In this guest blog, TCC (Together Creating Communities) Young Leaders from St Joseph’s Catholic and Anglican High School in Wrexham talk about their campaign to eradicate school hunger and their experiences of attending WCPP’s stakeholder workshop on tackling poverty stigma.
Just over one year ago, as part of Together Creating Communities (TCC) we – a group of 12-14 year-olds – began a campaign in our school in Wrexham, St Joseph’s Catholic and Anglican High School, to tackle the issue of school hunger. We sent a survey around the school and found that:
- 30% of young people have reported that they have been refused a meal due to debt on their account
- 30% of young people have had to skip a meal at school due to lack of money
We were particularly shocked to learn that 73% of young people who were refused a meal were told in front of their peers that their account was in debt. Being loudly told that they don’t have money on their account in front of their peers, within what is a noisy, busy space, adds unnecessary shame and feelings of powerlessness to an already stressful experience. Seeing pupils leave the dinner line after being refused food, knowing they were hungry, is what drives us to keep going.
Since that original survey, we have met with our Head Teacher, Mr Wilkinson, various local politicians, including Members of the Senedd for Wrexham and Clwyd South, Lesley Griffiths and Ken Skates, and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes. Many of our meetings went well and decision makers gave vital information for our cause. We also gained the support of Ken Skates MS for our campaign.
Our Head Teacher Mr Wilkinson has worked hard to make sure that the issue we brought to him about canteen staff refusing food to pupils was rectified and pupils are discreetly offered a sandwich or a meal of the day as per council policy. Mr Wilkinson keeps an eye on the canteen as much as he can and tries to make sure all his pupils know they can come to staff for help.
TCC and AVOW launched the first Financial Justice Working Group meeting in June 2023. The meeting, which was well attended by local organisations such as Wrexham Foodbank, was held at the oldest international stadium in the world, Y Stadiwm Cae Ras, in Wrexham AFC Football Club’s community room. For us as a TCC Youth member group this was another high point as it gave us the opportunity to work with other organisations on our issue while hearing about the wider financial problems that affect our diverse member groups.
Our #NoHungryLearners Campaign video headlined the opening of the Wales Child Poverty Summit in Swansea last year, hosted by the Children’s Commissioner Office and Children in Wales. The Summit was attended by representatives from non-governmental organisations and public bodies across Wales and held workshops on various topics covering the legal and policy framework on child poverty, and the different experiences of child poverty.
We won the support of the Unite the Union Cymru Wales Northeast Wales Community Branch who have agreed to fund leaflets spreading awareness of the campaign.
We also took part in the Wales Centre for Public Policy Poverty Stigma Workshop at Ty Pawb in Wrexham. Attendees included a mix of organisations and people with lived and learned experience working together to discuss poverty stigma in society. We were the only youth group there and we were made to feel valued and included. We got to meet people from organisations we wouldn’t usually have the opportunity to, and it helped us to understand our community better.
We were also able to share some of our insights into how schools can unintentionally create or add to feelings of stigma around poverty. For example, the additional financial pressure on pupils and families for such things as buying branded school uniforms and P.E kits, the pressure of having the right clothes for non-school uniform days to fit in with trends and being asked for a donation in front of your peers. School trips where we are told that ‘if you want to boost your mark, you should come on the trip’ can create further financial and well-being burdens with worry about deciding between whether your family can afford it versus being at an educational disadvantage.
There have been times where as young people raising our voices, we have been challenged and disappointed. In TCC we are taught about power dynamics and how to set boundaries and safeguard ourselves. We were able to put our training into practice during one meeting where a decision-maker attempted to control the agenda. We have had some more challenging meetings with powerholders, one example being a powerholder not understanding what we were asking for and suggesting we could fundraise to pay off our school’s dinner debt instead of campaigning for a change in policy.
Our No Hungry Learners campaign is still ongoing; however, we feel as though winning the support of various politicians and organisations in Wrexham has been an immense victory. Our goal is to have all school dinner debt eradicated from all secondary schools in Wales.
If you would like to support us in our campaign to eradicate school hunger, you can contact Ruth Marshall via email at yaco@tcc-wales.org.uk
Read about our campaign here at No Hungry Learners Campaign (tcc-wales.org.uk)
Campaign Video: No Hungry Learners