Poverty proofing the school day

Poverty Proof Audit – Working across a number of York schools, “the Poverty Proof audit is a process for schools to identify and remove financial and social barriers that prevent students from disadvantaged backgrounds from fully participating in school life. It involves reviewing policies and practices to ensure they don't create stigma or exclude students with fewer resources. The goal is to create a more equitable environment where every child can access all opportunities.” according to Children’s North East.

Partners across the city are working to reduce the barriers faced by York pupils from low-income families in school, with a pilot scheme.

Poverty Proofing© the School Day involves making changes to school policies and practices to reduce the barriers faced by pupils, including addressing issues like financial constraints, stigma, and lack of access to resources, aiming for a more equitable and inclusive learning environment for all children and young people.

The Poverty Proofing© approach was developed and is owned by the charity Children North East.

In York, the pilot will run in seven schools - All Saints School, Clifton with Rawcliffe Primary School, Fulford School, Joseph Rowntree School, Poppleton Road Primary School, Yearsley Grove Primary School and York High School - and will be run and managed by education specialists from Huntington Research School in York, with support from Children North East.

The pilots build on existing work already carried out by York schools to support pupils and their families.

The aim of the pilot is to test out interventions to support pupils and families who are on a low income, including understanding the specific challenges they face; removing barriers and hidden challenges such as minimising the cost of school uniforms and school trips, ensuring after school clubs are affordable; providing resources to support pupils to complete their homework and ensuring that students have the equipment they need to do their school work.

The results of the pilot will be used to help other schools in the city consider the ways they could make changes to support children and families experiencing hardship.

Cllr Bob Webb, City of York Council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said:

The pilot will enable us to review how we can better support young people living with poverty to ease some of the barriers, anxiety and challenges they face at school.

“We continue to see a rise in the need for these barriers to be addressed, as more and more families are facing financial hardship, and are glad that York Schools and Academies Board have funded this pilot to improve the school day for their children and families.

“One of these is our commitment to Poverty Proofing all our schools to further build a sense of belonging for all children. We are really excited about what can be achieved in the months ahead.”

The results of the pilot will be independently evaluated by York St John University.

The anti poverty pilot in schools is part of work across the city to help create a fairer York for everyone and support residents who are struggling with the cost of living crisis.

York Hungry Minds

Our Hungry Minds initiative is engaging with local primary schools. We value their expert knowledge of their communities which we know will make this program effective. Our commitment is to start children on a path of good health and wellbeing from a young age.

Healthy, free school meals enable all children to have the same opportunities to learn and thrive, no matter the circumstances where they grow up. Evidence links free school meals to improved educational attainment and a host of social, financial and health benefits into adulthood.

The current eligibility criteria for free school meals excludes many children whose families are living in poverty. Recent calculations by the Child Poverty Action Group indicate that two in five, or 40%, of children living in households below the poverty line remain ineligible for free school meals.

While York is often perceived to be an affluent city, some of its neighbourhoods fall within the 20% most deprived in the UK.

With serious cost of living pressures still affecting many families, far too many children are arriving at school hungry.

That is why partners across the city are supporting an appeal to raise the funds to provide universal free school meals for all children in York’s primary schools.

Nesta, in June 2022, said:

Universal school meal provision could decrease pressure on struggling families as well as having numerous positive impacts on children’s health and on narrowing the educational attainment gap. It could lead to savings in healthcare and productivity costs and help create a more equal and cohesive society.