New Community Schools Prospectus

Framework

The pilot programme - framework

This section sets out the framework for the piloting of New Community Schools and describes the key points that authorities preparing proposals should have at the forefront of their minds.

New Community Schools will ensure that:

each child has the fullest opportunity to maximise his or her potential - achievements in all areas must be celebrated, basic skills must be nurtured and developed, self-esteem must be enhanced and high expectations maintained; full attention is paid to identifying and addressing the child's needs - social, developmental, emotional & health - and their impact on the ability of the child to realise his or her potential; particular focus is given to the role of the family and parents/guardians and the contribution they can make; and teachers, social workers, community education and health professionals operate in an integrated framework to achieve these objectives.

The pilot programme will support approaches which are radical and designed to secure a step change in the attainment of children. Key to this will be integrated working focusing on the needs of the pupils at the school. Successful pilots will therefore be innovative, bringing together a number of services focused on the needs of the child and engaging with families.

The Government recognises that the framework for the pilot programme should be flexible enough to ensure that approaches appropriate to local circumstances and needs can be developed. But some key elements will be required as essential characteristics. The framework set out below prescribes those essential characteristics for a New Community School, and provides ideas on which authorities may wish to build.

New Community Schools - essential characteristics

The following essential characteristics will be required in New Community Schools participating in the pilot programme.

A focus on all the needs of all pupils at the school. Their social, emotional and health needs will be considered. Proposals must demonstrate that, from the viewpoint of the service users (the pupils and their families), the New Community School will offer a coherent range of services. All pupils will have a personal learning plan. Engagement with families. Empowering parents and family members to raise their expectations of their children and themselves. In most cases this will include the development of a family support service at the school. Outreach to parents must be planned and provided. Engagement with the wider community. The development of a New Community School will provide an important opportunity and mechanism to build the capacity of the local community. Authorities should consult the local community in the initial preparation of the bid and the subsequent development of the New Community School. Proposals must set out the steps taken and planned to involve the local community in the bid and what is proposed by way of continuing community and family involvement, for example through community representation on a local steering committee. The role and potential of the School Board should also be considered. Integrated provision of school education, informal as well as formal education, social work and health education and promotion services. This will require a new approach and level of inter-disciplinary team working - ensuring that the team can intervene quickly and effectively in support of the child or the family. These are likely to be the core services - but authorities are encouraged to consider other services and be innovative and flexible in their approach. The involvement of local GP practices and health professionals with a key role in improving child health - health visitors, for instance - should be explored. The voluntary sector has much relevant direct experience and expertise in aspects of the role of the New Community School and therefore has a significant role to play. The business and industry sectors can play a significant part. In their proposals, authorities should therefore set out the role and contribution of these sectors. Integrated management. Proposals must show how integration will be achieved. At the minimum, proposals should set out a management structure which includes a single reporting and accountability framework within the New Community School for all of the core services involved. It is for authorities to devise a framework appropriate to their own circumstances. One possibility would be the establishment of a steering committee chaired by the headteacher, with staff reporting to and accountable to that committee as well as, if so desired, to their parent services. The management structure could be supported by an integration manager. A possible job specification is attached at Annex C. Arrangements for the delivery of these services according to a set of integrated objectives and measurable outcomes. It is likely that many services will not have been delivered at or through the school before. In most instances, co-location in some form is likely to be a significant feature. This is because co-location provides the most straightforward opportunity to ensure coherence of service provision for the school's pupils. Alternative co-ordinating arrangements may be proposed provided that the principle of coherence to the service users is observed and that integrated management is not compromised. Commitment and leadership. To be effective, those working in and for the New Community School and staff in Directorates and other services who relate to the school must be committed to the concept of integrated working. This commitment and leadership is essential at political level and at all levels of management. It must be shared by all partners. Multi-disciplinary training and staff development. A programme should be developed involving the full range of staff working together to common goals and objectives in promoting the educational attainment and welfare of children in the school.

New Community Schools - likely features

As well as these essential characteristics, New Community Schools are likely to have most if not all of the following features. They are likely to:

have a positive, inclusive ethos in which children, their parents and teachers are focused on learning in a supportive but challenging environment and on improving attainment in formal and informal learning settings; promote positive parent-child relations and family inclusion. The New Community School involves a step change in the relationship between the school and the families of the children at the school. It should provide advice and support for parents as well as children. The school must work very closely with parents as full partners; provide out of school childcare; provide student and family welfare services; develop active health promotion and education and take steps to become a health promoting school; ensure that styles of learning and teaching are adopted (possibly including active learning and informal education techniques) to ensure that an appropriate and stimulating curriculum is accessible to all students; make adjustments to the curriculum when it can be demonstrated that a better education and experience will be offered for those pupils concerned and student potential maximised; work positively with informal education to help ensure that young people are challenged and stimulated to learn and engage actively with their communities, and that support for parents reaches those most in need; at the earliest possible stage, address the needs of vulnerable children, eg children looked after by the local authority, children in need, children at risk of offending or of serious substance misuse; provide a focal point for the community to engage in aspects of lifelong learning, including support for their children at school; operate study support schemes, out of school hours and/or during school holidays; operate an explicit policy of no exclusion through an inclusive approach which values all pupils equally; in the primary sector) provide - either directly or under contract with providers in the voluntary or private sectors - a range of services for pre-school children, including day-care and pre-school education; in the secondary sector) enhance the quality of formal and informal education for work for young people at school; and in the secondary sector) prepare young people for further and higher education and enhance their future employment prospects.

