22.5% of pupils in English schools were eligible for free school meals (FSM) in January - an increase of 160,000 on last year's figure - described as "shocking" by headteachers' leaders.
School leaders' Unions warned that these pupils' circumstances could become even "more severe" due to the #CostOfLivingCrisis & called for additional funding "for both educational & pastoral support".
No doubt the Mail & Tory MPs will ramp up their anti-union rhetoric, as usual.
Pupils in England are eligible for FSM if their parent or carer is entitled to certain benefits, such as Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance.
The proportion of eligible pupils was rising even before the pandemic, from 13.6% in 2018, but shot up to 20.8% in 2021.
Schools get extra funding (pupil premium) for each of their students on FSM - but not all students who are eligible claim FSM.
FSM eligibility varies between different schools: 23% in state-funded primaries; 21% in secondaries; special schools 44.7%; pupil referral units 54.6%.
In state-funded nurseries (where children are eligible if they meet the criteria & attend for full days) the figure rose to a new high of 8.6% & primary numbers may continue to rise.
FSM eligibility has big regional variations: 29.1% in the North East & 17.6% in the South East.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the #NAHT school leaders' union, warned that the children who have become newly eligible for FSM are "disproportionately drawn from more #disadvantaged areas & are largely those pupils who already needed more support."
Schools are "increasingly struggling" to give support due to "overstretched budgets & the erosion of the value of pupil premium funding since 2015. Additional funding is urgently needed for both educational & pastoral support. Children who are hungry are not ready to learn."
Teachers & school leaders are increasingly having to tackle the impact of #poverty before they can even start teaching.
"Free school meals eligibility should be extended to every child from a family in receipt of Universal Credit, with auto-enrolment."
Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School & College Leaders (ASCL) union, said it was "shocking" to see so many children living in extremely difficult financial circumstances - & another 800,000 children living in #poverty do not even qualify for the meals.
"Even more shocking is the fact that current eligibility does not even capture all the children who need help. Free school meal eligibility now applies to 22.5% of pupils, but we know that the level of child poverty is about 30%."
While the @Conservatives have wasted £BILLIONS, & their Party depends almost entirely on their grotesquely wealthy donors, more than 2 MILLION adults in the UK have gone without food for a whole day over the past month because they cannot afford to eat.
The latest survey of the nation’s food intake shows a 57% jump in the proportion of households cutting back on food or skipping meals over the first three months of this year, with one in seven adults (7.3 MILLION) estimated to be food-insecure, up from 4.7 million in January.
We've not arrived at this abhorrent & unnecessary situation overnight - it's the consequence of a long-term plan by deranged free-market fundamentalists, & if UK citizens were sufficiently informed about it, the Tories would NEVER form a Govt ever again.
A few thoughts on Bob Vylan leading the #GlastonburyFestival crowd in chants of "Death to the IDF" (Israeli Defence Force), livestreamed by the @BBC, and the mischaracterisation of the chant by some MPs, news media, and activists.
In England, where #GlastonburyFestival is located, all of us have the right to freely express our criticism of anyone or anything - as long as there is no intent to provoke immediate unlawful violence or there is a reasonable likelihood it will occur as a consequence.
In England, free speech is protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998. However, inciting violence is a criminal offence under several laws which attempt to balance public safety with free expression rights.
In many countries, especially since Musk bought Twitter/@X, underregulated online extreme content has been used to groom and radicalise vulnerable people.
Too many cowardly politicians are scared to speak up for fear of being branded 'anti-free speech'.
Some MPs who have been in parliament for many years NEVER appear on any of the @BBC's "flagship" politics shows - but Reform's privately educated shit-stirring 'anti-elite' former Tory Sarah Pochin - an MP for FIVE WEEKS - gets her own special introduction on #PoliticsLive.
Politicians using dangerously irresponsible anti-Muslim rhetoric know their comments are normalising Islamophobia and endanger British Muslim women. Islamophobic incidents rose by 375% in the week after Boris Johnson called veiled Muslim women “letterboxes” in 2018.
#PolitcsLive
Britain prides itself in NOT being the sort of country that tells women how to dress. States that do dictate women’s clothing (eg Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia) are vilified as misogynistic & ultra-controlling: the antithesis of the enlightened, liberal west. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
The 'Women's Safety Initiative' is an anti-migrant AstroTurf disinformation group founded by Jess Gill, a Fellow of the Koch-funded climate change denial group, the Foundation for Economic Education, & an apprentice at the Mises Institute. The '1 in 4' claim is a lie.
Before I outline the evidence that (despite what we are told every day by politicians, activists, and news media) there is no discernable link between either legal or illegal immigration and increased crime rates in OECD countries, including ours, some context about Jess Gill.
Jess Gill’s involvement with these radical free-market climate change denying Koch foundation funded organisations is deeply concerning.
The WSI exploits young women to make misleading claims about supposed links between immigration with women’s safety.
"Foreigners" DO NOT claim £1BILLION/month in benefits.
This disgusting anti-migrant dogwhistle by shameless liar and former Head of Policy Exchange, Neil O'Brien MP, is just one of several recent dispicable divisive Telegraph front page lies.
WTAF @IpsoNews? @HoCStandards?
The claims that the UK spends £1bn/month "on UC benefits for overseas nationals" (O'Brien) and "Foreigners claim £1bn a month in benefits" (Telegraph) are revealed to be lies in the article: the£1bn relates to "Benefits claims by HOUSEHOLDS with AT LEAST ONE FOREIGN NATIONAL."
The Telegraph claims that (unnamed) "experts suggested the increase reflected a SURGE in the number of asylum seekers being granted refugee status and in net migration."
To evaluate/make sense of this sensational unsourced claim, additional context is needed (but not provided).
Chase Herro, co-founder of Trump’s main crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, on crypto:
“You can literally sell shit in a can, wrapped in piss, covered in human skin, for a billion dollars if the story’s right, because people will buy it.”
Despite crypto being bullshit, & memecoins being consciously bullshit, many – especially angry young gullible men – still invest: 42% of men & 17% of women aged 18-29 have invested in, traded or used crypto (2024 Pew Research), compared to only 11% of men & 5% of women over 50.
“It’s no accident that memecoins are such a phenomenon among young people who have grown immensely frustrated with a financial system that, I think it’s fair to say, has failed them” - Sander Lutz, the first crypto-focused White House correspondent.