The resources, which are still increasingly valid and available for use even post project completion, are also of value to any other practitioners working with children and young people to gain an insight into the impact and effects of poverty on their daily lives.
The Price of Pupil Poverty Project was commissioned by Welsh Government to support schools with advisory resources alongside use of the Pupil Development Grant for schools; the School Essentials Grant payments awarded directly to families; the development of Community Focused Schools; the roll-out of free school meals for all primary school pupils, as well as other Welsh Government funded initiatives such as the ‘Food and Fun’ School Holiday Enrichment Programme (SHEP) to tackle poverty related disadvantage in our schools.
Integral to the whole 5 year project, the Price of Pupil Poverty Guides were written and developed as part of the first project phase for schools and other education settings across Wales, to raise awareness of the lived experiences of learners from low-income households, setting out the impact poverty has on children’s day to day lives and to provide schools and settings with tangible and cost-effective solutions to help lift poverty related barriers to learning and improve learner wellbeing.
Drawing on key Welsh Government legislation, policy and guidance, Children in Wales used current research from Wales and beyond and worked with a variety of child poverty and education experts to initially develop the Guides. This included regional education consortia in Wales, End Child Poverty Network Cymru, third sector organisations and the office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. The Guides were, and still are:
Designed in Wales - Developed in Wales - For schools in Wales
The Price of Pupil Poverty Guides have been completely updated in 2024 to reflect the current child poverty climate and advice in Wales.
The Guides explain how poverty impacts on five Key Areas of the school day:
Each Key Area has examples of what practical steps schools can take by applying a whole school approach. Many of these are low cost or no cost measures, and to accompany the Guides and support schools in implementing them, a comprehensive toolkit was designed and successfully trialled with schools in the second phase of the project. This toolkit includes a Checklist; Action Plan template; Action Plan example and Parent Voice Survey to support schools in identifying current areas of good practice and highlight any areas with shortfall, with a planning measure to help put changes into place.
Across the second and third phases of the project schools and settings were offered additional support from dedicated CIW personnel in the form of training on how to implement the Guides using the toolkit, and awareness training for school staff on the issue of poverty and its impact in their local areas and across Wales.
The third and final phase of the project, which took on a universal approach with an ‘inform and support’ model, saw the introduction of further support resources including:
- Community Platform – a padlet based source of relevant information and advice plus a platform for practice exchange
- Governors’ Guide – specific to school governors to enable them to support their school in their Price of Pupil Poverty journey
- Tackling the Impact of Poverty Related Bullying mini-guide
- Mitigating the Impact of Poverty in STEM education mini-guide
- Case studies of best practice from schools and settings that have implemented the Guides using the toolkit and additional resources
- Learner Voice activity – an addition to the toolkit
From the initial pilot study with a small number of schools in Wales, the programme grew over its funding period, with more than 300 schools across all local authorities in Wales (with 104,000+ learners/beneficiaries) accessing and implementing the Guides and additional resources by 2024.
The Price of Pupil Poverty Guides plus other support materials can be found on our website here and also here on Hwb, the Welsh Government Education online platform.