Personal learning plans

The description of the essential characteristics for participation in the pilot programme makes clear that all pupils at a New Community School should have a personal learning plan.

Further advice will issue on how these should operate, but they will reflect the following key features:

an assessment of children soon after entry into education, forming the starting point of the plan; a programme of development agreed with, and to be supported by, parents, including targets for attainment which will be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that it remains relevant to the pupil's needs throughout his or her time at school; the involvement of the pupil, with an increasing responsibility for their own learning as they get older; and an outline of the responsibilities of the school, the parent and thepupil.

Personal learning plans are an essential structure to ensure the needs and potential of children are fully realised. The approach will be piloted in New Community Schools but the Government will expect that the approach will be extended to all schools.

New Community Schools and health

The provision of good quality health education will be regarded as one of the essential characteristics of New Community Schools. The introduction of New Community Schools offers a unique opportunity to improve and promote health within the community through integration of education, social work and health based work with children and families. New Community Schools should include:

the development of a health promotion policy which is intrinsic to the school development planning process; a clear set of aims which equip pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to make health related decisions; the encouragement of healthy lifestyles; the promotion of self-esteem for all members of the school community, including family members; positive staff-pupil relationships; and good links between the school and the home.

The expectation, therefore, will be that a New Community School will operate the full curriculum provision in health education relevant to the age and stage of pupils at the school and have a range of measures in place which promote physical and mental well-being. Priority areas for action include substance abuse (drugs, solvents, alcohol and tobacco), healthy eating, physical exercise, dental health, sexual health (including as pupils grow older teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS) and accident and safety issues.

In addition, a pre-requisite for eligibility for participation in the New Community Schools initiative will be a commitment by schools to work towards achievement of the formal status of a health promoting school. The health promoting school concept, developed by the World Health Organisation, is underpinned by 12 key criteria which are designed essentially to focus schools on the action required to enable them to realise their full potential to promote the health of the whole school community.

A health promoting school is one which enables pupils, teaching and non-teaching staff, parents and the community it serves to take action for a healthier life, school and society. More specifically it takes action to:

promote the adoption of lifestyles conducive to good health; provide an environment which supports and encourages healthy lifestyles; and enable pupils to take action for a healthier community and healthier living conditions.

The Health Education Board for Scotland and local Health Board Health Promotion Departments can offer advice and guidance to authorities and schools as they take forward their development into health promoting schools.

Multi-disciplinary staff development and training

All proposals put forward for the pilot programme should contain a programme of staff development and training for joint groups of teachers, social workers, community education workers, health professionals and childcare workers linked directly to their involvement in a New Community School project. The joint training should help to raise participants' awareness and understanding of:

the roles and responsibilities of the different professions and occupational groups, and the contributions which each can make; the different legislative framework within which they operate and of the different methods of working; the benefits and styles of multi-disciplinary working; the intended outcomes of the New Community School project; the professional practice strategies required to deliver a fully co-ordinated approach; the management structures which will be adopted to ensure smooth working of the multi-disciplinary effort; and how to identify vulnerable children and how multi-disciplinary working can support them.

The joint training programme should comprise periodic refresher modules in addition to the induction programme.

The operation of the project should include joint consideration of individual children's needs and joint action to address these. Joint case discussions - in the initial stages at least - should bring training benefits. Training should include input from senior management representatives from each discipline in order to confirm the high level commitment to a sustained project and multi-disciplinary working co-operation.

The training programme should include a form of self-evaluation for individuals and for the multi-disciplinary group to allow periodic assessment of progress against the specified targets and outcomes for the project. This assessment should identify what action and what circumstances are required for effective multi-disciplinary work in New Community Schools.

Identifying partners

By definition, New Community Schools will have close links with services which can support children and their families in addition to those described. Where practicable they should extend co-ordination and integration beyond such services and activities. For example, in the context of lifelong learning, authorities may wish to indicate the extent to which adult opportunities for learning might also be available within the school, and to consider the possibilities of school-college collaboration. Similarly, New Community Schools will have a key place within their communities and projects should strive to develop active community links. These might include encouraging community access to sports facilities in the schools and the development of adult education. Authorities may wish also to involve housing services and the police. The examples listed in this paragraph are neither exclusive nor comprehensive. Authorities should plan to address identified needs.

Proposals should identify the partners in the New Community School, and include a clear statement of their commitment to development of and participation in the project. Proposals should be prepared in close collaboration with partners. They should comment on considerations concerning security and child safety. Proposals should also indicate whether or not the proposed initiative is set within the context of any other strategic partnerships or alliances within the local authority area. Proposals should include evaluation procedures and should set specific targets.