Dundee City Council's Cost of the School Day

Statements of intent

Evidence from this research also influenced local authority policy, and in October 2018, Dundee City Council launched four Cost of the School Day statements of intent:

1. All schools will develop a Cost of the School Day action plan by the end of session 2018/2019
2. No child or young person in Dundee will start school without a breakfast
3. No child in Dundee will miss out on their Primary 7 residential trip due to cost
4. All children and young people in Dundee schools will have access to an affordable school uniform

By the time the formal partnership ended in March 2020, Cost of the School Day actions and ideas were firmly embedded in schools across the city.

Three years on, how have things developed?

Fiona Low, the Education Officer and Cost of the School Day Lead for Dundee City Council, says that after the initial project all schools were expected to produce a Cost of the School Day Action Plan.

“This year we have moved to thinking that cost of the school day really is just part and parcel of improvements within the school. We now just expect cost of the school day to be featured in school improvement plans. So rather than have a separate cost of the school day action plan it's now set in school improvement planning. Breakfast clubs are still ongoing, so that no child starts school without a breakfast, and because primary 7 trips can be a financial burden, schools continue to think imaginatively. And you expect now, when you walk into schools, to see a wardrobe or similar in the foyer. Families are invited to take and where possible swap. It’s happening across the city.” 

Extra-curricular school clubs and activities have become a new area of action in the city. Previously there were charges for some clubs, such as specific sports clubs or dance clubs. Now all school clubs before 5pm are free for children and young people. Fiona describes how “nobody within school should have to pay for an extracurricular activity, that’s almost become a fifth statement of intent.”

Maintaining momentum

It’s now more than five years since Cost of the School Day first worked in Dundee, and before the project officially got underway schools had already been putting measures in place, aware that families were struggling with costs. So how have schools and the city council kept things going? Fiona Low thinks there are various aspects to maintaining momentum. “Dundee’s not a big city, and yet there can be much variation at times. But if a school is doing something new it doesn't take very long before others hear about it. There's that learning from one head teacher or from one school learning from another.”

At a school level it’s also been important to have other key members of staff. “School and Family Development Workers are there building relationships, picking up where there are concerns. Through conversations with families support workers are becoming much more aware of concerns being raised by families about cost of living more than anything else now.” 

Dundee City Council’s ongoing support and commitment is also key:

“Cost of the School Day is actually now subsumed within school improvement planning at a city level. Cost of the School Day is an action of the child poverty plan. There are specific pockets of work being done across the city tackling child poverty and these are all supported by the local authority.”

To hear direct from learners in Dundee about what their school does to reduce the Cost of the School Day and the difference it makes, listen to these two short podcast from Dundee schools: 

• Camperdown Primary School
• St Clements Primary School

These short videos are full of insights from Dundee school communities:

Morgan Academy on school uniforms

Two clips from Ardler Primary School about the Clothing Grant:

• Why some families who could be eligible aren't getting it
• What we can do to change this

And on World Book Day:

• World Book Day at Rosebank Primary School
• World Book Day at Downfield Primary School