent issues which need tackling first. Sometimes it is a lack of money at home, on other occasions it is a broken care system and often it is the wider impact of cuts to services which used to support families.

Whatever the reason, the impact is the same. Budgets and effort which should go on learning are spent on food. I have heard stories of nursery staff who use footprint painting as an excuse just to be able to properly wash toddlers' feet. We all know about the children who only have a bag of crisps to get them through the day and come to school unable to focus because they are hungry. So who steps in? Teachers because if they didn't, nobody else would.

It is an absolutely abysmal state of affairs which simply should not be happening in one of the world's wealthiest countries in 2023.The situation is so back that a new study says food charity in schools is now mainstream across England amid the cost-of-living crisis, welfare cutbacks and entrenched poverty.

The findings show an expanding patchwork of school food banks, pantries and similar initiatives have been introduced to support families struggling to make ends meet and feed their children. The spread of charitable food aid work led one headteacher to claim schools are now, “literally the fourth emergency service”, with another support worker saying, “We’re seen as the universal service… because other services aren’t there any more.”

This is not a problem created by schools but it is one that teachers have to solve because those with the power and money to bring real change simply do not care enough to take action. If they did, no child in Britain would ever be hungry and classrooms could return to education.

It makes my blood boil that this situation has been allowed to escalate until teachers no longer see their career as a long-term option and they are stretched to breaking point as an emergency stopgap - every day of the week. That's before you look into the number of children without a warm coat as the temperatures plummet. If they had such a thing, they would probably opt to wear it in the house because they can't afford to put on the heating.

Spiralling food and energy prices were reported to be compounding the issue of food insecurity, compelling schools to step in as a safety net in the absence of adequate welfare state support. A primary school pupil cited in the research wrote a letter appealing to their school, which read: “We haven’t got any gas. We haven’t got any food for tonight, please can you help?”

Lead author Dr William Baker, from the University of Bristol, said: “After years of austerity and cutbacks, rocketing food prices means millions of parents can’t afford to feed their kids or heat their homes. Schools see the consequences of this every day, and many are responding by providing food to families through their own food banks and pantries. It clearly shows how food support systems within schools are now well-organised and entrenched. Given the current situation, initiatives like food banks in schools are likely here to stay.”

Most schools reported supporting 15 to 20 families on a regular basis, while several larger secondary schools in deprived areas were supporting more than 40 families a week, with food sourced via partnerships with major food waste charities and supermarkets. Food aid operations were found to vary in size and structure, ranging from discreet food parcels given to parents and funded by staff donations to larger-scale, well-advertised, regular provision by large supermarkets and food waste charities. Examples of this included a free help-yourself pantry in the form of a shed next to a playground and a weekly stall set up at school pick-up time for parents to select what they need.

“It’s striking and concerning how normalised and embedded the food aid had become within schools in England,” Dr Baker said. Interviews with staff involved in this work uncovered how many families are falling through cracks in the welfare system, for example, those on Universal Credit who may not quite qualify for free school meal provision.

A support worker said: “It’s those on the borderline, that actually, they can’t get free school meals, because they’re earning £10 more than just above the threshold… so with everything else going to happen, they’re not going to be able to manage.”

The scale of need extends beyond food, so schools have also been stepping in to provide clothes, shoes and cleaning products. Dr Baker said: “Schools are often also supplying other essential items. Many staff I’ve spoken to attribute this need for support to broader cuts to services nationally and locally, with the cost-of-living crisis on top.”

The findings back up recent research by The Food Foundation, which found last September that a quarter (25.2%) of all households with children experience food insecurity. A recent study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found almost 42% of families with more than two children routinely experience food insecurity.

Dr Baker added: “Levels of food insecurity in the UK are deeply concerning and create major challenges for families and schools. No child or family should go hungry or worry about where their next meal is coming from. Schools and food charity can’t solve this problem; it requires a more co-ordinated and extensive response from government that tackles destitution and poverty, particularly amongst families with children.”

The study, Schools and food charity in England, is published in the British Educational Research Journal.