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Teachers are using their own money to buy food and clothes for their poverty-stricken pupils.

One staff member even bought Christmas dinner and gifts for a family when a tearful mother got in touch.

The guidance teacher told the story in a letter to Holyrood's education committee, which is examining poverty and attainment.

The teacher urged MSPs to visit schools to witness the pressure that left the profession totally demoralised.

A Scottish government spokesman said it was providing Pupil Equity Funding directly to schools for head teachers to spend at their discretion to close the poverty-related attainment gap.

Read more here.

MSPs will now take evidence from:

• Linda Lees from City of Edinburgh Council
• John Butcher from North Ayrshire Council
• Dr James Foley from North Lanarkshire Council

Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale turns the discussion to looked-after young people.

She asks about the impact of multiple placements, time being taken out of school to attend children's hearings and difficulties of staying in education upon leaving care.

Martin Canavan from Aberlour CCT says his organisation has a nurture hub attached to a children's home which supports those who suffer early trauma.

We help them to achieve in a wider sense, he explains.

Mr Canavan says there is no question that multiple placements impact on attainment and we clearly need to look at the whole system to improve this.

"There needs to be some collaborative appraoch as to how we do this better."

He suggests the care review may be able to address some issues.

Shelagh Young says as a parent of an adopted child she does not understand why the timing of hearing cannot take place outside of school hours.

"It was difficult and it created that element of not wanting to be marked out as different," she explains.

That concludes the first evidence session on attainment.

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Jackie Howie from Learning Link Scotland tells the committee about challenges parents face coming into schools and negotiating with teachers.

Ms Howie points to relationships breaking down between partents and teachers.

To tackle this Learning Link Scotland tries to establish ground rules before a project, she adds.

External agencies who can do work out of school can act as a bridge, concludes Ms Howie.

Money earmarked to improve the academic performance of disadvantaged children goes directly to head teachers but how do they choose to spend it?

Another school day gets under way at Tarbolton Primary.

The 193 pupils now occupy a brand new building replacing the loved but leaky old schoolhouse.

They have been in the new premises for around a year, roughly the same amount of time the Scottish government's £120m Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) scheme has been in place.

The scheme came from the desire of Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish government to close the poverty-related gap in educational achievement.

PEF aims to give children from poorer homes the same life chances as those in more affluent areas.

Read more here.

Shelagh Young emphasises the importance of recognising young people's achievements, even if technically they are performing below the expectations for their age group.

Poverty is not just financial poverty, but poverty of opportunity, skills and even encouragement, says Martin Canavan.

He echoes Ms Young's comments on celebrating achievements.

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Susan Hunter from Youthlink Scotland argues there needs to be greater study around the impact of having youth workers in schools.

SNP MSP Ruth Maguire asks Graeme Young from Scouts Scotland about the barrier of having to buy a uniform.

Mr Young explains uniform is never a barrier, if it does not work in a local setting there are ways around it.

He points out neckies can be all that is handed at the door to avoid stigmatisation.

Image source, bbc

Last September we reported that inspectors were to look at how well schools are helping children who live in poverty.

Education Scotland will look at the progress being made in the nine local authority areas with the highest concentrations of children living in poverty.

The government wants to close the gap in performance between children from relatively rich and poor backgrounds.

A pilot scheme for the inspections will take place in West Dunbartonshire.

Read more.

Susan Hunter from Youthlink Scotland explains youth work is very much about inclusion.

Ms Hunter adds: "To poverty proof is in the heart of every youth work organisation."

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Lib Dem MSP Tavish Scott is next: "National policy is attainment not achievement. Discuss."

Ms Hunter points out that achievement runs through the Curriculum for Excellence, but adds there has been a slide towards attainment.

Mr Young argues young people think achievement is very important.

Green MSP Ross Greer inquires about poverty-proofing of Scouts Scotland.

Graeme Young says his organisation tries to be as inclusive as possible and reflect the communities where they deliver services.

In particular, we look to go into hard-to-reach communities and deprived rural communities, he explains.

£550 will deliver a place for a young person for four years, the Scouts Scotland representative highlights.

Mr Young tells the committee that the scouts aims to provide people with a wealth of experience, given the attainment gap is often described as an experience gap.

We have a model that is proven to work but it is difficult to role it out quickly enough, he states.

Susan Hunter from Youthlink Scotland argues there needs to be space for national funding for national organisations which can then provide local services.

Shelagh Young from Home-Start UK points out the pattern of funding is very short term, highlighting one year funding.

PEF has led to a fairly inconsistent picture across schools, states Martin Canavan of Aberlour CCT.

Money is being spent on things which don't work and a valuable resource is not being used as best as it could be, he argues.

Mr Canavan points to the example of some schools using it to bring in campus police officers which he insists is not a good use of the funding.

He suggests more guidance should be provided by the Scottish government to ensure appropriate use.

Green MSP Ross Greer asks what impact the pupil equity fund (PEF) has made on the succession of intervention on early years.

Has it detracted from early years or is it cascading down, he asks.

Shelagh Young from Home-Start UK answers it is too early to say, but some schools have told her organisation that they cannot spend money pre-school.

Ms Young expresses concern about a greater fragmentation and atomisation of effort.

In January BBC Scotland reported that almost 2,400 schools across Scotland would share more than £120m as part of Scottish government efforts to close the attainment gap.

Education Secretary John Swinney confirmed 2,387 schools would receive money from the £750m Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) scheme in 2018-19.

Schools in Glasgow were set to benefit from more than a sixth of the cash, with a total of almost £22m to help fund improvements at 191 schools.

Read more here.

Schools should be made more open to parents so they can actually meet teachers, Shelagh Young of Home-Start UK argues.

She recognises issues around child protection with this but she warns barriers are created when there is limited interaction between parents and schools.

Tory MSP Oliver Mundell declares he is a cub scout leader.

Mr Mundell asks about how best to replicate good practice across Scotland.

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Susan Hunter from Youthlink Scotland tells the committee her members ask about how best to engage with headteachers.

Ms Hunter explains headteachers believe third sector organisatons are marketing and making a sales pitch rather than working in partnership.

She calls for more third sector involvement at the planning stage.

Labour MSP Mary Fee raises the inter-generational pattern of poverty and encouraging schools to take a wider look at attainment.

Martin Canavan of Aberlour Child Care Trust agrees there is a need to understand what is being talked about when considering achievement versus attainment.

He speaks about the work his organisation has done in improving access to other opportunities for pupils who may not achieve academically.

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor

The life chances of Scots are set early. By the time a pupil starts school, those in the most deprived fifth of communities are well behind those from the 10% of areas with the highest income.

On average, the more deprived pupils are 13 months behind in their vocabulary. They are 10 months behind in problem-solving.

Schools can do a lot to help close that gap, and alter the life chances of their students. But do they?

The statistics aren't clear, as there is very little comparable testing of pupils as they make their way through school. What is clear is that the gap is much wider by the time pupils leave school.

Read most analysis here.