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SCHOOL'S OUT: Framework for the Development of Out-of-School Care
Section 8
Premises and accommodation
Using premises
Clubs need good premises. The availability of premises is one of a range of factors that affect OSC. About half of the clubs are in primary schools. The survey of local authorities carried out on behalf of the working group shows how local authority premises are used.
Information |
| Type of premises | Number of clubs and services |
Primary schools | 307 |
Secondary schools | 19 |
Community education | 97 |
Other school accommodation such as huts | 43 |
Other council premises | 30 |
New buildings and purpose-built buildings | 19 |
Buildings on council land or leased to OSC | 20 |
Other (see note below) | 75 |
Total | 610 |
Note: other premises include community halls, private-sector nurseries that also provide OSC, churches, leisure and sport centres, scout halls, village halls, voluntary organisations (such as YMCA and YWCA), and hotel premises.
Schools - at the heart of the community
In many cases, schools can provide the ideal premises for clubs. They are convenient and a natural centre of the community.
Clubs in schools make good use of the existing resources. They can encourage a better link between care and education. Clubs in schools avoid the need for taking children to other premises. There are many clubs operating successfully in school premises, with the support of the school. In many cases, the club has worked with the school to present a powerful and persuasive case for having the club at the school. Often, the school then sees the benefits of having a club in the school. It can encourage local parents to use the school and improves the school's image in the community.
A headteacher said:
'I was approached by the co-ordinator of the after-school club about having the club operate in the school.' The headteacher admitted to having reservations to begin with and there were problems with accommodation but he sees benefits in OSC to the wider community, and he sees the club as very much part of the community.
A voluntary sector provider said:
'A carefully nurtured relationship between the school and the club has reaped rich rewards ...'
A private sector provider said:
'We work closely with the school and work together on occasional joint projects. The headteacher is certainly of the opinion that the club's existence next door is of added benefit to the school and makes an added bonus to what is already a highly regarded institution. Such close liaison also ensures close co-operation regarding behaviour management, children's absence, etc.'
(SOSCN case studies)
Guidance Local authorities should communicate the importance of OSC to headteachers and to School Boards so that headteachers and School Boards are fully aware of OSC and understand what it is and how it works. Our response to the National Debate on Education seeks better out-of-school care within the school environment. |
New Community Schools
Since 1999, some 430 schools have adopted the new community schools approach. Education authorities and their partners are rolling-out the approach across their areas. We are providing nearly 78 million from 2002-2003 for four years to support them in this task. The aim is for all schools to be new community schools by the end of 2007.
The new community school approach aims to promote social inclusion and raise educational standards by addressing all the needs of children. This calls for a joined-up approach to the delivery of a range of services, including, family support, family learning and health improvement. New community schools must also involve parents and the wider communities they serve.
Guidance Education authorities and schools need to decide how to deliver the services in new community schools in a joined-up way. They will do this with social work, health and other agencies and organisations. Local authorities should examine the scope for new community schools (and associated pre-school centres) to have OSC on their premises. |
Good practice A private childcare organisation, Primary Play Care, provides out-of-school care and study support in Thornliebank Community Primary School in East Renfrewshire. The new community school gave a small grant to Primary Playcare to help them get up and running. About 40 children go to the breakfast club and/or the after-school club. There is a good working relationship between all staff working in the after-school club, study support and in cultural and sporting activities. The school is now aiming to co-ordinate all out-of-school activities in response to an assessment of needs carried out with parents and children. |
School estate strategy
We published Building our Future: Scotland's School Estate in February 2003. The aim is to have a school estate that supports the delivery of better services to children, young people and communities. The needs of the individual child are central to this, and the growing number of activities that children may experience in schools, such as OSC, need to be taken into account.
Each local authority will develop its own school-estate management plan that takes account of local circumstances and sets out how the overall strategy and aims for the school estate will be delivered locally. The estate management plan will provide each local authority with a tool for managing its own school estate. The plan will be put into practice through joint working and, where local authorities are extending the range of services delivered in schools, will need to be considered across the authority and with community planning partners.
There will be a shared vision among stakeholders, and the strategy underlines the need for local authorities to work with stakeholders to develop and put into practice their plans for the school estate.
