Extended School Summary

Schools are at the heart of the community they serve and as part of the governments Every Child Matters agenda, schools are expected to provide an increasing range of opportunities to support children and families.

In a rural area delivering these expectations can prove to be quite challenging, especially if schools are working alone. The Headteachers of all of the schools in the Aylsham Cluster decided two years ago that they would work together to enable a more strategic and sustainable approach. This way of working has been identified nationally as good practice and the Aylsham Cluster is often held up as being a model for other groups of schools to adopt. There is a real commitment to influence the development of support for families throughout the cluster. It is very important that this is achieved through working with families and parents to ensure that their needs are addressed. It is also important to develop in ways that are sustainable and not completely dependant on short term funding. One
of the reasons for producing this newsletter is to illustrate how much we are already offering and to ensure that you have an opportunity to comment on future developments. (There is a questionnaire with this newsletter for you to record your comments and questions.)

By 2010 all children should have access to a range of Extended Services in and around their school. For those of you who are not yet familiar with the Extended Schools Core Offer for mainstream schools here is a summary:

There are 5 key areas that make up the Core Offer for Extended Schools

  • Primary schools to provide access to high quality childcare in accordance with their communities’ needs, combined with a varied menu of activities to enhance achievement and broaden interests.
  • Secondary schools to provide access to a varied menu of study support and enrichment activities for young people as well as a safe place to be.
  • Schools to provide access/signposting to parenting support, including information sessions for parents of pupils joining reception and on transfer to other school stages. Access to parenting groups and family learning sessions to allow children to learn with their parents where consultation has shown there is a demand.
  • Swift and easy access: working closely with other statutory services and the voluntary and community sector to ensure that children with additional needs are identified as early as possible, and are well supported through integrated working with other services.
  • Schools to provide community access to appropriate facilities, ICT and sports for example, where possible.

In the Aylsham Cluster all of the schools have worked together to achieve a clusterwide strategy for the development of Extended Schools. This means that schools can collaborate to meet the needs of parents
throughout the area in a way that is sustainable and in partnership with other partners.

Working in partnership with parents and families is important to all of the schools in the cluster and the Extended Schools core offer provides a good framework for this development.

Extended Schools development will continue to develop in consultation with parents. If you are a parent/carer, we would be interested to hear your views and if you are a potential partner we would be
delighted to hear from you.

This newsletter aims to provide a snapshot of the wide range of Extended Services that are shared as a cluster. In addition to this there is a significant number of additional services and partners within the individual schools. My colleagues here at Aylsham High for example include the School Nursing Team, Connexions Advisers, Youth Service partners, Family Support Team, Community Police, Learning Mentors
and specialist Careers Education and Guidance.

Vanessa Scargill
Director of Community Strategy, Aylsham High School
(responsible for Aylsham Cluster Extended Schools
Strategy Development)