Appendix 2

MINIMISING COSTS AND REDUCING PRESSURE ON FAMILY BUDGETS

All children and young people should be able to meet the costs of school and have the resources they need to support their learning.

Families experiencing poverty often lack the money to pay for essential items such as school equipment and uniforms, school trips or extra materials to use in certain subjects. This can be a particular challenge for families with more than one child. It can also be more difficult at certain points in the year, such as festive periods or immediately after school holidays, when pressures on family budgets are especially high.
Schools already adopt a range of measures to minimise costs and reduce pressure on family budgets. Current statistics also show that a significant number of Free School Meals and clothing grants are not claimed from SBC by eligible families every year.

The following are measures which are recommended to support a consistent approach to minimising main costs associated with school:

RESOURCES FOR LEARNING

According to the Education (Scotland) Act 2010 Section 11 an education authority should be providing free of charge books, writing materials, stationery, mathematical instruments, practice materials and all other articles which are necessary to enable the pupils to take full advantage of the education provided.
The education authority may also provide articles of clothing suitable for physical exercise or other school activities requiring special items of clothes (i.e. camp).
Schools however, due to budget pressures, may ask for discretionary payments for certain subjects such as Food Technology, CDT and art. According to the above mentioned act though this cannot be made mandatory.

Schools should consider:

  • Provide stationery and equipment free of charge for pupils to use. Where this is not provided universally, schools should make this easy for pupils to access discreetly.
  • Provide pupils with free materials which relate to learning at school and the delivery of lessons. Any contributions to the cost of materials should be voluntary and at the discretion of parents.
  • Consult children on their access to IT outside of school and support with learning at home. Adapt homework policies and activities where necessary to ensure that children have the equipment (i.e. calculators) and support they need to complete it effectively.
  • Provide options for completing homework within school and ensure access to computers/ internet/materials to complete as required.

UNIFORM

Schools should consider:

  • Ensure that all parents are aware of School Clothing Grants – provide clear and accessible information to parents in the school about the support on offer and how they can apply.
  • Offer support to parents to make applications for financial support. Be aware of perceived stigma or challenges in understanding and completing written application processes.
  • Adopt a flexible uniform policy to ensure that parents are able to purchase uniforms from a range of suppliers.
  • Only sell uniform items to families on a non-profit making basis.
  • Presume that children who lack mandatory school uniform items require financial support or assistance. Speak sensitively to the child and/or family as appropriate to establish whether support is required and how best to ensure that families are able to meet the costs.
  • Provide temporary permissions for non-uniform items and a realistic timescale for families to purchase appropriate items should they not be able to afford school uniform.
  • Be discreet when raising uniform-related issues with pupils including not drawing attention to a pupil’s dress in public.

SCHOOL TRIPS

Schools should consider:

  • Transparent procedures for planning, funding and delivering school trips.
  • Ensure that during the planning of trips, costs are kept to a minimum.
  • Provide financial support or reduced fees for children living in low income households, including additional reductions for siblings.
  • Conduct an annual audit of potential or planned trips due to run over the school year, and clarify the aims and purpose as well as the estimated costs for each.

This information should be used to:

o Review and develop a clear rationale and justification of costs for all trips.

o Make modifications to school trips so that they are accessible to children from low- income households and are cost efficient. o Inform and consult parents at the start of the school year about plans for school trips to get their advice on how to: make them more affordable/accessible; identify parents who require financial support or reduced costs; and ensure that parents have time to plan finances accordingly.

o Set out the steps that will be taken to ensure that all children can afford to attend or the alternative measures that will be in place to ensure the trip is equitable and accessible.

