New Community Schools Prospectus

Introduction

This Prospectus launches the Government's initiative to develop New Community Schools throughout Scotland. It tells local authorities how to apply to participate in the pilot programme.

New Community Schools are central to the Government's radical plan for modernising Scottish schools and to its strategy to promote social inclusion. Through New Community Schools the Government intends to secure a step change in the attainment of children facing the destructive cycle of underachievement. Early and effective intervention to address barriers to children's learning will ensure that every child has the fullest possible opportunity to maximise his or her potential. New Community Schools embody a new approach to identifying and meeting the needs of every child by organising and focusing the services which support children and their families from their earliest years through their development and education. New Community Schools will work with parents and families to raise their expectations for their children and themselves and to stimulate their participation in their children's learning and development.

The integrated approach

New Community Schools will bring together in a single team professionals from a range of services. Improved co-ordination of existing services is not enough to achieve the fundamental improvement in children's lives which the Government is seeking. Integration of services is essential, and the school is an excellent site for this to become a reality. This will require radically new approaches. Such integrated approaches will enable action to be taken early to meet the needs of vulnerable children through swift identification of problems and immediate referral to support services. Through quick and focused intervention, the New Community School can dismantle barriers to learning and break into the cycle of underachievement. The school itself will be seen to play a wider role in the community and be valued even more highly by all the members of that community.

The Government is investing heavily in children's early years, where intervention and assistance can make the maximum impact on children, their families and the barriers they face to effective learning and development. The framework being put in place for these stages reflects directly the need to address all the needs of the child and the family in an integrated manner. Teachers and childcare professionals, social workers and health personnel all have a critical contribution to make in these vital stages. New Community Schools will continue and sustain this emphasis on the whole child and give it a new focus during the years of formal education.

New Community Schools will therefore:

make integrated provision of school education, family support and health education and promotion services; have clear management arrangements for the integrated delivery of these services; adopt strategies to encourage pupils and parents, together and separately, to develop positive attitudes to learning; and focus support on the family unit to encourage and bring out the best in both parent and child through family learning and the development of positive parent-child interaction.

New Community Schools and the wider vision

New Community Schools are fundamental to the Government's twin strategies to raise educational attainment and promote social inclusion. The climate is right for the development of this new integrated and inclusive approach to involve families more directly in children's learning.

Earlier this year, the Government asked education authorities, social work authorities and Health Boards for comments on the development of New Community Schools. The response was enthusiastic and positive.

The pilot programme of New Community Schools will be concentrated in disadvantaged areas where children face significant risk of social exclusion and formidable barriers to learning in their everyday environment. But the principles on which it is based are applicable to all schools.

International evidence - particularly from the USA - confirms the value of the approach the Government is following. The positive experience of Full Service Schools in terms of improved attendance and attainment, improved employment prospects, reduced drug abuse, fewer teenage pregnancies, the reduction of crime and improved health within families shows what can be achieved. (Further details of the Full Service approach are set out in Annex A.) Initiatives and programmes such as High/Scope, Head Start and other learning programmes have shown that children's learning and development can be significantly improved through early support, family participation and encouragement for both child and parent. Greater parental involvement and participation leads to higher expectations and better results.

In Scotland, the Government's initiatives on support for families with young children, effective pre-school education and early intervention to support literacy and numeracy are all based on these principles. It is time to apply these principles directly within the school. The Government's commitment to reducing school exclusions and providing support for out of school hours learning also reflects a wider view of the child and his or her experience of school than has traditionally been the case. Together, these approaches provide a strong basis on which the New Community School can build.

The development of New Community Schools and the integrated working upon which they are based is part of the wider strategy to give all children the chance to fulfil their potential and aim for excellence. The Government is taking forward this strategy through a range of complementary and mutually supporting initiatives covering not only the education service but health, childcare and family services too - these are described in greater detail in Annex B.