This prospectus invites local authorities throughout Scotland to take part in the pilot programme of New Community Schools.

New Community Schools are at the leading edge of this Government's radical strategy to promote social inclusion and to raise educational standards. Giving children the opportunity to realise their full potential, so that they leave school with relevant skills, well motivated and with high self-esteem, equips them for adult life and reduces the risk of social exclusion. For too long, too many children have been condemned to repeat the cycle of deprivation, educational underachievement and failure. Their lifechances are reduced at an early stage. The disaffection with school which follows has been tolerated. The wider barriers to learning that can prevent children realising their potential have not always been addressed in a properly co-ordinated fashion. Access to the necessary support has not been available when and where it is needed. It is time to make a step change.

Through New Community Schools we will make a radical attack on this vicious cycle of underachievement. New Community Schools will embody the fundamental principle that the potential of all children can be realised only by addressing their needs in the round - and that this requires an integrated approach by all those involved. Barriers to learning must be identified at the earliest stage, and intervention must be focused, planned and sustained. A range of services is necessary to assist children overcome the barriers to learning and positive development _ family support, family learning and health improvement. New Community Schools will ensure that such expert advice and support is at hand - not at the end of a referral chain to other agencies.