Guidance Childcare partnerships, clubs and other childcare interests should maintain a positive relationship with local authorities to make sure that their needs are fully understood before the school-estate management plan (through PPP or other procurement routes) is developed and put into practice. The survey of local authorities carried out on behalf of the working group reveals that 18% of primary schools have an OSC service. Given the expected further expansion of OSC, there will be pressure to have more clubs in schools. Often, the concerns that the school has about a club being on their premises (for example, noise, janitorial or caretaker cover, security, tidying-up and cleaning) can be sorted out. Concerns about the appropriateness of school as a venue for childcare can usually be sorted out by making sure that the rooms are child-friendly. Staff working in OSC have an important role to play in making clear the difference between the school and the club for the benefit of the child at the end of the school day. |
Good practice West Lothian Council has drawn up a good practice guide for OSC services, which includes a priority list for using primary schools. OSC features in category 1. OSC has priority for using premises over a youth club (category 2), which has priority over a PTA social event (category 3). There are procedures to be followed when two applicants have equal priority. The consultation with local authorities resulted in the following responses in relation to local authority procedures and school practices. |
Information Do you have any of the following procedures in place for OSC services operating in schools or other council premises? |
| School
Yes | Other council premises
Yes |
Code of practice, (for example, storage and shared use of equipment) | 36% | 24% |
Complaints and concerns | 60% | 44% |
Emergency procedures (for example, if the school closes) | 32% | 56% |
Contingency planning (for example, if the heating fails) | 44% | 32% |
Health and safety | 72% | 44% |
Information Is the availability of OSC services reflected in any of the following school policy documents? |
| Yes | No |
School handbook | 48% | 52% |
Development plan | 28% | 72% |
School Board guidance | 8% | 92% |
School letting policy | 36% | 64% |
Guidance The results above should be treated with some caution as schools may have agreed policies and procedures with clubs that the local authority does not know about. However, more local authorities could consider putting procedures in place to make sure the OSC and the school are clear about their responsibilities. Local authorities should also encourage schools to reflect the availability of OSC in the relevant school publications when information is provided for parents. Indeed, it would be helpful for school handbooks to contain the full contact details for the local childcare information service, which will have information on local OSC services. |
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)
Many improvements to the school-estate, are being taken forward through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). There is some concern by private and voluntary sector childcare providers that they might be squeezed out of school premises with the further development of PPPs. This should not be the case - at an early stage in considering the use of the school-estate, through PPPs or other procurement routes, there is a need for open and constructive dialogue between local authorities and childcare providers. It is also important for local authorities to build in flexibility to their plans to cater for any changing provision in OSC on school premises. Local authorities, schools and OSC providers need a joined-up approach to make sure that the needs of the local community are met efficiently and effectively.
School sports facilities
Depending on local needs and priorities, school sports facilities should be made available for local community use, including OSC.
Modular buildings
A number of local authorities, clubs and others choose to use good-quality modular buildings in school grounds for OSC, and with some considerable success. The modular buildings can be new or second-hand. They need planning permission and it can take some time to put them up. Clubs also need to be aware of all the steps involved in the preparation stages. Clubs may be required to pay for the work.
Clearly, the views of the parents, the school and the School Board are important when considering using modular buildings. Also, local authorities will need to make decisions on the right accommodation across the whole school to provide better public services to children and local communities.
Modular buildings can be bright, spacious and very well suited to OSC. Some clubs who use them decide to share them with other groups such as playgroups.
Good practice South Lanarkshire supported a club based in East Kilbride in putting a modular building in the school grounds and arranging the supply of essential services. In Stirling, clubs are run in modular buildings that the school no longer uses. One club carried out alterations including putting in office space, kitchen units and extra sinks. Another club was able to use a modular building that the school no longer needs. This club can still use the school's gym hall if it wants. Stirling Council is investigating the costs and practicalities of new clubs buying second-hand units and putting them in the grounds of schools, thus making OSC permanent. The new community premises at Ormlie near Thurso are modular buildings. This new centre was built in a matter of weeks for nursery children. The premises were built on permanent foundations with a roof to blend in with surrounding buildings. Last summer, school-age children used the premises for activities. This was so successful that the community would like to raise funds to extend the centre as a year-round base for school-age children. |
Other premises for OSC
Schools (and modular buildings in school-grounds) are not always suitable for clubs and appropriate space in schools is not always available. Sometimes, other premises are more suitable, for example, a community hall in a central location offering places for children from two, three or more schools. Many clubs in all parts of Scotland operate successfully in community halls and elsewhere. Indeed, some of the issues that do arise in relation to schools (for example, lack of access to the kitchen and lack of a dedicated room) are not issues in other premises.
