Creating a Cost of the School Day policy with learners

Acting Depute Head Teacher Cameron MacKay explains:

“We have a Cost of the School Day policy, that’s co-written by the pupils. We've got 12 pupils, who are signatories to that policy and we're really keen to reduce costs where possible.” 

The policy is in place to “remove any possible barrier and make things as straightforward as possible." Cameron describes where the idea to set up a school wide policy on costs came from: “It really started with resources. In the school you know that anything that's required will be provided.”

Cameron thinks that it’s important that all staff understand:

“it's easy to say that's because of a lack of preparation. It's easy to say that's a lack of buy in or responsibility. But you don’t know what’s happening back at home. You could be speaking to a young carer. You could be speaking to someone who lives with an elder sibling. So coming to school without a notebook, without a pencil, without a highlighter, it’s often not that easy for young people. So if people need a pencil they get one. There’s no monetary barrier to learning here.”

To really understand what was happening the school surveyed learners and their families.

“What we did was ask the learners where the costs occurred. We asked the parents as well. The survey that we did with parents has really driven our cost of the school day strategy. It was working with the young people asking them.”

Working closely with Cool School Uniforms, a local uniform bank to provide ties and other uniform items and take what you need trolleys around the school are just some of the actions that have come from the policy. 

Now that the policy is in place, what’s next? Cameron says that they can’t take their eye off the ball and are planning to refresh the policy: 

“The policy is about two and a half years old now, and some of the things that we're doing are moving beyond that. There are things happening since the policy has been written because it evolves.”