Starving Pupils Taking Food from Rubbish Bins
Malnourished children are arriving at school so hungry they are taking food out of the bins, a headteacher says. Siobhan Collingwood, headteacher of Morecambe Bay Primary School, in Lancashire, said one in 10 of its pupils came from families using food banks. ‘When children are food deprived it alters their behaviour and they do become quite food obsessed, so we have some children who will be stealing fruit cores from the bins,’ the headteacher said. Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Ms Collingwood said: ‘We have children who have nothing in their lunch boxes and children who are just fixated upon food.’ The headteacher said there were currently 35 children at her school whose families are supported by food banks: ‘It’s probably higher because they are the ones we know about.’ ‘Families are coming in telling me they are routinely loaning food to each other, my day-to-day experience is telling me this is a growing problem,’ she said. Ms Collingwood said she had noticed more problems since the introduction of universal credit. Her comments came after a cross-party group of MPs called on the government to appoint a ‘minister for hunger’ to tackle ‘food insecurity’ – especially among young children. A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said 1 million people had been lifted out of absolute poverty since 2010—including 300,000 children. The spokesperson added: ‘We already provide support through free school meals and our healthy start vouchers.’
State Sixth Form Beating the Oxbridge Odds
A state sixth form college with a large number of students attracting Pupil Premium funding has achieved 41 Oxbridge offers, placing them on a par with top private schools. Brampton manor in the Easton London Borough of Newham, one of the most deprived boroughs in the capital, received 25 Oxbridge offers last year and is expecting 50 net year. Half of the students with current offers are on free school meals. The head of the sixth form, Sam Dobin, claims there is no secret formula to their success, just ordinary run-of-the mill, conventional teaching. But there are things that stand out. The school has spent its Pupil Premium money on building and staffing a study centre which is open from 6 am to 7.30 pm. The school runs courses aligned to the world of work, like Medical Sciences, and hold research forums to discuss medical advances and ethics. It has a strong debating society, which takes part in inter-school competitions and a team of five full-time Oxbridge graduates working on university access. It expects all of its students to go onto university, and it loudly promotes the success of former students all over the school. There are pictures on the walls of previous students who went to Oxbridge, and inside the entrance is a plaque with the names of all students who have gone to university. Part of the motivation, students say, is this celebration of success and the idea that Oxbridge is attainable and not just for elites. Part of its success though seems to be a university style of education that has a lot of emphasis placed on personal responsibility and an engagement with ideas and discussion.
Schools Need to Encourage Healthy Eating
Food for Life are joining Jamie Oliver in campaigning for the introduction of a healthy rating scheme in schools.
School food has been transformed over the last decade. The era of the turkey twizzler may be behind us, but the past ten years have seen a sharp increase in the availability of highly processed foods, and this has resulted in a generation of severely overweight kids.
Today, obesity levels in the UK continue to grow. Over two years ago, the government vowed to tackle obesity in kids by introducing a healthy rating scheme for primary schools. The scheme would focus on promoting healthy food both in the dining hall and out, by supporting healthier eating, physical activity and the shaping of healthier habits. It would also be linked to Ofsted inspections ensuring that school food is a priority for school leadership.