TORY austerity is dragging more and more children into poverty, unions and campaigners warned today, after teachers reported an increasing number of “hungry, cold and tired” pupils attending school.

About three-quarters of state school educators in England are seeing an increase in tired students unable to concentrate and more than half report a rise in young people coming to class without adequate winter clothing, according to a new survey.

The shocking study, conducted by app-based research firm Teacher Tapp on behalf of education charity the Sutton Trust, also reveals that 38 per cent of primary and secondary teachers are noting more hungry children as hard-up families rely on foodbanks.