School 'poverty policy officers' to help families

A council has appointed two school poverty policy officers to help families facing financial pressure.

Laura Turner and Lisa Murphy are working directly with those affected in South Tyneside, as part of the local authority's wider child poverty strategy.

Projects include working with schools on new uniform policies and access to activities such as riding a bike.

The roles, which are being funded by the government over an initial 12-month period, have been designed to "help families manage the costs of the school day".

The Labour-led council said South Tyneside was the first in the north-east of England to introduce dedicated officers focused specifically on school‑related poverty.

Its anti-poverty strategy advisor Laura Liddell used to work in schools and said she always noticed attendance would noticeably drop on non-uniform days.

She said she wanted to see all schools thinking, "If the poorest family in our school can't afford this, then morally, should we be doing it?"

One school recently changed its plan for World Book Day to be more inclusive.

Toner Avenue Primary School in Hebburn provided a white T-shirt for all children and brought in an artist for the day to help them design characters that were then drawn on.

Liddell said it was "a really inclusive experience that had no additional costs for families".

Murphy is working with 12 schools on a new uniform policy, which it is hoped will be implemented in September.

"It involves basically using one uniform, essentially a PE kit, rather than having two uniforms for the school day."

She said the idea would reduce costs but also improve comfort for pupils.

"Our role is to basically reduce the cost of the school day" she said.

Turner noticed that children at one school could not take part in active travel initiatives.

"They had some young people that didn't have access to bikes or helmets," she said.

"We quickly became aware that it was quite a wider problem for parents in the borough."

She is now trying to get bikes donated to schools, so that children can participate.

As part of their work, they will also survey parents and guardians and improve awareness of financial support available to families.