Guidance Local authorities and childcare partnerships have a role in looking at supply and assessing demand for out-of-school care in their areas. In the context of this analysis of supply and demand, it would not be appropriate for local authorities and others to set up clubs in schools where these affect the sustainability of existing good-quality clubs based in other premises. In some circumstances, children from more than one school need to attend an OSC service to make sure that it continues to exist in the long term. |
The following good-practice example shows new community schools' support for OSC in premises other than schools in a rural area.
Good practice Under the new community schools' initiative, two OSC clubs have been set up in the Lhanbryde and Mosstodloch areas of Moray. One club uses the village hall and the other uses the local scout hall. Both clubs are managed by local people with support from the local authority. As well as new community schools' funding, the projects have also received financial help from the New Opportunities Fund. Rural Challenge Funding supports a co-ordinator post in the Lhanbryde project. Some of the volunteers who helped to set up and run Lhanbryde club have become paid staff, after taking part in a training programme. About 20 children a day go to Lhanbryde and 27 go to Mosstodloch. This is better than expected. |
Fitness of premises
We know that there are issues about the fitness of premises for out-of-school care. When assessing the fitness of premises for registration, the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission) must assure itself that the standards set by other regulatory bodies such as building control, environmental health, and fire safety are complied with.
There are issues too about the fitness of premises for OSC clubs and for schools operating in the same building; and about the cost implications of upgrading work to be undertaken by clubs operating in council premises to meet registration standards.
Information The main interests need to discuss issues to do with fitness of premises and responsibility for upgrading work with a view to reaching a satisfactory outcome. We will arrange a meeting with local authorities and the Care Commission and will let all interests know the outcome. |
Using school kitchens
Clubs are not always allowed to use school kitchens for preparing snacks or for cooking and baking. This is because health and safety guidelines need to be followed. The local authorities that provide catering in schools will be concerned that they will be held to account if a problem arises, for exaample, if the cleaning of the kitchen is not done to the required standard or if food hygiene regulations are not followed.
We understand these concerns. We also appreciate that clubs cannot, for example, put in place healthy eating practices if they do not have access to school kitchens.
Information We will pursue this issue further, consulting with all relevant organisations, including the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), the Scottish Out of School Care Network and others. |
Accessibility
Under the Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) Act 2002, education authorities and grant-aided, self-governing and independent schools must prepare plans to improve access to education for pupils with disabilities. The legislation will make sure that positive steps are taken to improve access to school premises, to the curriculum or to school information.
The funding for accessibility strategies to local authorities is:
9 million in 2003-2004
17 million in 2004-2005
17 million in 2005-2006
Education authorities can also use other funding sources such as the National Priorities Action Fund Inclusion Programme of:
20 million in 2003-2004
25 million in 2004-2005
25 million in 2005-2006
Capital resources for school buildings' refurbishment and improvement, along with Public and Private Partnerships (PPPs) projects, can be used too.
We issued guidance in September 2002 on how accessibility strategies should be prepared, what they should contain, who should be consulted in their preparation and how often they should be reviewed. 6 The guidance is on our website at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/gpas-00.asp
Guidance Paragraph 88 of chapter 3 of the guidance says: 'Planning groups will want to consider how the accessibility strategy is addressing access for children with disabilities to services provided in schools by other groups, such as parents' groups providing OSC on a voluntary basis.' |
Information Paragraph 108 of chapter 3 of the guidance says: 'Planning groups should involve or consult, either formally or informally, local childcare partnerships and out-of-school care and others who use school premises.' |
Guidance Where the OSC service is not managed by the education authority, the OSC provider will be responsible for making sure that they comply with their duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001). OSC providers will need to get legal advice about their duties and responsibilities under the 1995 Act (as amended). There are two guidance documents on the 1995 Act that are relevant in this context: Rights of Access to Goods, Facilities Services and Premises, DDA Act 1995, Part 3 and Code of Practice for Schools, DDA Act 1995, Part 4. Both are produced by the Disability Rights Commisssion. |
Lets
Different local authorities have different charging policies for letting school and other council premises - at full cost, reduced rate, or for no fee. The survey of local authorities carried out on behalf of the working group shows that 60% of local authorities charge OSC services for using school premises and 72% charge for using other council premises.
Local authorities have a different approach to charging policies for voluntary, private and council-run OSC. For example, some local authorities charge all OSC services a reduced rate. Others charge private providers the full rate and voluntary providers a reduced rate.
Guidance Local authorities must decide their own charging policies. They will wish to take account of the wider benefits of OSC in considering their charging policies in relation to OSC. We also encourage local authorities to be clear about the charging policy, for example if the OSC service has to pay extra for using school equipment or if the apparent free let is being subsidised by childcare strategy resources. |
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