Voice network activities - taking action

It's entirely up to you which activities you decide to try, and you can do them in whatever order you'd like. 

If your school isn't already part of the Cost of the School Day Voice network, and you'd like your young people to get the chance to take part in meetings, events and activities, just sign up to get started.

In your school, there will be lots of great things happening to reduce the cost of the school day and challenge poverty. Have a think about what some of these are, and decide which ones you are going to promote on your posters.

First, decide...

• Will you make posters individually, in pairs or as a group?
• Will your poster promote one of the things your school does, or more than one?
• Who is it for? Pupils, parents or everybody?
• What materials will you use? Digital or with paper and pens or paint? You can be as colourful and creative as you like!
• Where will it go? Think of places people are likely to see it, like the noticeboard, school app or near the office.

Pupils and their families say it's really important that everyone knows about help with costs, and posters are a great way of spreading information.

The Cost of the School Day group at St John Ogilvie High School in South Lanarkshire created posters to let the rest of the school know what help was available and encourage pupils to come forward and take what they need.

Some Cost of the School Day groups have their own social media accounts where they share information about what they’re up to, ask questions to their school communities and raise awareness of support available in school.

Auchenharvie Academy (@AuchenharvieT), Holyrood Secondary School (@HolyroodCOTSD) and Braes High School (@OnandUpBHS and on Instagram at instagram.com/braes_cosd) have all used social media accounts to share information about what they're doing.

Pupils from West Calder High School’s Cost of the School Day group in West Lothian say:

“We promote our events on a regular basis through our social media platforms. This has been a very powerful way of catching the attention of our local MSP as we tag them and then our posts get more attention too. We continue to raise awareness of cost of school day through our weekly snapshots which are sent to all of our families and people within our community.” 

Here are a few questions to help you think about how your group might use social media:

• Who do you want to reach? Pupils, parents, school staff? People in your community who can help? Councillors and politicians who need to hear what you have to say?
• Which social media platforms are they likely to be on? X/Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook?
• How will you use your social media account? What will you say and how often?
• Who in your group will post on your account and keep it up to date? What help might you need from your group leader?
• Are there any risks or potential problems that you need to think about before setting up an account?
• Can your Cost of the School Day account link up with your official school or local authority one? Even more people will see what you say if another bigger account reposts it.

3. Creating your own costs calendar

Raise awareness of cost issues in your school and promote the help available to families.

As a group, you can have a think about all the different events and days that happen at your school. Which ones mean you need to spend money? As a group, you could help decide which events are most important for your school. Are they well spaced out? How much money is being asked for? 

You can make your school costs calendar as colourful and interactive as you like.

Abbey Primary School in South Lanarkshire created their own cost calendar.

When you're setting up a resource like this, here are a few things to consider:

• What are the most common things people need for school? Can you find out?
• Think about how you can stock a take-what-you-need trolley. Your school might be able to help with funds for this, or you might be able to get donations from local businesses or organisations.
• Where should your trolley be? Where can you put it so that all pupils can access it?
• Who is in charge of making sure the trolley is stocked up? Is this something your group can do?

5. Reviewing uniform policies

Support your pupils to be part of uniform policy decisions in your school, ensuring that young people’s voices are heard in important discussions. 

Uniform costs can put pressure on family budgets. Pupils and families say that uniforms are one of the top costs when it comes to being ready for school, however there are lots you and your group can do to change this. 

Your group can work with pupils and parents to help review your current uniform policy and make sure it’s affordable for everyone.  To help your group think about this you can share the School uniform and clothing: a resource for pupils. This guidance has been produced by the Scottish Government to help schools review their uniform with an emphasis on affordability, sustainability and equality and can help keep your group on track.

The three schools featured in this case study all took a whole-school approach to reviewing their uniform policy, and came up with a simple and affordable policy together.

Some things your group can think about and ask their peers about:

• What do you currently need to wear to school? 
• How much does it cost to get fully kitted out for school? You can look online at your uniform suppliers to help add up the total cost. 
• Are there certain items of uniform that only some years need to buy? Is this difficult for some people to afford? Can you find out? 
• How many items of uniform must have a school logo on it? Are there things we can do to reduce the number of items.