• Allow parents the opportunity to pay for trips and other costs in affordable instalments. This must be given a long lead in time where required. Trips should not be offered on a ‘first come first served’ basis as this will favour pupils from families who are able to pay in advance.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO MEET COSTS

Schools should consider:

  • Ensure families are aware of all the financial support they are entitled to which will support their children’s learning. This could include identifying and supporting members of staff to advise families on low incomes to make grant claims. These staff could also build knowledge about social security benefits and other income maximisation opportunities to signpost parents accordingly
  • Consider providing a proportion of funding (for example Pupil Equity Funding) to support families to meet the costs of school trips, clothing and equipment or other costs identified by families during periods of financial pressure or crisis.

ENSURE EQUAL ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES, REGARDLESS OF INCOME

All children should be able to benefit from, and meet the costs of, a wide range of learning opportunities in the home, school and community.

Children experiencing poverty often miss out on regular activities outside of school, such as taking part in sports teams, joining clubs or going to the cinema and theatre. This is often because of the costs associated with these activities – both direct, such as the cost of membership or attendance, and indirect, such as transport, specialist clothing or equipment. They are therefore less likely to enjoy the rich learning experiences outside of the school day that are available to their more affluent peers. Families raising children on low incomes may also find it more difficult to provide effective support for their children’s learning at home. This can be due to the extra stress and pressure that poverty creates within families or because it is harder to provide the quiet space, time and resources children need to learn.

We know that children achieve more and are happier when schools work together with parents and families and share ideas about how to support and extend children’s learning within the classroom and at home. Parental engagement has been a priority in schools for many years now as it is recognised that it is central to raising attainment and closing the attainment gap. It is also a main driver of the National Improvement Framework. Research shows that the vast majority of parents and families are interested in supporting their children’s and their own learning. However, many can find it difficult to engage with schools. This can be because of differing social capital as a result of socio-economic background and other, often related, issues such as mental health, homelessness or emotional trauma.

The following, therefore, are measures recommended to support a consistent approach to ensuring that all children have equal access to wider learning opportunities and support:

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Schools should consider:

  • Provide free, or low cost (and funded places when necessary), after school activities in the school. Seek partnership opportunities, for example Live Borders and Active Schools Coordinators
  • Ensure that costs of special clothing, equipment, transport and other costs are not a barrier to children and young people’s ability to participate in extra-curricular activities.
  • Work with local partners to provide free and affordable access to extra-curricular activities within the school and local community.
  • Consult pupils to identify any financial or related barriers (for example, home pressures, stigma and low confidence) that prevent them from taking part in extra-curricular activities which are on offer. This consultation should also identify activities pupils would like to be able to participate in.
  • Allow parents the opportunity to pay for trips and other costs in affordable instalments. This must be given a long lead in time where required. Trips should not be offered on a ‘first come first served’ basis as this will favour pupils from families who are able to pay in advance.

SOCIAL AND CHARITY EVENTS

Schools should:

  • Never require a donation or payment from parents as a pre-requisite for children to be able to participate in activities or fundraisers. For example, dressing up days.
  • Never exclude pupils who have not paid for activities in school such as visiting pantomimes, author events etc. Always assume this is due to families struggling with costs and discuss with families how the school can support them in meeting costs.
  • Encourage and collect donations for activities and fundraisers discretely through optional contributions.
  • Space events out over the year, avoiding expensive times like holiday periods and the start of the school year.
  • Consult with children and parents on ideas for activities that can reduce costs.
  • Adopt proven ideas that celebrate the efforts of children and young people to raise money or awareness of charity causes rather than amounts raised.

LEAVERS EVENTS

Schools should consider:

  • Not charge pupils for attendance at school leaver events or celebrations. Any contributions should be at the discretion of young people and their parents.
  • Discourage pupils from buying luxury items – especially for teacher gifts around Christmas time or end of term.
  • Offer a dress/suit exchange or ‘vintage’ dress stall for secondary Proms, which should be held in the school or a local hall rather than at expensive hotels.
  • Be explicit about the hiring of, for example, limousines not being approved or welcomed by the school.

