Agenda item - Update on Poverty Proofing the School Day

Report of the Executive Director, families, Children and Learning (copy attached)

74.1    The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director for Families, Children and Learning which provided an update on progress on the agreement given to address the Fairness Commissions recommendation that: “The Council, working with city schools, should bring to Brighton and Hove the “Poverty Proofing the School Day” initiative to ensure no child missed out on the opportunities and experiences at school in consequence of low family income.”

74.2    The Senior Adviser Education Partnerships, Hilary Ferries, introduced the report and set the national context for this work also referring to the work carried out by Child Poverty Action Group in outlining the impact of poverty on outcomes for children and young people and in particular for education. In Brighton and Hove diminishing the gap between the outcomes for pupils in disadvantage and their peers had been identified as a key priority. As a result of the Fairness Commission recommendation agreement had been given to a “Poverty Proofing the School Day” process funded for a two year period.

74.3    It was noted that the “Poverty Proofing the School Day” audit was intended to seek to ensure that the voices of children and young people in school were heard and that opportunities were provided for other stakeholders to participate. Reports on the audit gave schools feedback on their systems enabling the leadership teams within individual schools to reflect on those findings, to celebrate successes and to see if there were any changes they could make to remove barriers for families that were struggling financially. A group of researchers, staff from schools across the city and a team from the Local Authority had been trained to lead and to carry out the audits.

74.4    At the end of the audit process which included a parent/carer questionnaire, a governor questionnaire and a staff questionnaire, responses to the questions were analysed and a report written. The lead researcher went back to the school to discuss the report and any next steps as appropriate. The number of research days was determined by the size of the school. Pilot schools had helped to review and refine the process and details were provided of the schools which had taken part to date.

74.5    The Chair, Councillor Daniel, welcomed the work which had been undertaken to date and referred to the emerging areas for consideration which had been identified. In relation to school trips it appeared that the approach adopted differed greatly between schools and she considered that it was important that parents and schools were made aware of Trust Funds and other funding sources that were available to assist with funding school trips, whilst acknowledging that the range of strategies currently in place generally worked well.

74.6    Councillor Daniel stated that she considered based on her own experience that schools needed to adopt a far more sympathetic approach to school uniform. For those families with limited money at their disposal it was an unnecessary additional burden to purchase school uniform which displayed the school logo, rather than an identical plain item in the same colour which could be purchased from supermarkets for example at a fraction of the cost. These issues needed to be addressed and it was hoped that details of how this and the other issues identified were being carried forward could be included in the follow up report to Committee.

74.7    RESOLVED – (1) That the Committee notes the progress of introducing “Poverty Proofing the School Day” to all schools in the city; and

            (2) That the Committee instructs officers to bring a further report of the progress of the project back to Committee in 12 months.