ORGANISERS of a pioneering project have quizzed more than 300 children in a bid to cut poverty stigma.

Youngsters and staff from eight city schools have taken part in the Cost of the School Day scheme, which aims to help poorer children avoid discrimination from their peers.

Run by Glasgow City Council and the Child Poverty Action Group, the project is intended to ensure no child in a Glasgow school suffers due to poverty.

Education bosses think poorer children can be left out at school or bullied.

For example, by receiving free stationery, help to go on school trips or free school meals. The scheme was rolled out in two clusters: Smithycroft Secondary, Royston Primary, Ashcraig Secondary and Avenue End Primary; and Cleveden Secondary, Abercorn Secondary, Caldercuilt Primary and Kelvindale Primary. Since its launch in May, 340 pupils and 120 staff from all eight schools have spoken to researchers about their experiences of the school day over the course of 100 sessions.

The children, of all different ages and backgrounds, talked about how they are affected by poverty and how important things such as uniform, school lunches, the ability to do their homework and go on trips were in an average day. Sara Spencer, the project manager, said one of the most important areas for young people was school uniform.

She said: "Young people are really aware of uniform costs and how important it is, and how much of it you need.

"It's a big deal if you don't have the right stuff in school for a lot of kids

"Children have said quite often they all have a standard uniform so they all look the same but they've always been able to express their differences, for example someone who might have fancier shoes or a cool bag.

"There's a lot of awareness of who has what at school, but in some this might not be a big deal and in others it could really important to kids.

"It depends on the school.

"They are quite aware of the cost of trips and the potential for missing out on those.

"Homework is also something which is affected and was mentioned a lot- access to the internet at home. That is my impression of the kinds of things which are top of the list." Sara will now spend the next two months analysing her findings before making recommendations to education bosses on how to prevent children from missing out and being discriminated at school.

She has also looked at which schools are performing well in helping to reduce stigma, and hopes to share best practice with other institutions across the city.

Sara said: "We're also looking at what schools are doing well. Poverty isn't a new issue for Glasgow schools and many are overcoming these barriers in different ways.

"Finally we asked children and young people who identified specific issues, what they would do to resolve them if they were in charge."

Councillor Stephen Curran, Executive Member for Education and Young People said: "Every child in Glasgow should feel included and this pilot and project will result in valuable research for the city."