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“Education is starting to be seen as a luxury, as the costs associated with getting to school and engaging in education successfully become too much. …They cannot afford the basic standard of physical care required to make their attendance in education possible, let alone the essential resources required to travel to their education settings, or access learning online and at home.”
State of Child Poverty 2023
“Poverty has got a lot worse, and a lot of the services that used to support schools with those aspects of supporting a child’s life have lost funding, disappeared or are overwhelmed in the case of Camhs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). And, of course, it hits schools in the poorest parts of the country the hardest, and so all the problems they face are made worse by poverty.”
Sam Freedman, Senior Fellow, Institute for Government, Confederation of School Trusts Conference
Around 29% of families across the UK are living in poverty and teachers and senior leaders in schools find themselves on the front line. Schools are reporting a huge increase in demand for additional support in response to the cost-of-living crisis, which along with the post-pandemic recovery is having a huge impact on teaching and learning.
The Cost of Living Crisis: Impact on Schools report highlights that children living in poverty are more likely to have lower attendance, a higher prevalence of mental health problems and increased safeguarding concerns.
Join us for this brand new conference to explore these topical issues and more. Throughout the course of the day our expert speakers will deliver keynotes sessions on some of the biggest challenges schools are facing whilst supporting and safeguarding children who are living in poverty. With discussion around understanding and identifying poverty, school attendance, child exploitation, pupil mental health and wellbeing and addressing financial barriers to learning you will come away feeling empowered in your role to safeguarding pupils living in poverty.
Who should attend?
Headteachers, Assistant Heads, Deputy Heads, Heads of Year, Pastoral Leads and Designated Safeguarding Leads
This conference will enable you to:
Understand the current scale of the challenging facing schools
Respond to the cost-of-living crisis as school leaders and teachers
Identify children in your school community who are living in poverty
Understand how household poverty can give rise to additional safeguarding risks for children
Differentiate correctly between poverty and neglect
Tackle the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on school attendance
Work with hard-to-reach parents to improve attendance
Understanding which children are at increased risk of exploitation, including county lines and why
Respond to concerns regarding child exploitation
Support the mental health and wellbeing of children living in poverty
Engaging with parents and families to improve outcomes for children living in poverty
Identify and overcome financial barriers for learning
Consider how you can reduce the cost of the school day
