A probe is underway to find out how many children in the district are attending school without food or money to pay for school dinners after several headteachers raised concerns that pupils are going hungry.

Bradford Council is calling on headteachers at all its schools to inform the authority if they know of any pupils not entitled to free school meals who are in danger of having insufficient nutrition at midday because they are coming to school penniless.

Some children may come from families who do not qualify for free school meals but don’t have the cash to pay for them, while others might think there is a stigma attached to free meals and do not apply.

The call coincides with a campaign by the Council to encourage more families in the district to take up the offer of free schools meal to ensure all children who qualify for them are registered.

Jayne Clarke, headteacher at Ryecroft Primary School in Kesteven Close, Holme Wood, said around 60 per cent of pupils were eligible for free school meals and of the remaining 40 per cent, around 30 per cent were in need of them.

The school holds a free breakfast club, serves high carbohydrate meals at lunch times, snacks including porridge and pasta and runs baking sessions to ensure children do not go home hungry.

Mrs Clarke said: “Nationally there are many families that are in these circumstances but because Bradford has large estates, with people from many varied and complex backgrounds living on them, you have families, for a variety of reasons, who are not able to access services and benefits.

“We say that whatever the child’s needs are, we work to meet those regardless of the child’s situation. It’s a very difficult situation for the parents who are marginalised.

“We have to disregard those circumstances and say we have a duty to meet the needs of children and if they are hungry things getting in the way will have to be addressed. Children have a right to have their needs met so learning can take place.

“There are clusters of schools around Bradford where it would be fair to say there should be universal entitlement to free school meals.”

Councillor Ralph Berry, the authority’s executive member for children and young people, said while schools were working hard to ensure children were well fed, their efforts were likely to be hampered by Government budget cuts.

Plans to give every primary school child across Bradford free school meals as part of a pilot scheme were axed by the Government in June last year.

Councillor Berry said: “It’s quite shocking that 100 years after Margaret McMillan that schools are having to provide a wrap-around service of nutrition to make sure children are having enough carbohydrates so they can maintain their concentration throughout the school day. I do take my hat off to schools that are doing their best to come up with creative ways to help children.”

Tim Nichols, a spokesman for the Campaign to End Child Poverty, said: “We strongly support local authorities having take-up schemes for free school meals and we also think the Government should extend eligibility for free school meals. It’s still only a minority of families below the poverty line who will qualify.”

There are almost 40,000 children in the district (31.8 per cent) living in poverty with at least 40 per cent of youngsters in wards including Manningham, Little Horton and Tong, thought to be living below the breadline.

Earlier this year Bradford Children’s Trust launched its first strategy to tackle child poverty in the district, aimed at helping organisations that deliver services to children to work together.