Recent social policy discourses in Aotearoa New Zealand focus on vulnerable children's well-being and the detrimental, long-term and costly impacts of child poverty. The discourse pervading much of the policy labels children and young people as "vulnerable" or "at risk" or "in crisis", a view, which we argue, is both…

This paper examines poverty's impact on student physical health, socioemotional health, and the brain. Further, although children spend only 20 percent of their time in school, this paper examines the school's role in student development, as well as proposes effective policies and programs that go beyond the classroom.