‘We don’t just teach – we fuck children, feed them and brush their teeth’

The bell rings at the St. Nicholas Church of the Primary Academy of England in Boston, Lincolnshire, the head teacher Mrs. Booth said crying a little boy coming through the gates with her hood crying crying.

“Are you alright?” She asks in a soft voice, taking it aside.

He tells him that he is hit around the head by an adult at home.

Domestic violence is not only one issue, working with the teacher here. Four families in the school are currently homeless. Many are in serious loans. There are disciples who have been smuggled.

Across the country, schools such as St. Nicholas are fast helping families with problems that are beyond classroom.

BBC News Commission Survey Equipment Teacher top To ask teachers and school leaders in England about the additional support for their school children. Teachers told the BBC that financial difficulty, housing and mental health conflicts are issues that schools have been helping the most families in the last two years.

• About half (45%) of senior teachers say that their school has provided financial assistance to families in the last 12 months.

• Two -thirds of senior teachers (66%) say that their school provided food to the students to eat outside the school hours in the last 12 months.

• About one of the seven teachers (15%) says that they have spent their money to provide food to the struggling families.

• One -third of teachers (34%) say their school is helping children brushing teeth

The school is one of the most deprived parts of Lincolnshire. There are high levels of migration – 71 children went inside and outside the school during the previous academic year – and for about 70% of children, English is not their first language.

Mrs. Booth has already taken a call about three weak children this morning that has been missing – they have not gone to school for weeks and have tuberculosis, an infectious lung disease that can be serious if not treated.

“We think the family is in Europe,” says Mrs. Booth. “We are sure they were running away from debt.”

After the morning break, Mrs. Curtis is keeping a grabbing bag for an eight -year -old mannequin, which the mother told the school earlier to tell them that she would have to leave her home in a hurry. She is fine and her child is safe, she says, but she has no goods.

A dozen east-tailed bags, a child filled with a child may be required. If his family is in crisis, hang on the pegs near the stationery cupboard. It has a teddy with school crest, a gold story and a school uniform. But the school also helps with a wide range of other things – from the electric meter card to the blanket. Mrs. Kartis is now trying to find some pajamas for the pupil in need.

At lunch, dinner lady Mrs. Smole keeps an eye on children who do not have enough food at home. St. Nicholas has 85 children who are currently eligible for free school food under half the students of the school.

School is also participating in a project to promote healthy food – but the contents of children’s lunchbox are an ongoing challenge. Children regularly change with more than left, or just with chocolate and crisps.

The assembly is one of the main attractions of the school day, and the music is loud and joyful. Mrs. Booth described it as a lesson for “mind, body and soul” and hall children are packed with dancing and singing.

When she joined St. Nicholas as a head teacher in 2019, the school was given insufficient status by the school inspectors. The morale was low and the school was failing children and employees. Five years later, St. Nicholas is considered good and is part of the Infinity Academy Trust. His motto is “Late Your Light Shine”, and the school symbol is a lighthouse.

“It is important for us to provide sanctuary,” says Mrs. Booth. “You know that you will fall in love, you will be fed, water will be fed, and you will hug at the gate.”

Mrs. Smith has been a teacher here for 21 years. Ever since she started teaching, she describes major changes.

“When I first started working in schools, the children were released, we taught them, and they went home,” she says. “Now we help them in their food, we help them brush their teeth, we help them in behavior, we help them in normal life.

“How can we not help the child who is hungry or does not have clothes?”

Despite the challenges in St. Nicholas, there have been huge academic improvements due to focusing on goodness. Of children in key phase 1, 95% reached national standards on nodes in their latest data, well above national average and 61% before epidemic.

And St. Nicholas does not only provide additional assistance to students – also help for parents, as parents and budget classes. The school recently placed cooking classes for families, with a free air-folding for those who complete the course to test their new skills at home.

For children who have a relative in jail, they are kept aside in school weeks to speak and show them their school work through video links.

Parents Kerry, who has a child in the year 4, reached school when things were happening on him.

“I have always struggled with my mental health, but it deteriorated,” says Kerry.

“I couldn’t cope. I spoke to school and they were amazing. He helped with my daughter, he gave me a parenting course. It’s not just a school, it’s a family – and if they know if they know If you are struggling, they will check on you. “

In response to the BBC survey, Paul Whitman of NAHT School Leaders Union told us that it is “important” that the time and budget of the schools are freed to focus on learning.

“There should be a large security trap for children and families to get support from central and local government and community services, and it is important that the government distributes the government’s child poverty taskforce tangible recommendations that addressed the basic causes of poverty Helps do it. “

The good of children’s good and schools, which is currently passing through Parliament, is one Comprehensive range Schools with the aim of dealing with poverty in schools, such as setting up breakfast clubs and limiting the same costs, are even bill plans for academies. Causes political dispute,

This will also ensure that teachers and schools are always involved in the decisions around the safety of children in their area, and if the child’s home environment is evaluated or unprotected, the local authorities to intervene There is power.

A unique identifier number will be given to children in services, the same as an adult national insurance number.

In response to the findings of our survey on additional support being offered by schools, a government spokesperson said that the funding of schools was increasing to £ 2.3BN. He started a hat on the introduction of free breakfast clubs and the amount of expensive branded school uniform items, purchasing the parents.

“More widely we are developing a strategy to reduce hair poverty that will be published in this spring,” he said.

As the school bell rings to indicate the end of the day to the students, Mrs. Booth and their dedicated team are still difficult to work.

There are regular calls to deal with social care services, police and home offices, as well as meetings with mental health aid teams.

“My job is to look at opportunities so that these children can flourish in modern Britain,” Smt. Booth.

“I could not call myself a head teacher, if I wanted to say, ‘This is not my job.” ,