Breadline Britain: Demand grows for school breakfasts | Society | guardian.co.uk

Breadline Britain: Demand grows for school breakfasts | Society | guardian.co.uk:

A few minutes spent leafing through the forms sent to charities by schools hoping to get funding to provide pupils with free breakfasts builds up a vivid picture of how teachers all over the country are struggling to help ill-fed children who come into school hungry.

"Around 40% of first aid referrals from last year were deemed to be caused by lack of breakfast," a teacher writes from a school on the Hartcliffe estate in Bristol, adding: "Many of our children do not eat before school and this leads to many problems throughout the school day." Staff at a school in Blackburn say they have observed pupils who are "underweight and pale", and have "poor concentration, are tired and lethargic, often complain of feeling hunger pangs". A teacher from Merseyside writes: "We have undertaken a survey today and over a quarter of our children have not had breakfast in key stage two [seven to 11-year-olds] this morning."