£1,755
Average annual cost of secondary school per child in the UK.
The Children's Society, The Cost of Education, 2024
Why it matters
The school year doesn't start in September.
It starts in August, at kitchen tables where parents work out what they can stretch, and in bedrooms where young people quietly wonder if they'll have what they need. Here's what the data says, and why we built this campaign around it.
4.3M
Children living in poverty across the UK.
DWP, Households Below Average Income, 2024
1 in 5
School-age children without consistent access to a device at home.
Ofcom Children's Media Lives, 2024
18 months
Disadvantaged pupils sit nearly two years behind their peers by GCSE.
Education Policy Institute, Annual Report 2024
The four pressures
What's actually getting in the way of a fair start.
None of these are new. What's changed is how many families they now touch at once.
Rising school costs
Uniforms, PE kit, stationery, lunches, transport, and trips have all climbed faster than wages. The pressure peaks in August, and lands hardest on families already stretched.
Persistent child poverty
Across the UK, 4.3 million children live in poverty. In Southwark specifically, the figure sits at roughly one in three. That isn't a backdrop to learning, it shapes every part of it.
Digital exclusion
Homework, revision, applications, even communication with school, all assume reliable access to a device and internet. For too many young people, that assumption breaks down at the front door.
An attainment gap that starts early
Disadvantaged pupils enter primary school already behind, and by GCSE the gap is close to two years. September is a recurring opportunity, or a recurring setback.
The Southwark picture
Why we started here.
33%
of children in Southwark grow up in poverty, one of the highest rates in London.
End Child Poverty Coalition, 2024
1 of 5
London boroughs with the steepest cost of living rises affecting school readiness.
Trust for London, 2024
67%
of teachers say more pupils arrive in September without basic uniform or supplies.
NEU Member Survey, 2023
The case
Small, well timed support changes the whole year.
A voucher in August isn't charity, it's leverage. It lifts a specific weight at a specific moment, and it lets a young person walk into the first day of term on the same footing as everyone else.
A laptop is more than a device. It's coursework that gets finished, applications that get sent, conversations with teachers that don't depend on a single shared phone.
A community event in a local town hall says something quieter but just as important: you are seen, you belong here, and people locally are investing in you.