Hartlepool Headteacher Helping To Tackle Bed Poverty

Mark Tilling of High Tunstall school talks about teaming up with a charity to provide new beds to children to help them learn.

Transcript

00:00With Mark Tilling, the head teacher at High Townsville College of... Science?

00:05Yes. Thank you, I got it right. Well done, Frank. There's a lot of bedding and there's

00:11some pillows etc behind you. What is it about? Why are you here?

00:15Yeah, so since March last year I've been working with an organisation called

00:20Zarek. They're a bed charity from Leeds and when I heard their story on the BBC last

00:26year I just thought we needed to bring them to Hartlepool. If one in seven children in the UK

00:31don't have a bed there will be children in Hartlepool that don't have beds. So I work with

00:35Zarek with a number of local organisations in partnership with Hartlepool Power,

00:38Orange Box and other organisations to get the company to come to us and this is

00:44the start of it. This is the first few beds we've been delivering for two weeks

00:47and referrals come from schools and every child who needs a bed can get one.

00:52They get a van, they get a mattress, they get a duvet, pillows, the pyjamas and a

00:57hygiene kit. It's just to help out, give a hand up and make sure every young

01:02person gets a good night's sleep because without a good night's sleep how are they supposed to learn?