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Teachers poll finds hungry children impact learning of others

15 Jan 2016

According to a poll conducted by YouGov on behalf of Kellogg’s, 82% of teachers said a hungry child is unable to concentrate and 50% claimed they were more disruptive.

Almost a third of teachers have brought food into school for children who haven’t eaten anything in the morning and 8% had brought money in to give to children, according to the Kellogg’s poll of 765 teachers in England and Wales.

Nearly eight out of ten (78%) teachers see children coming into school hungry at least once a week, while 36% said they see children going hungry every day.

Jill Rutter, head of policy and research at the Family and Childcare Trust, said: “Missing breakfast has a huge impact on children’s ability to concentrate, learn and behave, which affects their results and long-term outcomes.

“We are very glad that policy changes in England mean that parents will soon be able to ask schools to set up breakfast clubs. Governments in all parts of the UK now recognise that breakfast is essential to children’s learning.

“Despite these promising developments, there are too many children who still miss out. We are concerned that more than a third of teachers are seeing children come hungry to school every day.

“The Family and Childcare Trust encourages schools to take up the opportunities offered by Kellogg’s and set up a breakfast club. Such a small investment can make a real difference for our children, today and in the future.”