A food poverty summit is being organised to address food insecurity and pupil hunger in schools amid the rising cost of living.
Half of Hackney’s children are living in poverty, according to a report this week (31 October). As the cost of living crisis intensifies, poverty and food insecurity are likely to be a significant challenge for schools in autumn and winter terms, the report states.
Deputy Mayor of Hackney Anntoinette Bramble laid out the plans during a council meeting on Monday evening. “The mayor and I are establishing a task group and a food poverty summit to look at ways that we can support families and children in schools,”
Paul Senior, the interim director of education at Hackney Council, said the task group would consist of relevant stakeholders ranging from local headteachers to council officers and partners from health sector. The task group, he said, would put together a series of recommendations to be discussed further in the summit, which would take place at the end of November or in early December.
“We will have some tough decisions to make,” Senior said.
There are 13,352 disadvantaged children eligible for free school meals in Hackney this year, which is 38% of all state school pupils. London’s figure is 24.6%.
Andy English, the head teacher at Our Lady’s secondary school in Stamford Hill, said that his school could not afford to offer free meals to everyone. State funding only provides free school meals to eligible secondary school pupils. The school has, however, received money to run a free breakfast club.
“Food inflation is very high and other inflationary pressures on energy and staff costs make it challenging to sustain this programme,” English said.
