“Every S1 pupil starting Bellahouston Academy in August will receive, free of charge, all the materials in the photo.”
So reads a tweet that has seen the Glasgow school receive plaudits from around Scotland and far beyond since it was shared on Friday afternoon.
The school, whose commitment to anti-poverty measures was highlighted in a report last year, has made waves by sharing a picture of the contents of a bag that every new student moving up from primary school is to receive from now on.
It includes pens, pencils, a scientific calculator, a glue stick, a workbook and other stationery, as well as a school tie.
Among the many comments in response, one depute headteacher said: “That’s an excellent idea. Every child made to feel part of the school community and nobody feeling stigmatised if parents/carers struggling to provide all these.”
A principal teacher of achievement said: “A nice example of equality here. It’s a positive message to send to pupils as they start at school.”
And a head of English said: “This is a wonderful idea. Every child gets to start on the same page.”
In April 2021, Tes Scotland reported on a programme credited by depute headteacher Murdo Macdonald with helping families at Bellahouston Academy claim £400,000 worth of benefits they might otherwise have missed out on, through the appointment of a “financial inclusion support officer”.
In a letter to parents and carers this March, the school said the financial inclusion support officer had, in two years, helped families “access approximately £1 million in grants and benefits, which many did not previously realise they were entitled to”.
Today, Mr Macdonald gave Tes Scotland another example of Bellahouston Academy’s commitment to “financial inclusion”: in May it took a group of 14 first-year students to Iceland, after becoming the first state school in Scotland to receive direct funding from the Turing Scheme. All the students who went to Iceland were eligible for free school meals.
This is the first year that the free stationery bags have been given to the school’s new S1 students.
Today, Tes reported on research which showed that pupils who spent their final years of primary school in lockdown will find the step up to secondary school “extraordinarily challenging”.
