Pupils turning up to school hungry because their parents cannot afford to feed them are just one of the signs of increasing child poverty since the start of the recession, a survey has found. More than 40 per cent of education staff taking part in an ATL poll said they thought poverty had increased among their pupils since the start of the economic crisis three years ago. Teachers, support staff and other workers cited a list of distressing examples such as a pupil with infected toes caused by ill-fitting shoes and a boy being mocked because he came to school with no underpants. One sixth-former had not eaten for three days because her mother’s pay cheque had not arrived. But there were also concerns for children from middle-income families who, increasingly, were unable to join optional school trips.