Campaign to cut school costs
News from Uniform 2
27 October 2005
A coalition of leading charities and the country’s biggest teachers’ union recently launched a campaign to ensure that no child misses out at school because of the hidden costs involved in so-called ‘free’ education.
Citizens Advice, One Parent Families, End Child Poverty, the Family Welfare Association, Child Poverty Action Group, Barnardo’s, Save the Children and the National Union of Teachers have joined forces to demand a raft of measures to ensure that all children can benefit from the opportunities that school offers.
The coalition says children from low income families risk being isolated, stigmatised and bullied at school, and falling behind with their schoolwork - simply because their parents cannot afford the cost of uniforms and ‘optional extras’ like school trips.
Richard Ferguson, Director of Uniform 2 believes his service provides a way in which parents and schools can benefit from buying and selling quality used school clothes, blazes, musical instruments and books; “I am excited by the prospect of the website, which will become a valuable resource for schools around the country.”
The Government’s own research has found that parents of secondary school pupils spend on average almost £1,000 a year on their child’s ‘free’ education. Primary school costs for one child add up to almost £600 a year. As well as school clothing, meals, trips and other equipment, parents are expected to fork out for textbooks, classroom materials, music lessons and charity events. In many cases they are also asked to contribute to school funds.
Over half (55%) those families questioned with incomes below £15,000 struggled to afford these costs. For around a fifth (17%), they were simply unaffordable. Separate research by the charity One Parent Families found that for a quarter (23%) of its lone parent members, seeing their children miss out on school and social activities is one of the things they like least about money being tight.
Citizens Advice Bureaux report many parents being forced to borrow money to pay for uniforms, pushing families in already difficult circumstances into debt. Bureaux also report that children have been disciplined or ‘internally isolated’ for going to school without the correct uniform, even when the reason for this was that their parents could not afford to buy the required items.
The Family Welfare Association, a charity that provides school uniform grants, has seen a year on year increase in the number of parents applying to them for help.
The organisations warn that, if not handled sensitively, the increasing insistence on the importance of a distinctive uniform to underpin school standards can have the effect of excluding children from poorer families.
