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Nearly half of schools give families financial help, teachers say

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As the bell rings at St Nicholas Church of England Primary Academy in Boston, Lincolnshire, head teacher Mrs Booth spots a little boy coming through the gates with his hood pulled up, crying. “Are you OK?” she asks in a soft voice, taking him to one side. He tells her he’s been hit around the head by an adult at home. Domestic violence is not the only issue teachers here are dealing with. Four families at the school are currently homeless. Many are in severe debt. There are pupils who have been trafficked.

Across the country, schools like St Nicholas are increasingly having to help families with problems that extend beyond the classroom.

Teachers told the BBC that financial hardship, housing and mental health struggles are the issues schools have been helping families with the most over the last two years.

Almost half (45%) of senior teachers say their school has provided financial support for families in the last 12 months. Two-thirds (66%) of senior teachers say their school provided food for pupils to eat outside school hours in the last 12 months. Approximately one in seven teachers (15%) say they have spent their own money to provide food to struggling families.

The school is in one of the most deprived parts of Lincolnshire. There are high levels of migration – 71 children moved in and out of the school during the last academic year – and for nearly 70% of the children, English is not their first language.

Mrs Booth has already taken a call this day, saying: “It’s not just a school, it is a family – and if they know you’re struggling, they will check in on you.”

In response to the BBC’s survey, Paul Whiteman from the NAHT school leaders’ union told us it is “vital” that schools’ time and budgets are freed up to focus on learning. “There needs to be a greater safety net for children and families to get the support they need from central and local government and community services, and it’s vital the government’s child poverty taskforce delivers tangible recommendations which help address the root causes of poverty.”

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is currently going through parliament, has a wide-range of measures aimed at tackling poverty in schools, such as setting up breakfast clubs and limiting uniform costs.

It will also make sure teachers and schools are always involved in decisions around safeguarding children in their area, and if a child’s home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local authorities have the power to intervene.

A unique identifier number will be given to children across services, akin to an adult’s national insurance number.

Mrs Curtis runs a knitting club at St Nicholas’s every lunchtime where pupils can talk about their worries.

In response to our survey findings on the extra support being offered by schools, a government spokesperson said schools funding was increasing by £2.3bn. They also pointed to the introduction of free breakfast clubs and a cap on the amount of expensive branded school uniform items parents have to buy. “More widely we are developing a strategy to reduce child poverty which will be published this spring,” they added.

As the school bell rings to signal the end of the day for pupils, Mrs Booth and her dedicated team are still hard at work. There are regular calls to social care services, the police and the Home Office to deal with, as well as meetings with mental health support teams. “My job is to see opportunities so these children can thrive in modern Britain,” Mrs Booth says. “I couldn’t call myself a head teacher if I was to say, ‘That’s not my job.'”

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