Children are dropping out of school in large numbers in communities affected by HIV/AIDS, despite policies and programmes that are designed to support their continued attendance. Research carried out by Save the Children in South Africa and Swaziland concludes that factors influencing drop-out are poverty related, exacerbated by HIV/AIDS. These factors also play out in gendered ways. Interventions aimed at supporting the enrolment, participation and achievement of vulnerable children at school must tackle not only financial constraints to schooling for orphans, but the constraints to schooling for vulnerable girls and boys more broadly.