TORY austerity is dragging more and more children into poverty, unions and campaigners warned today, after teachers reported an increasing number of “hungry, cold and tired” pupils attending school.

About three-quarters of state school educators in England are seeing an increase in tired students unable to concentrate and more than half report a rise in young people coming to class without adequate winter clothing, according to a new survey.

The shocking study, conducted by app-based research firm Teacher Tapp on behalf of education charity the Sutton Trust, also reveals that 38 per cent of primary and secondary teachers are noting more hungry children as hard-up families rely on foodbanks.

And a majority — 52 per cent — of head teachers told researchers that the amount of students ineligible for free school meals but unable to afford lunch is increasing.  

The charity’s chairman Sir Peter Lampl slammed the “scandal that, in one of the world’s richest countries, growing numbers of children are going without basics.

“The facts are stark and shaming: children who arrive at school hungry have difficulty learning.

“Without radical intervention and increased provision for those who need it most, the cost-of-living crisis will produce a decline in social mobility.”

The poll shows a marked disparity between the poorest and richest schools, with 65 per cent of educators in the former category reporting issues with pupils’ winter clothing as opposed to 40 per cent in the latter.

There are also significant differences by region, with more than four in 10 teachers in northern England saying pupils are struggling, compared with 27 per cent in the south-east.

National Education Union joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted warned that “children are paying the price” for government spending cuts and falls in real-terms public-sector pay.  

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must offer free school meals to all primary school pupils as a “welcome first step in tackling the epidemic of child hunger, giving families some breathing room and supporting the education and wellbeing of our children,” she said.

Paul Whiteman, head of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Schools are trying to help, but the issues that underpin inequality reach far beyond the school gates and exist throughout communities.”

A Department for Education spokesperson claimed ministers are investing £24 million in a national school breakfast programme alongside financial support to eight million of the “most vulnerable” households.