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I'm thinking of when I was a young teacher in a rural High School back in the 90s. A 14 year old called David was in class one Monday morning when my colleague noticed he kept falling asleep. She teased him gently - "Did you not get any sleep last night, David?"
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"It's not that, Miss," he replied. "It's just that I didn't catch anything this weekend."
Puzzled, she inquired further. It turned out that both his parents were addicts, and there was never any food in the house. He survived on free school meals during the week.
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Puzzled, she inquired further. It turned out that both his parents were addicts, and there was never any food in the house. He survived on free school meals during the week.
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At weekends, he would take his fishing rod and head for the river. If he caught a fish, he ate that weekend. And if he didn't, he didn't.
I don't know how he survived over the holidays.
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I don't know how he survived over the holidays.
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Rural poverty is scattered, isolated, hidden. In a green and leafy countryside, our school had the highest proportion of free school meals in Scotland. We also had one of the lowest rates of pupils going on to further education.
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High School was a 20 mile journey for some, and the nearest Primary could be 5 miles away. Even had we thought to provide free school meals all summer, how would David have accessed them?
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I've got no answers. I just think about David a lot.
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