LEVELS of family poverty in Manchester are so high that almost half the children in the city's secondary schools are eligible for free school meals.

In some of the city's schools, the figure is a staggering 76 per cent.

The Department for Education and Skills has revealed the proportion of children on free school meals in Manchester - 47.1 per cent - is among the highest in the country.

That figure, which represents more than 7,000 pupils, is far higher than in neighbouring Trafford and Stockport, where the number of children claiming free meals is just 11.8 and 13.5 per cent.

Free school meals figures - used as indicators of poverty by the DfES and education watchdog Ofsted - are higher only in some London boroughs and Knowsley, Merseyside.

Child deprivation

And later today, delegates at a Manchester conference, Every Child Matters, will hear further evidence that children in Salford, Trafford and Manchester suffer from some of the worst health and deprivation in the country.

The proportion of children eligible for free meals reflect the number living in families relying on Income Support.

The figures are considered educationally significant because statistically schools with high levels of free meals are associated with low levels of attainment.

Ian Glaister, Manchester's assistant chief education officer, said the youngsters concerned often lived with a single parent; with those who spoke English as a second language; or with parents who did not work.

The children often did not have access to books at home and may not have received high levels of educational support.

At Ducie High School, in Moss Side, the number claiming free meals is - at 76 per cent - the highest in the city.

However, Coun Bernard Stone, Manchester's executive member for education, stressed that children who have free school meals can succeed.

He explained: ''Right up and down the country, there are people on free school meals who do really well in exams, so being on free school meals doesn't necessarily mean that education should be affected.''

The shock percentage of pupils allowed free meals in school canteens in Manchester compares with just 9.7 in Cheshire and 16.9 in Lancashire.

Other local percentage figures are Bolton 19.2, Bury 15, Oldham 20.9, Rochdale 26.2, Salford 28.5, Tameside 19.2 and Wigan 16.3.