Scheme to 'poverty proof' school rolls out across UK

The initiative, called UK Cost of the School Day, has been granted £2m funding by the National Lottery to extend to schools in Coventry, London, Wales and Scotland over the next three years.

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and Children North East will work with parents, school staff and pupils to identify barriers to education suffered by low-income families.

Families and teachers involved in the earlier Children North East and CPAG projects in Scotland highlighted education costs including school transport, uniform, school trips and extra-curricular activities such as music lessons among issues causing extra financial strain.

They also said not having IT at home meant pupils struggled with completing homework and noted the expense of buying study materials like past exam papers.

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The scheme will see an action plan implemented in schools taking part to remove these cost barriers. Changes in previous projects included schools choosing more affordable school trips, setting up homework clubs with resources such as IT, reviewing school uniform policies, recycling school uniform items, buying plain blazers and ironing on badges and sharing bus hire with nearby schools.

Alison Garnham, chief executive of CPAG, said: “School days are supposed to be the best days of a child’s life, but instead for some children and their families, they can be a source of anxiety if there are extra and unexpected costs for parents.

“Nine children in every class of 30 are growing up in poverty and although school is free, increasing costs are putting a great strain on families, causing some children to miss out on aspects of school life. 

“This is why we’re delighted with the funding from The National Lottery Community Fund. This project will help schools work out what they can do differently to help to bridge these gaps – by making small changes to school life, they can make a huge difference to a child.”

Michele Deans, Operations Director at Children North East said: “Children North East is enormously proud of our Poverty Proofing the School Day initiative and we're delighted to be partnering with Child Poverty Action Group on this important work. We’re looking forward to using our combined expertise to support more schools across the UK and ensure that every pupil can fully participate in school, regardless of family income.”