Young people campaigning for affordable school uniforms for poorer Bradford families will host a poverty summit next week.
Campaign group Our Shout will put on a performance and screen a short film at the Tied into Poverty event, at St George’s Hall on Thursday.
Their aim is to show audiences a typical day in the life of a young Bradfordian whose family is struggling to afford the essentials.
The summit, funded by British Gas, aims to make positive changes for the poorest school pupils and offer solutions to the region’s child poverty problems.
The Our Shout group – who are aged between 12 and 20 – is run by Save the Children and Bradford Integrated Youth Support.
Group member Martin Stokes, 16, of Little Horton, said: “The price of school uniform is so important, it affects all young people, not just in Bradford, but throughout the whole country.
“School can be a difficult place if you don’t have the right uniform and kids often get bullied as a result.
“We’re looking forward to raising the profile of our campaign – as well as performing, which is what the Our Shout group do best.
“We have important issues to talk about and we hope that by entertaining the decision makers that we’ll attract the attention that our views deserve.”
According to the group many schools in deprived areas are among those with the most costly uniforms. Its research also revealed pupils whose parents cannot afford new or correct uniform are often bullied.
Miranda Kaunang, Save the Children’s programme manager for the North of England, said: “Bradford is one of the poorest areas in England and is one of the top ten per cent most deprived local authorities.
“It’s not acceptable to expect parents to fork out hundreds of pounds per term for school clothing or for children to be bullied for not fitting in.
“We know that a uniform defines a young person and has a vast effect on their experience of school. This is a unique event entirely led and created by young people and is designed to make a difference to children’s lives all over the UK.”
At the summit Our Shout will also talk about fundraising for an IT suite at Buttershaw Youth Centre.
The summit will run from 4pm to 6.30pm and anyone who would like to attend is welcome to turn up on the day.
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