Research finds summer 'learning lag' link with holiday hunger
12 Jun 2017
Researchers at Northumbria University have found that attainment levels dropped to four and a half weeks behind where they were before the summer holidays among pupils aged six to eight years old because of a lack of access to holiday hunger schemes.
TES reports that Northumbria University surveyed 428 organisations that provide food during school holidays and carried out a separate pilot study to analyse the educational impact of three of these programmes.
The research found that the summer schemes, which also offer access to books and activities, helped to boost reading scores and stop body-mass index levels increasing.