Has the time of truly extended schools arrived?

“One of our pupils came to school shivering and without a coat – it turns out he doesn’t have one and mum can’t afford a new one because she had to take some leave during the school holidays to look after him.

“The school has a pre-loved uniform and clothing bank next to the main office where the admin team had a search for something appropriate for him before sending him onto class. Later that day, his mum popped into the food bank for a bag of donated supplies so he could have something to eat for tea.”

This is no isolated story. It is easy to think that this only affects a small proportion of children in some of the poorest areas of the UK. And yet, last year, it was reported 95% of mainstream schools and 87% of special schools have provided uniform and clothing items to pupils, with 70% providing food parcels, food banks, food vouchers, or subsidised breakfasts (Lucas et al, 2023). Separate research has found that 1 in 5 schools are also now operating food banks of some kind (Baker et al, 2024).