A school headteacher says some families have so little money that children are having to decide between eating breakfast and lunch - and staff are paying for their meals.

Stephen Garthwaite says his staff are having to supplement the free school meal alowance every day so some children have enough to eat.

Mr Garthwaite told WalesOnline: "Children are coming to school half starving, a few having not eaten since lunchtime the day before.

A survey by charity TCC (Together Creating Communities) shows teachers are increasingly being asked by hungry pupils for money to buy food.

One teacher said “Many pupils are either going without breakfast or spending all of their free school meals allowance in the morning and then not having anything left at lunchtime.”

Mr Garthwaite said the poorest pupils are being forced to choose between eating breakfast or lunch.

With more than a quarter of his 550 pupils eligible for free school meals , growing numbers arrive without breakfast, not because they are too rushed to eat it, but because there is no food at home.

He said: “They then spend some of their £2.45 daily school meal allowance on breakfast at school or a snack at morning break, meaning they don’t have enough left to buy lunch.

“More and more pupils are coming to school hungry. In times of austerity there is less food at home.

“It’s a long way to go from the start of school to lunch at 12.50pm and they understandably use their dinner money to buy breakfast in the canteen.

“These children are asking staff to borrow money to pay for their lunch because of this on a daily basis. My staff will always say yes and top up their allowance, digging into their own pockets.

“Free school meals are no longer doing the job they are meant to be doing. I have seen first hand the way hunger is destroying our children’s futures."

One of Mr Garthwaite's school learning assistants, Yvonne Girvan, said: “I put food for them on my card and other staff have told me they are buying sandwiches for some pupils. This is happening more and more regularly.

“The ones who ask are the ones we know about, but some may go hungry and not ask. It’s awful this is happening. We hear about holiday hunger but less is said about term time hunger and it is happening. I’ve been at the school 25 years and this is the worst poverty I’ve ever seen.”

The TCC charity, many of whose members are teaching assistants, are today launching a Wales-wide Stop School Hunger campaign.

The campaign calls for the Welsh Government to urgently increase the free school meals allowance by 80p to cover breakfast. It estimates this would cost between £3-4million.

If the 80p was not spent at the school canteen in the morning the money would not roll over and would go back into the fund, as with unused lunch money.

According to TCC’s research last summer more than half of teaching staff buy food for some of the poorest pupils at school, with some feeding children on a weekly basis.

One told them: “A young man will often hoard food when it is available just in case he doesn’t have any when he gets home. This has happened with a few learners over the years.”

The TCC said in a statement: “The truth of the matter is that free school meals are being propped up by the generosity of teaching staff, with no guarantee that pupils are receiving the vital nutrition they need to function during the school day or complete important exams.”

The charity surveyed 500 pupils receiving free school meals who said lack of money to eat left them “hungry” and “angry”, and in no fit state to learn.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said the free school breakfast policy is under review and may be extended.

“Ensuring all our school children fulfil their potential is a key priority for this government and we have a number of policies in place to help ensure none of our school children go hungry.

“Unlike in England, all primary schools in Wales can access free breakfast provision for their pupils. We are considering proposals on how this important policy can be further extended and will be making an announcement in due course.”