A Primary school in Blyth, Northumberland has banned pencil cases in an attempt to stop the stigma against poor families.
The Head teacher of St Wilfrid’s, Pauline Johnstone, has said herself that the reason for the ban is “so there’s no comparison on the tables and children are learning”.
Having worked with charity Children North East, the school started providing stationery for students as well as cutting down on the amount of dress-up and fundraising days.
Ms Johnstone has said there have been a few complaints but there was enough time left for the rule to be fully enforced.
Children North East led the Poverty Proofing the School Day project, to encourage teachers to look out for students being unwittingly excluded.
The charity has also claimed that dress-up, fundraising days and talks like ‘what I did on the weekend’ highlight those from a low-income background. And that schools also found a more discreet way of administering free school uniforms to families who are reluctant to ask for them.
Students also expressed their views, student 15 year old Harris Auchterlonie has said: “There was a real big issue with some people, it really got to them. There was a really big social expectation to have the best things and it was affecting school life for a lot of people, there was groups created around who had the best things but I think that has been taken away. That’s not an issue anymore.”
However a lot of people do not agree with the ban and have expressed some of their views via Twitter.
On the other hand, some people believe that it will be a learning curve for kids.
https://twitter.com/aintnotnever/status/994919908503965696
While others again think that by doing this we are just ignoring the issue.
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