'We would raid the finance office for petty cash'
When she looks back on her time as a vice-principal at a secondary school in north Manchester, there's one memory that sticks in Patsy Hodson's mind.
This encounter was just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, Patsy says the situation became so bad, the school had to implement several schemes just to make sure their pupils can eat. Patsy recalls before the academy introduced their own raft of measures to help struggling families, kids were frequently coming into school hungry, and staff were forced to dip into their own pockets to help them out.
The school has since introduced '£1 meals' meaning all students - and staff - can access healthy and good quality meals. "We open the school for them after hours and they come with their parents and can use the kitchen. They'll bring their own food but use the equipment and sit and eat with the family."
"Kids come to school and it's a very good school and they get good exam results. They have all the emerging technology and they get to go out to classical concerts. The organisation, whose ambassador is Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, has a base at Smithfield Market in Openshaw. Currently, more than 1,500 charities are on their waiting list - 600 of which support school-aged children.
"More people are coming to them for food, but what is especially alarming is families that are working coming to them. As we get to winter I think this is going to be even more acute." What school leaders say James Bowen, assistant general secretary for school leaders’ union NAHT, said: "Our members have reported increasing concerns about rising levels of poverty in their school communities and the impact of hunger on pupils. These findings chime with those concerns.