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.
We need your help to #ENDCHILDFOODPOVERTY. Together we can end this problem, no child in the UK should be going to bed hungry.
Find out how many children near you are growing up in poverty and ask your MP to act now
Share your story on the challenges poverty places on learning in schools
Schools should now design and implement their school uniform policies with particular regard to the costs of the uniform according to a new law passed in April 2021. The NEU school uniform/dress code guidance gives advice on poverty proofing, flexibility for SEND students and developing a culturally inclusive policy.
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 was relieved by the Government’s announcement to invest £170 million via local councils to provide children and young people with regular, nutritious meals over the Christmas holidays and that the Food and Activities Programme expanded to cover the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays throughout 2021.
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 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.
1.7 million children on Free School Meals are at risk of going hungry this summer. Along with MPs, Peers, and 23 other organisations, we are urging the PM to fully fund the FSM voucher scheme for the holidays.
There needs to be clear and immediate action from every part of Government to tackle the inequalities which have widened even further because of the pandemic.
Schools work hard every day to engage and support pupils who for whatever reason are absent from class.
Any measures from Government to support families, and bring the costs of school uniform down, are welcome.
