education

Labour promises free breakfasts for primary children to ‘poverty proof’ schools

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Jeremy Corbyn helps some pupils out on a visit to Fulbridge Academy in Peterborough (Picture: PA)

All primary school children would be served free healthy breakfasts under Labour plans to cut the number of pupils going hungry.

Jeremy Corbyn’s party has vowed to limit the cost of uniforms and to restore grants to help families buy them.

Labour also wants to recruit 20,000 more teachers, cap primary class sizes to 30 and invest £7 billion in repairing school buildings.

If it wins the General Election on December 12, the free breakfast programme would be piloted for secondary school students in a bid to boost their chances in classes and exams.

Discussing plans to ‘poverty proof’ the country’s schools, Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner cited research from the Resolution Foundation on the impact the Conservative government is having on pupils.

The party has announced a series of plans to ‘poverty proof’ and improve schools (Picture: PA)

She said: ‘Rising child poverty under the Tories is an absolute scandal, and it is a disgrace that their plans will push it to a 60-year high if they win this election.

‘Labour will tackle child poverty while driving up standards in schools by providing extra support to the children who need it most.’

As well as plans to recruit more teachers, the party has also vowed to ensure 25,000 currently unqualified staff are fully trained during its first term in office.

Ms Rayner said Labour would ‘close the gap in funding’ for pupils with special educational needs and abilities, ‘fully reverse cuts’ to the pupil premium and boost spending on it above inflation to support disadvantaged children.

It comes as the NAHT says school budgets are ‘at breaking point’ (Picture: PA)

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) economic think tank has previously said that Labour’s proposals would mean a 15% (14.6%) real-terms increase in per pupil funding over the next three years.

National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) general secretary Paul Whiteman said school budgets ‘are at breaking point’.

He added: ‘Labour’s additional £7 billion to tackle repairs is very welcome and is equivalent to National Audit Office’s estimate of what it would cost to return all school buildings to satisfactory or better condition.

‘However, on recruitment, Labour are well short of the 47,000 secondary teachers and 8,000 primary teachers that are needed by 2024 in order to keep pace with growing pupil numbers.’



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