The NEU’s No Child Left Behind campaign is fighting to break down the barriers poverty puts up around equal access to education.
In the UK today, 31% of our children - 4.3 million - are trapped in poverty. That means the equivalent of 9 pupils in every class of 30 have been let down.
As educators, we know first-hand how poverty limits the life chances of children and significantly affects their educational experience and outcomes in school. We are calling on the Government to leave no child behind.
Read new NEU guidance on tackling poverty in the classroom – offering practical tips and resources to help practitioners break down the barriers to learning poverty creates in school.
The NEU’s Turning the Page on Poverty is a practical guide for members to develop individual practice and tackle the impact of poverty on pupil learning throughout the school day.
The NEU is hugely relieved by the Government’s announcement this weekend to invest £170 million via local councils to provide children and young people with regular, nutritious meals over the Christmas holidays. Education staff will be relieved that the Food and Activities Programme will be expanded to cover the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays throughout 2021 – this is the right thing to do and will provide nutrition and support to families who need it.
Marcus Rashford’s campaign has amplified the voices of teachers, support staff and headteachers who have worked tirelessly throughout this pandemic to respond to holiday hunger.
This announcement means more than one million children will return to school after their holidays better equipped to learn. However, our work does not stop here – 1.5 million children from families receiving Universal Credit are not entitled to Free School Meals, (FSM) but are likely to be facing challenges in accessing regular nutritious dinners.
The No Child Left Behind campaign will continue to press the Government to expand FSMs to all pupils in families eligible for Universal Credit
🗣 @NEUnion https://t.co/YNaxoJjbUd
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) October 27, 2020
Thousands of people have added their voices to our open letter to Gavin Williamson, demanding that FSM be extended over the school holidays and that children from families in receipt of Universal Credit be included in the scheme. Marcus Rashford MBE, who has spearheaded the call for an expansion in Free School Meal provision, has added his support to our campaign.
The rising levels of inequality confirmed by End Child Poverty’s latest research raises urgent questions about the Covid response and the route out of lockdown. The NEU wants Government to provide short term support for families in poverty and build a longer term solution on child poverty within plans for economic recovery.
NEU members witness the heart breaking ways that poverty and deprivation affect children’s learning, well-being and happiness. Watch and share our campaign films demanding action on child poverty.
Our members have been in touch to tell us their stories of teaching in communities where poverty puts up barriers to learning, and how they’ve been working to break them down so no child is left behind.
Providing project-based learning at home
When the Prime Minister announced in March that schools and colleges would close to most students that very same week, the pressure was on for schools and colleges.
If we want children to learn online, then we need to provide access
With half term fast approaching, and the financial pressures of increased lockdown tightening, thousands of families will be worried about putting food on the table.
It’s not right that poverty can deny children the opportunity to thrive, live healthy lives, do well at school and realise their ambitions for the future.
Covid-19 has exposed the benefit cap and two-child limit as inherently arbitrary when what is needed, during the pandemic and beyond, is a safety net that is strong, compassionate and just. We urge Ministers to lift the policies now.
Letter to the Chancellor asking him to consider uplifting child benefit by £10 per child per week.
Labour Party figures show over half a million children have become reliant on free school meals during the pandemic.
Coronavirus has shone a light on the reality of child poverty in 2021 - job losses, illness and increased economic pressure has pushed too many families over the brink, limiting the life chances of millions of children and young people. It doesn’t have to be this way.
We agree with the report’s conclusions that overcoming the pandemic is possible and that it should serve as a catalyst for sustained improvements in education.
