School leaders’ union NAHT will be attending the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival this weekend, with general secretary Paul Whiteman and president Dr Paul Gosling speaking on child poverty on the Sunday.

Dr Gosling said: “At no point in my thirty-year career of working in schools have I seen the number of families being pushed into poverty as they currently are. This national cost of living crisis is crippling so many hard-working people and the government needs to take some serious and immediate action to support people. School leaders know that the effects of poverty can hugely disadvantage children’s life chances, and they are angry and frustrated that more is not being done to support our communities. That is why NAHT are attending the festival this weekend, to demand better from this government.”

Mr Whiteman said: “Our members have described the rise in poverty in their schools’ communities over the past year as ‘shocking and stark’. It is clear that the combined pressures of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis have driven more families and children into poverty. Children who are hungry are not ready to learn. Teachers and school leaders are increasingly having to tackle the impact of poverty before they can even start teaching. These children are already the victims of a decade of austerity; the government urgently needs to act to avoid these children becoming an entirely lost generation.”

The Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival is an important date for trade unions, celebrating the memory of six agricultural labourers who were convicted in 1834 for organising during a labour dispute, and the blow they struck for workers’ rights.

Rob Kelsall, NAHT National Secretary, said: “This will be the first time NAHT has attended the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival and we are proud to be there alongside our sister unions and organisations working to support children during the current difficult times. The cost-of-living crisis is hammering families across the UK and schools are seeing first-hand the impact that this having upon the most vulnerable children and young people every single day. Not only that, but they are also seeing it affect families and their own staff too. We cannot stand by whilst child poverty rates surge and children are going hungry. We are better than this. Our schools and our communities demand better.”

https://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/festival/whats-on/whats-on-sunday