ENGAGEMENT WITH PARENTS

Schools should consider: •

  • Prioritise building strong relationships with parents to support children’s learning at home.
  • Offer opportunities for parents to observe how learning and teaching takes place in the classroom and provide suggestions on ways they could help their child to extend this outside of school.
  • Hold regular social events and opportunities for parents to spend time within the school, such as coffee mornings, evening suppers and pizza nights – these should focus on informal chat and conversation to build friendly relationships between parents and staff.
  • Provide a dedicated room or space within the school where parents are invited to spend time with one another and plan activities for parental engagement in their children’s learning. • Provide clear and simple instructions alongside homework and other activities to support learning at home and enable parents to understand how they can help their children to complete tasks.
  • Create opportunities for parents to share views with the school on challenges to engaging their child’s learning at home; meeting school costs and understanding who to speak to for information and advice – consider methods where feedback can be provided anonymously.
  • Work with the Parent Council to ensure that a proportion of their annual fundraising (ideally 25%) is given to support Equity.
  • Work with community partners to identify the best ways of engaging with parents, especially those who are hardly reached.
  • Use the Pupil Equity Fund to deliver evidence-based outreach activities
  • Developing their outdoor environment to encourage activities to take place within school grounds wherever possible and avoiding travel costs to other places.

REDUCE POVERTY-RELATED STIGMA

All children should feel respected, included and supported by staff and pupils in their school and local community.

Children and young people experiencing poverty often report feelings of isolation and exclusion at school and may be more likely to experience bullying. Negative attitudes and perceptions of poverty can also lead to stigma which makes it harder for children, young people and their families to approach school staff for support. These experiences can have a negative impact on children’s attendance and achievement as well as on parental engagement. Parents may feel embarrassed or anxious about approaching schools for support. They may also feel stigmatised as a result of being eligible for financial support.

In order to close the attainment gap, it is essential that alongside quality teaching, curricular content and assessment of pupil progress, due consideration is given to pupils’ holistic experience of school and education and that steps are taken to tackle the impact of poverty-related stigma. The following are measures recommended to support a consistent approach to raising awareness of the realities and impact of poverty. At the same time, they should ensure that all children and families feel respected and supported.

IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITY

Schools should consider:

  • Work with children and parents to improve the school experience of children living in poverty, including asking for children’s and families’ advice when developing school improvement plans and activities.
  • Ensure that staff meetings, development and in-service days and other mechanisms to support school staff are used to share information, advice and best practice in how to tackle to impact of poverty on children’s experiences and learning.
  • Ensure that mechanisms are in place to identify and address poverty-related bullying within the school community.
  • Prioritise activities in the school that can build relationships with families experiencing poverty, in order to develop trust and mutual understanding.
  • Be conscious about the impact that questions relating to what parents do for a living or where children have been on holiday can have on children experiencing poverty.
  • Retain free breakfast club places for children from low-income families where appropriate. • Where feasible, provide facilities for washing clothes.
  • Make hygiene and sanitary products available for pupils to access discreetly.

POVERTY AWARENESS

Schools should consider:

  • Promote informed understanding about child poverty and have a zero-tolerance approach to negative stereotyping of children and parents in low-income households.
  • Ensure that all staff receive training to understand the impact of poverty on children and families in SBC, for example through participating in the ‘1 in 5 Raising Awareness of Child Poverty’ Workshop.
  • Refer to resources such as the EIS guidelines on poverty proofing the school day and the Learning Lessons research as well as Edinburgh’s own child poverty 1 in 5 training materials and resources to raise awareness of the financial barriers to education and the role that teachers can play in reducing the impact on children.
  • Introduce pupils to the issues surrounding child poverty in Scotland through learning activities in the school – this should include linking pupil education on poverty with the Rights Respecting Schools initiative.

FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES

www.jrf.org.uk
https://www.gov.scot/news/child-poverty-bill-published/
https://cpag.org.uk/scotland/cost-school-day
https://education.gov.scot/improvement/self-evaluation/interventions-for-equity/