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NEU launches Help a ChildIan HylanD’s to Learn hilarious new campaign with £1m donation TV column the heart of britain Friday, February 5, 2021
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THE union has launched a national appeal to provide essential materials for children learning from home and has kickstarted the campaign with a £1 million donation.
Help a Child to Learn, launched by the NEU, the Daily Mirror and stationery supplier Viking, plans to raise money to supply learning materials such as pens, paper, card and crayons for pupils who do not have these remote learning essentials at home. More than four million children are growing up trapped in poverty – an average of nine children in every class of 30. The pandemic has shone a glaring light on the struggles families face, with many more being pushed into hardship in the last year through job losses, illness and changing circumstances.
Delivery of hope First batch of supplies arrives at school as part of our million pound campaign to help children learn in lockdown... and the smiles say it all
WRiTE STUFF Frankie Brogden, Bradie Adu-Yeboah and Che’nai Quatromini in East london school Picture: Tim merry
Help a child
by MATThEW YOUnG
pupils receive the first delivery of basics in our home learning campaign. And the kids at Cubitt Town Junior School in East London look delighted. One grateful mum said: “It’s really hard at home... we just don’t have enough to go around. We’re really thankful for it.” FULL STORY: PAGES 4&5
‘55% have seen an increase in poverty’ In a survey conducted by the NEU, 55 per cent of members said they had seen an increase in child poverty at their school or college since March 2020, the start of the first lockdown. Speaking at the campaign launch, NEU member Sarah Kilpatrick explained some of the daily challenges her students are facing: “As an art teacher I have found myself searching my kitchen cupboards to figure out what I can successfully repurpose as paint. “Yesterday I uploaded a video tutorial for
my GCSE students explaining how to make a PVA glue substitute out of flour and water. I also demonstrated how to use coffee as paint, cotton buds as a paintbrush and the inside of cereal boxes as a substitute for cartridge paper.” NEU joint general secretaries Kevin Courtney and Mary Bousted said: “School leaders, teachers and support staff are doing everything they can to support students, but our members can only do so much, individually. That is why we have launched Help a Child to
No Child Left Behind – our five demands As Educate went to press, Government had refused to extend free school meals provision over the February half-term – despite record levels of child poverty nationwide. The NEU has pledged to continue fighting to ensure no child is too hungry to learn. Thanks to NEU pressure the Government pledged £1.3 million for laptops and free access to Wi-Fi to help students access remote learning. However, rollout has been slow.
(Right) Information from a recent NEU survey of members
Daily Mirror front page from 5 February, when the first delivery of stationery was made to Cubitt Town Junior School pupils in east London, just days after the NEU’s Help a Child to Learn campaign was launched. A recent NEU survey showed that a shocking 95 per cent of members were teaching students who had limited or no access to learning resources at home.
Learn, to get funds into schools to help them continue to sustain learning from home with the practical resources that children need.” n Intent on quickly getting resources to those who need it most, £755,000 of the NEU’s £1m donation has already been distributed to 782 schools, as Educate went to press. The campaign has been praised by education groups, politicians and celebrities – including children’s author Sir Michael Morpurgo – with an additional £185,000 so far raised through public donations.
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Expanded eligibility for free school meals for every child on Universal Credit Free school meals expanded year-round to end holiday hunger Affordable school uniforms Free Wi-Fi access for disadvantaged pupils at home A dedicated technology budget for schools to combat the digital divide
educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)
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