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The School Bank West Lothian is a charity that supports families with the cost of the school day. We supply school uniforms and other essential school items to help families who are experiencing financial and domestic difficulties. Our charitable purposes are to prevent or relieve child poverty in families experiencing financial hardship in West Lothian and support the advancement of education of children and young people facing socio-economic and cultural deprivation.
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Our work aims to improve the mental health and well-being of children and young people by enabling them to feel included at school. Being accepted by your peer group is a vital part of growing up and being kitted out with a new school uniform helps support young people to concentrate on their education, as opposed to their appearance. Feedback from referrals has indicated that children feel proud and excited by their new uniform and parents/carers are less stressed.
The need for our service is growing. In the year to 2019 – 2020 we received 840 referrals, which is continuing to increase. We anticipate further demand for our service during the continued impact of COVID-19 on people’s employment and finances. We therefore appeal for more donations to meet this demand – please see our website for more information on how to donate.
We operate on a referral basis and will accept a referral from any professional organisation, such as schools, social work, health visitors or advice based organisation.
For further information about our service or to find out how you can volunteer and support our work, please contact Project Manager Collette Moran – collette@schoolbank-westlothian.org or 07578811398
