Partners across the city are working to reduce the barriers faced by York pupils from low-income families in school, with a pilot scheme this autumn.
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 work is one of several local projects being funded by York Schools and Academies Board (YSAB), to support pupils and schools across the city.
The Board brings together the key partners in the city's school system – including City of York Council - to maximise outcomes and improve life chances for children and young people, promoting inclusion and reducing inequalities.
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:
Tackling poverty and its generational impact is one of our key priorities and I’m pleased that this pilot will support our ongoing work to reduce the impact of poverty on children and young people in our city.
“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.”
Leigh Elliott, Chief Executive for Children North East said;
We are pleased to bring our Poverty Proofing© work to York to support children and young people. This will help the community to thrive and address those hidden barriers that prevents pupils from fully accessing the education they deserve. Our dedicated team have developed Poverty Proofing© for over a decade, building a model that focuses on listening to the voices of lived experience and keeping children at the centre of everything we do.
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”
Jane Elsworth, Director of Huntington Research School, said:
We are delighted to be leading this pilot project which will see seven of the city’s schools receive a Poverty Proofing© the School Day full audit. We commissioned an audit from Children North East at Huntington School in 2024 and have found it very helpful in supporting us to remove any barriers that come with low family income.”
Andrew Daly. Chair of York Schools and Academies Board, said:
I am proud of the ongoing collaboration between all schools across the city regardless of whether they are a Maintained school or in a Multi Academy Trust. This long standing commitment to partnership is one of the reasons why schools in York are strong and successful. We do however know that there is always more for us to do and through YSAB we have organised a number of important work streams linked to key city priorities.
“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.