The Cost of the School Day

What is the Cost of the School day?

Many families can struggle to meet costs associated with school life: Uniforms, trips, school lunches, gym kits, pencils and pens, dress down days, amongst other costs, can be difficult or impossible to afford. Missing out on opportunities because of financial barriers and feeling different makes it harder for children and young people to learn, achieve and be happy at school.

Increasing numbers of families across Scotland are struggling financially. More than one in four (260,000) children are currently living in poverty and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) forecasts an increase of more than 50% in the proportion of children living in poverty in the UK by 2020/21.

This can have a profound effect on children’s health, wellbeing and educational attainment. Mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing are essential for successful learning.

At Sunnyside, we care profoundly about ensuring all our learners have the same opportunities and experiences, we strive to ensure positive outcomes for all.

How do we support our families?

We aim to support our families with the cost of the school day and would like to highlight some of the ways we seek to offer assistance towards the cost of the school day:

  • Support for pupils requiring uniform through informal discussion and in school provision.
  • Support for those pupils without snack through our Nurture base.
  • Family learning including promoting low cost, healthy eating and cooking skills.
  • Share information through social media platforms, the website and letters in a timely manner.
  • Promote grants including school meals, uniform and Best Start School age grants.
  • Ensure children experience a wide range of learning and activities as part of the curriculum, i.e. Story tellers, Scottish Opera, Outdoor learning.
  • Provide free extra-curricular activities as part of Supper Club.
  • Ensure that trips have an educational and enjoyment value.
  • Discretionary funding for trips.
  • Provision of a low cost stationary store to supplement school provided equipment.
  • Discretionary funding for uniform.
  • Uniform Exchange, focusing on an environmental approach to uniform purchases.
  • Book swaps to encourage reading for all.

In September – October 2019 we held a school wide consultation on the impact of the cost of the day, the results and summary or which can be found here.

 

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