'We don't just teach - we clothe the kids, feed them and brush their teeth'

St Nicholas is in one of the most deprived parts of Lincolnshire. There are high levels of migration - 71 children moved in and out of the school during the last academic year - and for nearly 70% of the children, English is not their first language.

Mrs Booth has already taken a call this morning about three vulnerable children who are missing - they've not been to school for weeks and all have tuberculosis, an infectious lung disease which can be serious if not treated.

"We think the family are in Europe," says Mrs Booth. "We're fairly sure they were fleeing from debt."

After morning break, Mrs Curtis is putting together a grab bag for an eight-year-old pupil whose mum rang the school earlier to let them know they've had to leave their home in a hurry. She is OK and her child is safe, she says, but they have no belongings.

A dozen pre-prepared bags, full of items a child might need if their family is in crisis, hang on pegs near the stationery cupboard. There is a teddy with the school's crest on it, a bedtime story and a school uniform. But the school helps with a wide range of other things too - from electricity meter cards to blankets. Mrs Curtis is now trying to find some pyjamas for the pupil in need.

At lunchtime, dinner lady Mrs Smalley keeps an eye on the children who don't have enough food at home. There are 85 children at St Nicholas who are currently eligible for free school meals, just under half of the school's pupils.

The school is also taking part in a project to promote healthy eating - but the contents of the children's lunchboxes is an ongoing challenge. Children regularly turn up with left-over takeaways, or just chocolate and crisps.

Assembly is one of the highlights of the school day, and the music is loud and joyous. Mrs Booth describes it as a lesson for "the mind, body and soul" and the hall is packed with children dancing and singing.

When she joined St Nicholas as head teacher in 2019, the school was rated Inadequate by the schools inspectors at Ofsted. Morale was low and the school was failing children and staff. Five years on, St Nicholas is rated as Good and is part of the Infinity Academies Trust. Their motto is "let your light shine", and the school emblem is a lighthouse.

"It's important for us to provide sanctuary," Mrs Booth says. "You know you'll be loved, you'll be fed, watered, and you'll get a hug on the gate."

Mrs Smith has been a teacher here for 21 years. She describes the huge changes she's seen since she began teaching.

"When I first started working in schools the children were dropped off, we taught them, and they went home," she says. "Now we help them with their food, we help them brush their teeth, we help them with behaviour, we help them with general life.

"How can we not help a child who is hungry or doesn't have clothes?"

Despite the challenges at St Nicholas, there have been huge academic improvements here because of the focus on wellbeing. Of the children in Key Stage 1, 95% reached national standards on phonics in their latest stats, well above the national average and up from 61% before the pandemic.

And St Nicholas doesn't just offer extra support to pupils - there is help for parents too, in the form of parenting courses and budgeting classes. The school recently laid on cooking classes for families, with a free air-fryer for those who complete the course to test their new skills at home.

For those children who have a relative in prison, time is set aside in the school week to speak to them and show them their school work via a video link.

Parent Kerrie, who has a child in Year 4, reached out to the school when things were getting on top of her.

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is currently going through parliament, has a wide-range of measures aimed at tackling poverty in schools, such as setting up breakfast clubs and limiting uniform costs, even as the bill's plans for academies have caused political controversy.

It will also make sure teachers and schools are always involved in decisions around safeguarding children in their area, and if a child's home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local authorities have the power to intervene.

A unique identifier number will be given to children across services, akin to an adult's national insurance number.

In response to our survey findings on the extra support being offered by schools, a government spokesperson said schools funding was increasing by £2.3bn. They also pointed to the introduction of free breakfast clubs and a cap on the amount of expensive branded school uniform items parents have to buy.

"More widely we are developing a strategy to reduce child poverty which will be published this spring," they added.

As the school bell rings to signal the end of the day for pupils, Mrs Booth and her dedicated team are still hard at work.

There are regular calls to social care services, the police and the Home Office to deal with, as well as meetings with mental health support teams.

"My job is to see opportunities so these children can thrive in modern Britain," Mrs Booth says.

"I couldn't call myself a head teacher if I was to say, 'That's not my job.'"