Research School Network: A place-based partnership approach to inclusion York is taking a collective approach to inclusion for pupils and families impacted by socio-economic disadvantage

This aim is at the heart of Children North East’s Poverty Proofing® the School Day ethos. The charity, based in Newcastle, has developed an approach that looks at the school day through the lens of your socio-economically disadvantaged pupils and their families. It’s a methodology that can provide rich pupil, staff, parent, carer and Governor voice and spotlight areas that schools are offering great support in, as well as indicating areas where unintentional assumptions, communications and decisions can lead to pupils and families feeling less included in the school community.

This desire for a greater sense of inclusion for all cohorts of pupils, but especially those impacted by socio-economic disadvantage is a powerful one, as we know how important that sense of belonging is in terms of:

- Being a key driver of attendance
- Linking to aspects of pupil behaviour and motivation

While every child is unique, schools within the same local area often face similar challenges in keeping the school day inclusive for all. By working together, they can share insights and develop local solutions that better meet the needs of their communities.

To this end, in York we wanted to undertake the Poverty Proofing® the School Day process as a partnership and place-based approach.

The EEF have identified some key aspects of such an approach:

Take time to effectively establish the partnership, build relationships and agree shared priorities.
The partnership includes Children North East, York schools and staff (all phases and a mix of LA maintained and MATs), City of York Council, Huntington Research School and York CVS, with York St John University acting as evaluator. A working party of interested parties was established to outline the proposal for the city, to recruit local auditors and schools to the pilot and this developed into our current PPSD York Steering Group.

Partnerships are most effective when they combine a focus on local need and effective implementation of evidence-based solutions.
Like many local areas around the country, York has a stubborn ​‘disadvantage gap’. In 2024 – 2025, Huntington Research School secured some EEF funding for an Evidence Exploration Partnership in the city to explore the data [p22 of the Implementation Guidance Report] further to see if educators in the city could agree on a shared priority and evidence-informed response to improve attainment. It became clear that in addition to the attainment gap, there was also an above average suspension rate in both phases and staff and families reporting a lack of belonging and agency. We needed to better understand and serve our families and communities impacted by socio-economic disadvantage and Poverty Proofing® the School Day offered a way to do this.

In the Autumn 2025, a local audit team was established, and training around the Poverty Proofing® the School Day
approach was provided by experienced Children North East colleagues. The audit team is made up of representatives from local primary and secondary schools, City of York Council, other local educational providers and the community and voluntary sector.

This led to the Spring term audits of 7 local schools (3 primaries, 4 secondaries). Findings from these audit reports will inform a ​‘common themes’ report from Children North East and alongside further evaluation activities, an Autumn evaluation report from York St John University that draws together key learning from this process for the city. This directly ties into the final step highlighted by the EEF: ​‘direct, bespoke support for groups of schools.’

The schools and other stakeholders will work together on collective action planning for York schools to tackle common barriers and promote more efficient sharing of good practice in key areas. Through this, we hope that the schools involved continue to embed a Poverty Proofing ethos and embed poverty sensitive policies and practices, enhancing a greater sense of inclusion and belonging”


Reflections and further reading:

- What are the common challenges in your locality? The explore phase of the Implementation Guidance Report (p22-27) can be helpful here.
- Which stakeholders need to be involved and how can you engage and unite (p9-10) this group of people?
- What monitoring and evaluation (p44-46) will you plan for to help set you up for sustaining your place-based approach?


Look out for a second blog later this term where we showcase some of the work of our auditors and Poverty Proofing Champions in schools