Children arriving at school too cold and wet to learn, says councillor

Children have been turning up wet and cold for school and the problem has been made worse by parents’ worries about rising fuel bills, according to a councillor.

Labour councillor Amanda Grimshaw, who represents Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, called for schools to have drying racks to help tackle the problem.

Councillor Grimshaw said that she would even be willing use her modest “ward budget” to pay for the racks to help pupils from poorer families.

She spoke out at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Children, Young People and Skills Committee at Hove Town Hall on Monday (7 November).

Councillor Grimshaw said that some children had no choice but to put on a damp uniform of a morning if they had walked home in the rain the night before.

She said: “During the last week, we’ve had the most terrible rainfall. People going out are getting soaked and drenched, children included.

“They’re going to their homes and, instead of having their heating on to allow clothes to be dry and warm, they’re wearing the same clothes the following day which are still damp.

“Children are going to school in uniforms that are dirty because parents aren’t putting the washing machines on.”

Councillor Grimshaw said that placing four drying racks in each of the city’s 67 state schools would cost less than £10,000, adding that even a couple would do if money was tight.

She said: “It would improve their physical and mental health. If you’re sitting continually in damp clothes, it is going to impact on the way you want to learn.

“It’s going to impact on your health. You’re going to get chills. It is a crisis. Children are being left cold and wet in clothes that are probably not washed to the extent they were before.”

The council’s assistant director of children’s services, Jo Lyons, said that there might be space issues but the idea was something that schools could support.

Green councillor Hannah Allbrooke, who chairs the council’s Children, Young People and Skills Committee, said that the council was already running over budget this year – as were schools.

This prompted Councillor Grimshaw to offer money from her £1,000 ward budget towards the idea – and to suggest two racks instead of four.

Councillor Allbrooke said that the council’s finances were in a “bleak” situation, with a current in-year overspend of £13 million, adding that the problem was “not getting better” – and the direct schools’ grant from the government was also overspent.

She said: “Schools are facing real issues with their funding. We are coming into the budget period where we will be asked to look at the money the council has.

“What we have is the Chancellor reporting that difficult decisions are going to have to be made. It seems those difficult decisions are likely to be more cuts for our funding.

“We don’t have any room left. Realistically, what happens now is that services will close because we do not have any money left.

“I’m really worried about that and the impact that’s going to have on children and young people.

“While we can address people who face barriers and underline the fact that we are doing it with our hands tied behind our backs, we’ve had £100 million taken out of our budget in the last 12 years.

“Who knows how much we’ll have taken out of this year when the cost of things is going up.”

The exchanges took place as councillors debated “A Fairer Brighton and Hove” – the council’s “disadvantage strategy framework”.