Cost of living: The Scottish school helping children and their families

Winter coats, after school clubs and laptops, things for school can cost a lot of money and as the cost of lots of things is going up at the moment - it can make it all harder to afford for many parents and families.

It's all because of the cost of living crisis, where the prices of things all around the world are increasing.

It includes the cost of things like food, fuel and energy bills and for many people that means tough choices are having to be made about how to spend their money.

The cost of living is something that children in South Lanarkshire say they have already noticed as their school makes changes to help more than ever before.

'It's annoying for me because I have to use more money'

"Some parents don't have enough money because of the issues with bills and the electricity going up," one boy said while speaking to Newsround presenter, Ricky.

While another explained that he's a "little bit sad" because the cost of fuel has meant not seeing his gran as often.

"My gran lives about 70 miles away from here and we've not seen her as much because obviously getting there is costing a lot more with the petrol going up."

Meanwhile another of the school children said they had noticed the difference in shops.

"It's annoying for me because I have to use more money that I have. Whenever I try to get a bottle of juice from the shop, it's like £1.20 now and it used to be a pound (£1)."

Help at school

The children all go to school in a village in a rural part of Scotland and the nearest library is a few miles away.

It means the school has had to change to become a place where the children can get everything they need such as access to books and technology.

"Our local library is about four miles away and the bus only comes once an hour," one boy told Ricky.

"The price for the bus has gone up so you can just come here [the school] and get a book," adding that the school is also giving out computers for work at home.

"All our homework is online so if you don't have access to a chromebook (laptop) or an iPad (tablet), you can ask to borrow one and you'll get one.

"It's not only kids, parents can use it if they want to do job applications and stuff like that."

The school is also helping with the cost of school uniform, one girl told Ricky that they no longer need to include the school's badge.

"We have a 'nearly new' clothing rack and we have a lot of school uniforms. You don't need to wear uniform with the badge on it.

"So that [families] don't need to use more money and doesn't add to their stress."