Affordable Schools Information
The John of Gaunt School is proud to be part of the Wiltshire Affordable Schools initiative. This recognises the associated costs of a school day for our whole school community. We have therefore pledged to work with our school community to ensure that the educational experience is affordable for all.
The Affordable Schools initiative is categorised in four areas:
- Resourcing the School day
We offer free uniforms to all students. This can be sourced by emailing pp@jogschool.org, and we hold events throughout the year when this is available. All uniform donations are welcomed via drop off points at the school reception. We carefully consider the cost of equipment and have ensured that our homework resources are online or provided to all students to reduce parental costs.
- Enrichment and Opportunities
There are a number of free clubs on offer for all students, daily. In addition, during our activity day season, we offer a variety of free activities. If there are financial barriers, in some cases, we can support with the costs. We are looking to evenly distribute when school trips take place and can offer payment plans.
- Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
We offer a free breakfast club for all students at 8am in G31 each morning. In addition, we can support students with hygiene products. We have a free gym available to use on the school site and allocated time for students. In addition, offer pastoral support for mental health and wellbeing.
- Securing Positive Partnership
Our parents’ evenings now take place online to avoid additional costs of travelling to school. We have careers advisors available on site which will support transition points as well as elements relating to work experience.
Below is a graph of the top three costs that were identified by parents. The table below shows what we are doing about this.
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Cost saving area |
Solution |
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We now hold free uniform events across the academic year and encourage parents to donate any used uniform so that we can recycle them. Within the last academic year, we helped 157 families with free uniform. |
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We have been working closely with our school canteen to ensure that prices are kept as low as possible. Therefore, they offer a meal deal for £2.80. Whilst we recognise that this is still a significant daily cost, this includes a hot meal, drink and pudding. From January, students will be able to try a baguette ‘Saver’ deal priced at £1.50 along with other take away items, also priced at £1.50. |
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The Affordable Schools team are currently fundraising throughout the year to subsidise the cost of trips for all students in our school community. We will also publish a trip calendar on our website so that parents are able to plan for future events. We also offer payment plans via our finance department for those families that may benefit from this facility. |
We are always looking for parental volunteers and feedback. If you would like to be involved in our Affordable Schools initiative, please contact Emma Jeffries, Raising Standards Leader pp@jogschool.org / ejeffries@jogschool.org