Some popular approaches to reducing uniform costs include:

• Removing logos from key items and promoting plain school colours.
• School funds providing a key item to all new pupils – e.g. school tie for all new S1 pupils.
• More expensive items such as blazers being made available for hire for the year.
• Setting up pre-loved uniform provision.

Setting up pre-loved uniform provision 

The introduction of pre-loved uniforms in schools is a really popular way to reduce waste and costs. Many pupils and families see the benefit of passing on gently worn items. It is important that when you do offer this in your school that it is delivered in a non stigmatising way. Here are some key dos and don’ts when setting up pre-loved uniform provision.

Do: 

• Make is universal – make sure it is for everyone and anyone can access it.
• Ensure clothing is good quality and washed.
• Ensure name tags or any identifying features on donated clothes are removed.
• Promote and link your clothing provision with the schools zero waste approaches.
• Make sure there are systems put in place so pupils and families have a variety of ways they can access pre-loved uniform e.g. from a visible rail at the entrance of the school to using QR codes so families can discreetly ask for items they need. 
• Get pupils and parents involved in setting up, promoting and where appropriate running any pre-loved provision. 
• Regularly promote the provision at key events like parent evenings, sports days etc.
• Make it normal – if a pupil is missing an item of clothing that day for whatever reason, provide them with it.
• Speak to neighbouring schools in your ASG, are there ways you can all work together on this? 
• Check back in regularly with pupils and families to understand what is working and what can be improved.

Don’t: 

• Promote pre-loved uniforms as only an option for low-income families – regularly promote this as an opportunity for all families to reduce costs and waste, so families are not embarrassed or put off accessing this provision. 
• Keep spare clothing out of sight or locked away, make sure it is visible, so pupils and families are not embarrassed to ask. 
• Forget to continue to promote the school clothing grant to all families. 
• Rely on pre-loved uniforms as the main way to solve worries about uniform costs – continue to review and scrutinise your own uniform policy. 

Pupil fundraising committees can help ensure that these events don’t put pressure on families, by not setting an amount for donations and operating a ‘chuck it in a bucket’ approach. Donation boxes or buckets can be set up in central areas of the school where young people can discreetly provide a donation without worry.

At Newton Primary in South Ayrshire pupils have come up with fun and free activities for school events. For their Christmas Fayre, the pupils ran free, fun activities that everyone could take part in. Lots of schools ensure there is always an affordable table at family events, where items or activities are free or low cost – such as 10p or a donation. 

Other poverty sensitive fundraising at school includes: sharing links to online donation pages so families can donate if they choose without pressure, reviewing sponsored events and encouraging joint family sponsorship so that large families are not put under extra pressure, and distributing free tokens or tickets to all young people at events like fayres, that can be spent on activities or snacks. You can find out about other affordable approaches in the Cost of Having Fun at School report.

Have a think about how fundraising and fun events are run in your school. 

What could your group do to make charity and fun days more affordable? How can you run fun events where no one misses out? 

7. What would your group ask politicians and the people in charge of education?

Schools do a lot to make sure that all young people can take part and get the education that they are entitled to, no matter how much money they have at home - however, it’s politicians and the people in charge of education who make the big decisions about things like how much money schools get and what kind of help is there for families on lower incomes.

It's really important that, when the people in charge of education make decisions, they know young people's views on school and what could make things as good as possible for everyone.

So what would you like to ask or tell them?

How to get started

Your group could discuss:

• What do you think about what was said in the film? Are there any parts you think are really important? Was there anything that it didn’t cover?
• Do you agree about the most important school costs? Why or why not?
• Do you have any Big Ideas about what could help?

• When it comes to poverty, costs and support at school, what do you want to say or suggest?
• Is there anything you think politicians need to know?
• Is there something you think they should do to help with the cost of the school day?

If you’d like to share the questions you come up with directly with politicians and the Scottish government, we’re happy to help – send them to [email protected]. Or if you want to get in touch with your MSPs directly you can find their details on the They Work For You website.