Cost of Living Letter – December 2022
16th December 2022
Dear parent/carer,
Re. Cost of Living
At Stepney All Saints we acknowledge that the rising cost of living may have affected our community, and where possible we would like to support by ensuring that our students and families are not detrimentally affected.
Breakfast:
We know the importance of breakfast setting students up for the day ahead. With thanks to The Portal
Trust, we are now able to offer all students at Stepney All Saints School a free breakfast pack, which will
consist of a hot chocolate and 1 breakfast item from the breakfast pack menu (toast, cereal bar, fruit or
yoghurt).
Breakfast packs can be collect from the Sixth Form Café every Monday – Friday between 8.00-8.30am.
This will take effect from January until the February half term 2023 in the first instance, depending on uptake and funding. Should we continue to offer this breakfast pack to students, we will update our students and parents.
Lunch:
The cost of lunch meals for staff and students at Stepney All Saints School is £1.80. This includes a main meal (hot or cold) and a dessert option. We believe this to be the cheapest price of lunch in the borough of Tower Hamlets. Despite the rising cost of supplies, we intend to keep this cost to £1.80 until further notice.
Uniform:
Having a school uniform plays a key role in promoting the ethos of the school, provides a sense of belonging and identity and sets and appropriate toned for education. It also supports in creating a common equality amongst students, regardless of background, as school uniform can act as a social leveller.
Over the past few years, we have brought the sale of uniform in-house, this means that parents are not
charged the inflated retail prices.
The price of our school blazer is set to £28.45 regardless of whether it is a junior or a senior size. We believe this to be the lowest priced blazer on average within the borough.
In addition, the cost of the first blazer for new students is generously subsidised by The Portal Trust,
meaning that parents of new students pay £14.22 for the first blazer.
IT Facilities:
You will be aware that all of our students are loaned a school laptop as part of the school’s learning and teaching policy, an initiative initially supported by The Portal Trust. This allows students to access online
resources as part of classwork, and pre-learning.
Students are encouraged to charge their laptop devices and download any resources they may require in school, to allow them to use their devices for homework and pre-learning.
Tower Hamlets Free School Meal Vouchers:
You may have heard that Tower Hamlets will be offering those who are eligible for Free School Meals a £100 barcoded voucher to be redeemed at a Post Office. As we are still awaiting the delivery of these vouchers, we will be distributing these to parents on the return to school on Thursday 5th January. Those eligible will be emailed a time slot for collection of this voucher. Parents must arrive with a valid proof of address to collect their voucher. Vouchers will not be issued to students.
Hardship Fund:
We will continue to support all of our families where we can. If any family finds themselves in an
exceptionally difficult financial situation, especially over this Christmas period, please do raise this with your child’s Head of Year, so that where possible we can help to support your child. Provide full details so that each case can be carefully considered.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Woods
Headteacher