Times are tough just now and public services budgets have been affected severely as a result. Most primary schools in our area now rely heavily on independent fund-raising by their Parent-Teacher Association to finance the costs of transport hire for any school trips or activities out-with their own facilities. This is a serious issue in small rural schools, where pupil numbers are often less than 30 and the pool of families to fund raise from is very limited. Additionally because of their sizes and relative geographical isolation, some of these schools rely heavily on partnerships with other small rural schools to participate in some activities and programmes.
As a last resort some schools are being left with no alternative but to charge a fee directly to parents of participating children to cover these costs. Sadly this can result in disadvantaged families being excluded. We believe children from all feeder primaries (whether small and rural or large and within towns) should start high school with similar academic experiences and having had the same level of opportunities.
Therefore, WomanKIND Clydesdale offer to help pay transport costs for educational day-trips for all rural schools in Clydesdale should they struggle to pay those costs. To date, we have paid transport costs for Libberton Primary kids to visit the skipping festival held in Biggar; We have funded a day trip to The Highland Show for Auchengray Primary; we have paid transport costs for some classes in all feeder primary schools to take part in the Biggar Science Festival.