Cost of the School Day

“Education is free but a lot of school things are not.”

Member of the Children’s Parliament, age 11, Children’s Parliament ‘The Weight on our Shoulders’ report

Families living on low incomes often struggle with the cost of the school day. Uniforms, trips, school lunches, gym kits, pencils and pens, and dress down days can be difficult or impossible to afford. When children and young people can’t take part in opportunities because of financial barriers, they not only miss out but feel different as a result, and it is harder for them to learn, achieve and be happy at school.

At the same time, we know that poverty has a ferocious and long lasting effect on children’s health and wellbeing, and affects their ability to learn. Children from low-income households are also more likely to report feeling useless and hopeless about their future. There is currently a significant and persistent gap in attainment between children from lower and higher income families, yet we know that if children can do well at school they can have better employment prospects. Education can represent a route out of poverty, but crucially only if children can fully access that education.

The Cost of the School Day helps school communities identify and overcome cost barriers that shape and limit children’s opportunities at school. This project sees children, parents and school staff identify these cost barriers and take action to remove them. Read about some of the successes so far.

This new work builds on our existing Cost of the School Day project in Scotland with the addition of the ‘poverty proofing’ expertise of our partners Children North East.

If we want to tackle poverty, every child from a low-income household must be able to make the most of the school day.