Back To School

The back to school season is upon us, and children and adults across the land have been making back to school lists, sharpening pencils, buying new school uniforms and the ever essential sticky back plastic.

For many the long summer break heralds six weeks of fun, cultural enrichment and family holidays basking in summer sunshine.

However, for around 4 million British children the summer holidays are a period of stress, food insecurity, hunger and malnourishment.

These children don’t just rely on school for education or social interaction, but more so – and essentially – for a square meal.

For the parents and families living in severe poverty - this is the most stressful time of the year as they struggle with all the costs associated with going back to school.

Parents on low income struggle to provide for their children and understandably prioritise the basic necessities like food and shelter, supporting their children’s educational needs comes a close second to that.

Starkly though, it is statistically proven that children brought up in vulnerable households, are 3 times more unlikely to educationally attain by the age of 6. Meaning that by the age of 6, a child living in poverty is statistically already disadvantaged in the educational system.

Giving World helps these vulnerable families across the UK by providing school uniforms, stationery and food items, free of charge, so that parents can focus on providing stable shelter and nourishment.

This year we had a large donation of end of line stock by Trutex, the School Uniform Specialists. This stock was distributed to help vulnerable children across the UK, and we even managed to send some overseas.

Trutex is one of Britain’s oldest and best-loved uniform brands, with a heritage spanning back 150 years. The company provides the very highest standards of children’s school wear and sportswear to thousands of schools in the UK and across the world.

A spokesperson for Trutex said: “We are proud to be the first UK carbon neutral school wear company. We are committed to help build a sustainable future for generations to come. That’s why we’ve partnered with Giving World for our excess stock to be re-used by people in need at home and abroad. Giving World offered a completely managed solution. We were able to move the stock quickly and directly to those families and children who genuinely cannot afford quality school wear. We are pleased to have helped communities and those in need in an efficient way for our business by using Giving World and are delighted that our surplus stock was used in this way and not wasted. And through our online Giving World account we can see at a glance where our donation has been distributed.” If you are a business that can help us with end of line stock, and believe me, we can find a use for virtually everything, please do get in touch with Bindu on 0116 251 9777 or email bindu@givingworld.org.uk.