A 'ground-breaking' £2 million project to 'cut the cost of the school day' for children from low-income families is expanding to Greenwich.

With parents increasingly asked to contribute to school costs such as individual subject dontations, uniforms, equipment, travel costs, photos, school meals and school trips, the National Lottery-backed project will aim to ease financial pressure and support children's learning.

Greenwich is one of just six local authorities chosen for the UK Cost of the School Day which will see 128 schools take part over the next three years.

Child Action Poverty Group, working with Children North East, has been given £2 million National Lottery Funding to "remove the financial barriers" to enjoying and participating in school.

Locally this will see two practitioners visit 16 schools in Greenwich as well as schools in two other London boroughs, working with pupils plus parents and staff to map out schooling costs for pupils and their families and their effect on learning and overall experience.

They will then work with the schools to remove these financial barriers, developing cost-neutral plans specific to each school.

With 40% of children in the borough living in poverty, Greenwich Council leader Danny Thorpe said "we need to do all we can to ensure that schools remain an inclusive and supportive environment."

"We are excited to be one of only six local authorities to be taking part in the ground-breaking Cost of the School Day project, and we look forward to using this unique opportunity to listen and act on the experiences of local children, families and schools, and make sure no student misses out as result of their background or circumstances.”

The Royal Borough of Greenwich is currently ranked as the 60th most deprived local authority in England with around 7,000 children currently claiming free school meals.

Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group commented: "School days are supposed to be the best days of a child’s life, but instead for some children and their families, they can be a source of anxiety if there are extra and unexpected costs for parents."

She said that whilst school is free, nine children in every class are growing up in poverty and increasing costs are putting great strain on families, "causing some families to miss out on aspects of school life."

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The now-funded project builds on previous work in Glasgow and Dundee where children and pupils interviewed between August 2014 and June 2018 reported a number of major cost barriers to learning.

One pupil said money "puts you out the group when you're pals are going out for lunch and then you're there on your own with a free meal," whilst several staff members said kids are often too embarrassed to say they have no money for dinners.

Talking about uniforms and kit, one member of teaching staff said "you can tell from day one the ones that will get it worse", and a parent said they "dread" the end of term trips because whilst they are just a fiver, "you've still got to find the money from somewhere."

John Knights, Senior Head of the UK Portfolio at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: "Thanks to National Lottery players this project will support school children to be able to fully and equally take part in all aspects of school life. Importantly the project is putting young people in the lead to create solutions that reduce the stigma that they can feel and enable them to thrive.”