We had nothing - but now my children are thriving

Three years ago, Izzy Reid fled an abusive marriage. She took her six children and moved more than 100 miles away.

The family had nothing - no house, no furniture and few clothes.

The children - who ranged from nursery age to college age - were traumatised. Uprooted to a strange place, a temporary house and worried about their mum and the abuse she had suffered.

But their lives have been transformed after some of her children started attending St Michael's Primary in Moodiesburn, North Lanarkshire.

Izzy quickly got connected with children's charity Barnardo's, which works directly with the school to help children.

The aim is to help close the attainment gap - the difference in achievement between students from the most deprived areas and those from affluent areas.

The assistance that Izzy was offered from team manager Monica Holmes was a turning point.

Monica helped them get a permanent home, furniture and toys. And she helped the children deal with their feelings about being uprooted and their worry about their mum.

Izzy said this was a weight off her mind.

"Obviously there were a lot of emotional needs involved, they'd been through all that with me and their father.

"I was worried about their education, how it was affecting them. It was a big step to move into another school and expect them to have friends right away.

"Making sure they were OK, protected and safe - St Michael's and Monica supported me in doing that 100%."

In the chaos of the relocation, the children were often late to primary school. This marked them out as different and affected their learning.

But after Monica started running them to school, the children were always in on time - and the embarrassment ended.

Izzy glows with pride when talking about her children and says St Michael's is becoming a second family.

"They're thriving with their friends, thriving at home," she says.

"They are a lot more open, a lot more outgoing... they are just totally different."

Barnardo's says children's basic needs have to be met before they can learn and achieve in school.

The charity works with around 700 schools in Scotland and says poverty is still a huge factor in closing the attainment gap.

"If we uplift these children and families out of poverty, get them the right access to support and mental health then surely we can help children be ready in the class to learn, rather than sitting worrying about what's happening at home," says Monica Holmes.

"There is a lot more that can be done. It would be much easier for them in their life if they just didn't have to worry about where the next meal was coming from or if they had to choose between heating or eating."

She says Scottish Child Payment of £25 a week per child has made a big difference, but that poverty still has a huge impact on families.

Barnardo's currently has someone in the school one day a week, but Monica says there is so much demand that it could have someone there every day.

"If this wasn't in these schools what would happen to these families?

"Where would they be now - and more importantly, where would the children be?" she asks.

Headteacher Karen Greechan says some children at the school are carrying a lot of weight on their shoulders.

"It can be very hard just to put that to one side and all of a sudden be able to do your reading or your spelling or your maths," she says.

"It's about giving the children support and giving the families support so that when children come in they are ready to learn.

"Often that support has to take place outside the school."

She adds that the role of schools has expanded during her 30 years at St Michael's.

"When I started teaching it was very much about the academic side - once children come in the doors they become school pupils, once they leave they go home and there was a bit of a detachment.

"Now you want the community to be involved - we offer a drop-in on a Wednesday, a parent and toddler on a Friday.

"It's about making sure the doors are always open, making people feel welcome. If people feel welcome you can then have that conversation - people then know where they can come for support."

The Scottish government said it was investing £1bn in the Scottish Attainment Challenge during the current parliamentary term, including more than £520m in pupil equity funding for headteachers.

North Lanarkshire and its schools will receive more than £15.6m this year from that fund.