In these times of budget constraints and uncertainty around future funding, we could be excused for taking the view that charity starts at home. That the money coming into our schools and academies is all allocated and needed for day-to-day expenses.
Certainly, in my setting, our priority is to ensure that the needs of the whole school community come first.
There is, however, an increasing expectation that schools should be doing more to support financially disadvantaged students and their families. The current financial situation most schools are in makes such expectations often hard to meet, though. So are there any ways in which we can support our families that are sustainable and affordable for all concerned?
Different contexts
Our roles exist in order to educate our young people, but our contexts aren’t all the same. This makes any decisions over how and what we should be financially supporting dependant on your cohort and particular circumstances.
It would certainly be easier if there was a convenient ‘one size fits all’ policy governing what expectations should be when it comes to schools providing financial support. But as things stand, we have only non-statutory guidance, such as the DfE’s Charging for school activities policy.
This means that any school or academy policies outlining what you expect in terms of financial contributions from parents must be clear and succinct.
The statutory elements of funding that all schools must observe are straightforward and should always form part of your wider budget planning process. You’ll need to ensure that sufficient funds are set aside to cover educational visits and any other areas identified elsewhere in your school or academy policies. Done well, this bit is relatively easy.
The less easy bit is how you should go about managing the risks of non-payment and defaults on the part of parents, requests from parents for support with school costs, and your ability to fund important school trips while receiving less in the way of parental contributions.
Allocating funds
As a long-serving school business professional, I’ve experienced these kinds of budget pressures first-hand over many years. And tried perhaps every possible way of addressing such needs as they come up.
Whilst I’m happy to share some of my experiences with you here, I should point out that they won’t necessarily work in every setting. I’ve seen various levels of success from them myself at different times, so treat them more as potential ideas and starting points, rather than absolute recommendations.
Making PP go further
To start with, there’s the funding we (and in all likelihood, you) receive for disadvantaged students in the form of Pupil Premium. One of the more obvious ways of internally supporting families has been through our Pupil Premium strategies. This has now become easier to do, following a loosening of government restrictions on what those funds can be used for.
Allocating some of this funding to support school meals, for instance, is one such use, since we all know that a student doesn’t learn well when they’re hungry. In my setting, we set some PP funds aside for subsidised items of uniform, school trips and school equipment. We also operate a hardship fund and breakfast provision, partly supported by PP funding.
Outside assistance
If we want to go beyond this, then the only practical route is to secure additional sources of funding. One of these could be sponsorship of your school by one or more external organisations. If you’re thinking that doesn’t sound easy, then you’d be right. But having tried various forms of this myself in the past, I’ve found that there are some key points worth noting.
The best sponsorship arrangements tend to emerge out of existing external relationships. We’ve done this by looking at local companies and individuals, and then proposing partnerships with our school via the traditional careers route, finding commonalities and making a connection.
Once you’re past the point of initial contact, you can then broach the question of how they might be able to support you. This could potentially be in kind, or via volunteer support in the first instance, and then financially later on.
Sponsorship can also be secured through the writing and submission of bids. Our school sports kit, for example, is funded through a yearly bid programme offered by a local supermarket. Having our kit sponsored has left room in our budget to allow for the purchase of school uniform items for our more disadvantaged students.
Return on investment
Submitting successful funding and/or sponsorship bids to support the cost of your school trips and equipment does take a bit of practice. But it’s staff time that’ll be well spent when the rewards can be so high.
We also regularly encourage donations of used school uniform items, which we’ll distribute to our families in need where we can. If you lack the required storage and distribution capacity within your school, there are some companies who’ll take on the task for you at a small cost.
Some settings will maintain a school fund they can use for supporting parents. It’s essential to establish upfront a clear and transparent policy of precisely what those funds will be used for.
Financial resilience
These are just a few practical suggestions, but how viable they are in your setting will be very much informed by your student cohort and the needs of their families.
It could be argued that our education system currently falls down a little when it comes to promoting and teaching financial resilience and knowledge to students and their families. However, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Some banks offer learning materials and resources that schools can opt to use when educating students on these areas as part of PSHE lessons or extracurricular sessions. With further funding and the will of policymakers, this kind of financial education could perhaps one day be extended to parents and families.
Keep communicating
One thing we can do right now is ensure that parents are fully aware of our policies, and all the costs associated with their children attending our schools. Wherever possible, we should be looking to keep those costs at the most affordable level we can – whether they be for uniforms, PE kits and trips.
At the same time, it’s vital to maintain contact with any parents who default on payments, and uncover the reasons as to why. Whilst it is important to have policies in place around non-payment, and to ensure these are enforced, we should also remember that any family can find themselves in a situation when making payments to your school is hard, or even impossible.
In which case, it’s our responsibility to support them in achieving the best outcome for the school and the student.
Sue Birchall is the School Business Leader at The Malling School, Kent
