Actionable, road-tested approaches to understanding and tackling poverty in schools

The stark reality of poverty and disadvantage in our communities is one of the biggest challenges faced by schools today. Schools need better understanding of the broader impact of poverty and disadvantage and what they can do about it – that’s where Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools comes in.

The book is divided into three clear sections on how to understand and tackle poverty across the whole school, in the classroom, and within the community.
The whole school section focuses on understanding poverty and its roots, including:
- defining poverty and addressing the topic within professional development
- assessing the school day to discover and address barriers, from uniform prices and transport to accessing free school meals
- giving early help and intervention
- understanding the intersection between poverty and displacement

The classroom section focuses on barriers to learning and practical steps to address these, including:
- how to adapt the curriculum to assist pupils with fewer advantages
- how a focus on social justice can help
- the importance of reading

The community section addresses the wider context, including:
- addressing exclusion and suspension rates, and how to use mentors to encourage pupils
- partnerships with local businesses and organisations to broaden pupils’ opportunities

Written by expert authors working in a deprived area in the north east of England, Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools goes beyond the statistics and – whilst there are no 'silver bullets' – offers practical ways forward. This book is backed by research and is complete with case studies, reflective tasks and next steps from contributors from across the UK and working with all phases. As well as this, Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage includes a foreword written by Dame Alison Peacock, CEO of The Chartered College of Teaching.

From poverty-proofing the classroom and curriculum to changing whole-school culture and breaking the cycle, this resource speaks to the multiple intersecting crises currently faced by schools including lost learning during the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and increased referrals relating to DV. Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools equips you as a system-leader or educator to understand more deeply, diagnose issues and better address inequalities in your school.

Written by two people who walk the walk every day, this book pulls together real expertise from across the system to help us truly understand poverty and its effects, but most importantly offer us a host of practical ways schools can make things better. This is a book every teacher and leader should read. -- Jonny Uttley * CEO, The Education Alliance Multi-Academy Trust, Visiting Fellow at The Centre for Young Lives, Co-author of Putting Staff First: A Blueprint to Revitalise Our Schools *
The authors’ relentless determination to drive opportunities for all children shine through in this book, which is both inspiring and of huge practical value. This is an essential read. -- Baroness Longfield * Executive Chair and Founder, Centre for Young Lives *
It strikes a rare balancing act between being academic, accessible and actionable at the same time. The work the authors do, and the exemplars from schools and trusts, are really strong and shine through, so that this book proves useful to busy school leaders working hard to make a difference. * Alex Quigley, education consultant and author *
Every page reaffirms my belief that we must close any gaps early, because those gaps widen quickly and affect children’s life chances in profound ways. -- @Hellins_headteacher

Sean Harris is the Trust Improvement and Research Lead for Tees Valley Education Trust. He is also the research lead and advocate for EdNorth, a doctoral researcher in Education at Teesside University and on the board of the North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership. Sean writes regularly for SchoolsWeek, SecEd, Headteacher Update and TES. Read more from Sean @SeanHarris_NE.

Katrina Morley is the CEO of Tees Valley Education Multi-Academy Trust. She has over 20 years of experience in the education sector in a range of leadership roles in a variety of establishments, all of which were graded by Ofsted as ‘Outstanding’ or 'Good with Outstanding Features’. Katrina is also a non-executive director for Northern Power of Women, the Vice Chair of the SEND and AP group for Schools North East and a board member of SSAT National Primary Board.