Whole school approaches

“We want to ensure all young people feel included and have the same opportunities as others to engage in different experiences and activities that may otherwise not be possible, such as school trips, residential experiences, and leadership opportunities.”

“Reducing school costs is included in our School Improvement Plan with details of the strategies, activities and provision that feature in our cost of the school day plan. We have a group of teachers in a Working Group and support staff who manage this.”

The Toolkit

“The Cost of the School Day Toolkit has been particularly useful for the Working Group to use when preparing presentations for the whole school staff. The quotes from parents and children are good at highlighting some of the issues and how families feel.”

Support at local authority level

Leadership at local authority level has been one of the main drivers for this work at St Paul's and across Dundee more widely. An Education Officer with Cost of the School Day as part of her remit and a project officer hosted by CPAG in Scotland provided support to schools:

“This was given a high profile and all schools were asked to provide a lead for this work and to meet with the cost of the school day officer. This allowed for the sharing of ideas and good practice across the local authority. It meant that cost of the school day issues began to pop up on lots of meeting agendas, and departments in the school were asked to provide information on what costs were associated with their subjects.”

Keeping Cost of the School Day on the agenda

St Paul's is now keen to make sure that its school community stays involved in Cost of the School Day and that the work is kept up to date.

“The school discusses reducing costs with pupils through surveys and the Pupil Council: We contact parents via surveys and information letters going home, We also discuss costs at our Parent Council meeting and agree plans for moving forward. We also address issues and attitudes towards poverty in the curriculum in Social Subjects, RMPE, and PSE.”