As school pupils head back to classrooms across Stirling today, charities and voluntary organisations are rallying to help those on the breadline to make it a smooth return.
The restart comes amid surging bills for households, with energy prices and costs for everyday essentials continuing to skyrocket ahead of the busy winter months.
With parents wrestling to ensure their kids are given the best chance to succeed, groups such as Start Up Stirling have reported strong support for their summer appeal, with around 80 youngsters provided with ‘schoolbag packs’ filled with key items.
Another local group aiming to help is the uniform bank run by the parent teacher network at Wallace High.
It was set up in 2017 and provides the opportunity for parents to pick up, swap or drop off key items ahead of the
big restart.
The scheme, which is organised by the school’s parent teacher network, has continued to grow and has become a popular presence and a vital lifeline for parents aiming to kit their kids out in uniform while struggling on the breadline due to rising costs.
Kate Buchanan, who helps run the uniform bank, admits demand has continued to increase for the service.
Kate said: “There has been a huge increase and we’ve seen uptake probably increase fourfold in terms of people contacting me directly and maybe around a tenfold increase in the people actually making use of it.
“We’ve now started an outreach programme for all of the feeder primaries to the school and we’ve been heading out to Primary Seven graduation events to connect with parents there.
“We’re seeing the demographic grow right across the board from those who are committed to the ecology of not buying right through to families who would not be able to afford their kids’ stuff.
“There are no questions and no stigma because I do think a lot of people are struggling and wondering how they are going to be able to manage everything, especially with winter coming around the corner.
“The outreach programme is something we’ll keep developing and it helps us reach a lot of families because in the events at my house, some people were having to get taxis from other areas to get here and some of these were those having the hardest time.”
For anyone interested in finding out more about the uniform bank, then please contact the school who will
be in touch with Kate and the group.
