Manchester is one of Britain’s wettest cities. For children without suitable waterproof clothing or wellies, that can mean missing out on outdoor activities at school.
Next week, pupils at Manchester Communication Primary Academy in Harpurhey will receive ten sets of waterproofs and wellies for the school to use when children don’t have suitable clothing of their own. It’s a simple intervention, but at a school serving one of Manchester’s more disadvantaged communities, it could make a real difference. Nearly seven in ten pupils at the academy are eligible for free school meals.
Across Manchester as a whole, 42.3% of children were living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024/25, according to the latest government figures. When household budgets are already stretched, another coat or a pair of boots that a growing child may not wear for long can be one expense too many.
When the weather becomes a barrier
The school already makes outdoor experiences part of children’s education, including walks in the local area and visits to nearby Queens Park. But taking a class outside presents teachers with a very practical problem when some children aren’t dressed for the weather. The Outdoor Guide Foundation, which is providing the new kit, says children can be left watching from the sidelines on wet days because their families can’t afford suitable coats and boots.
“Outdoor learning and play should never depend on whether a family can afford waterproofs,” says Foundation director Gina Bradbury Fox. “Here in Manchester you can see exactly what removing that barrier does; children who were watching from the window are now out in the rain with their friends.”
The Manchester delivery is part of the Foundation’s Waterproofs & Wellies scheme, which aims eventually to provide ten sets of outdoor clothing to every state primary school in the UK. WWF has committed support for the scheme to reach 100 schools through its Happy By Nature programme.
A problem stretching beyond Manchester
The pressures facing families in Manchester are particularly acute, but they’re part of a wider problem across the region. In 2024/25, 29.1% of children across the North West were living in relative poverty after housing costs, compared with 26% across the UK. Poverty can make itself felt in all sorts of ordinary parts of childhood – a school trip, sports equipment, or simply having the right clothes to go outside when it’s raining.
And outdoor learning isn’t simply a break from lessons. Natural England’s Natural Connections project, which worked with schools to increase outdoor learning, found that 92% of teachers surveyed reported greater pupil engagement and 85% saw positive effects on behaviour.
Jon Turner, head of education and families at WWF-UK, says schools recognise those benefits but don’t always have the resources to make outdoor learning accessible to everyone.
“We know that time in nature boosts children’s wellbeing, confidence and learning – but many pupils, especially in lower-income communities, face barriers that keep them indoors,” he says.
A small answer to a much bigger problem
The scale of child poverty in Manchester can make ten sets of waterproofs sound like a very small response to a very large problem. But the scheme isn’t intended to solve poverty, or to provide clothing for every child. Instead, the waterproofs and wellies become a shared school resource, there when a child needs them.
Children’s television presenter Gemma Hunt, an ambassador for the Foundation, will join pupils when the kit is delivered on 15 October. She describes seeing a child go from watching through a window to “jumping in puddles with their friends”, and says the scheme is about more than the clothing itself. “It is belonging, joy and the freedom to be a child outdoors.”
In Manchester, where getting wet is an occupational hazard of going outside, a spare pair of wellies isn’t going to change the world. But for the child who gets to go outside with everyone else because they’re there, it might change that particular rainy afternoon.
This article is based on a press release from The Outdoor Guide Foundation, compiled with assistance from AI tools and edited by North West Bylines.
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