LHS Access to Education

Helping everyone succeed

We take exceptional care to ensure that the school’s curriculum remains accessible to our entire student body, regardless of their situations, as part of our Pupil Deprivation Grant as well as wider school funding.

We appreciate that the Cost of Living crisis has had a tremendous impact on families in our community, and it will continue to do so for some time. But we’ve introduced a number of measures within the school to support our students so that they can continue their education.

Below is a breakdown of the support we offer at Llanishen High School:

School transport

As well as our regularly scheduled morning and afterschool transfers, we now fund an additional 4pm bus to ensure all of our students can access after-school revision and extra-curricular clubs. We appreciate that a large number of our students live in areas further away from school, and the standard bus fare is £3.60 per day which for many, is becoming unaffordable. This is an issue we’re continuing to raise with the local authority.

Food

All information about free school meals is available here and please be aware that should your circumstances change, you can apply for school meals at any point during the academic year. Our school is completely cashless and uses thumbprint technology, meaning other students will not be able to see if your child has free school meals so there is no stigma attached here.

The LHS Wellbeing Centre also provides a free breakfast provision as well as break and lunch care. Plus, any unsold items from the canteens at lunchtime are passed to the Wellbeing team to distribute to pupils, who can discreetly take food packages home with them at the end of the day. Students just need to visit the Wellbeing Centre to access this.

Plus, as part of our Food Technology subject offering, we also provide food produce which has been planted and grown in our school’s polytunnel, meaning we have resources available for our students to use in lessons.

Health Products

Students also have unlimited access to free period products through the Welsh Government’s Period Products Scheme. We also provide other products such as shower gel. You can find these in the Wellbeing Centre as well as the pastoral offices around the school.

Uniform

We have a well-established uniform store in the school that operates daily. While this eliminates any excuses for some students who may be challenging uniform rules, it also helps to remove any embarrassment for others who are financially unable to purchase the correct uniform. This also allows us to monitor any student who may be struggling, so we provide additional support where we can, such as offering uniforms free of charge to these families.

We also provide pop-up shops for the sale of good quality second-hand uniforms and we operate a blazer exchange scheme. This is greatly supported by Year 11 students who donate their blazers at the start of the summer term for students in the lower year groups.

Sustainable prom

In 2023, we launched our first sustainable prom store where students were able to borrow any item free of charge, and it was a tremendous success. This allowed students who would have been otherwise unable to afford to attend prom to do so, and we’ll be continuing this scheme moving forward.

Technology is provided

The school banned mobile phone use over five years ago and it has been transformational. As well as a reduction in bullying behaviour, the school is seeing more healthy relationships and better student wellbeing at break and lunch times, and lessons are not interrupted. Where required, the school provides devices for teaching and learning, so any stigma of not having the latest device or any device at all, is removed.

Study support

We provide comprehensive revision packs for all GCSE students in years 10 and 11. This includes A4 pads, coloured pencils, highlighters, post-it packs, pens, pencils, rulers, revision cards and more, and it is presented in a plastic folder. The school also provides all revision materials at no charge. These are provided electronically but paper packs are also available for students who need or request them.

We also cover the cost of a range of items for students from low-income households to ensure they can fully access the curriculum, which includes music tuition, geography fieldwork, and more. Our teaching staff can offer advice about additional services provided should you need more information.

While in class settings, our teachers also carefully put seating plans together to ensure that they positively seat our students, ensuring a mix of abilities and backgrounds. Provision maps have made this even more efficient.

School sponsorships

We work in partnership with the Rotary Club of Llanishen which specifically sponsors disadvantaged young people to do the RYLA award each summer (up to six pupils). This is a residential visit to the Brecon Beacons. The club also sponsors a range of other events such as Youth Speaks and Young Musician, and it funds Christmas food hampers for families of pupils who are entitled to free school meals every year.

You can also find more information about Financial Support at LHS here >>>

If you would like any additional information or would like to speak to a member of staff regarding access to the available support we’ve listed above, please get in touch.