Do you know what poverty looks like in a school like mine? It's not
scruffy children, although there are plenty of them, in uniform falling
apart or too small. It's not dirty children, although smell can be a
fairly good indicator of parental income apart from after they've had PE
(in which case, open the windows! Yes, it's cold, Sam. Be quiet.). No,
where you see it is in the boy reading the posters in the corridor, the
two girls sat against the wall staring into space, the 11 year old
slowly swinging on the bannisters. At 7.45 in the morning.
I
arrive at school at about 7.45. The students don't have to be here
until 8.50, but the few I see every morning have obviously been there
some time when I arrive. I'd hazard a guess at 7am, as that's when
school's open. Do you know why they're there? It's nothing to call
social services about, they're not running away. But school, you see, is
heated. At the moment, it's quite cold outside at 7am, and these
children's houses aren't heated.