With pupils heading back to school for the new term this week, many parents and guardians are feeling that familiar pressure on their wallets.
For the third year running, Cowshed has been delivering the ‘Get Help with School Costs’ campaign for Welsh Government, signposting parents to vital information to access the available help.
We’re proud to have played a part in helping parents gain access to financial help for school essentials, as well as improving parents’ understanding of free school meals provision. During the second year of campaign activity, understanding of the School Essentials Grant had improved 24% among our target audience of lower income parents. As of this week, Wales is the first UK nation to offer free school meals to all primary pupils, which has made a huge difference for children and families across Wales.
The Welsh Government’s School Essentials Grant reopened to applicants in July, offering financial aid to eligible families to buy uniform, school kit, and stationery up to a value of £125 per child, per year (£200 for those entering Year 7).
As the long summer holidays drew to a close, Cowshed assisted Welsh Government in ensuring that School Essentials Grant funding is known to all eligible families with another targeted news push building on previous work late last term.
This began with an English and Welsh advertorial on WalesOnline. Cowshed’s PR team then issued an updated press release to media, picking up earned coverage from WalesOnline (leading the WalesOnline Money newsletter on Thursday, August 29), North Wales Live, Nation.Cymru, Deeside.com, Wrexham.com, West Wales Chronicle, and South Wales Chronicle. The School Essentials grant was also mentioned in Money Saving Expert and MirrorOnline explainer detailing financial support for parents across the UK, and Hefin David MS urged families to apply for the grant in his regular South Wales Argus column.
Meanwhile, there has also been further coverage of the Welsh Government’s Universal Primary Free School Meals programme. WalesOnline published a piece last week, and other publishers including Nation.Cymru, ITV Wales, and Cambrian News have followed on the first week of term after the release of a statement from Welsh Government.
Find out more about the get help with school costs campaign here.
