COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOLS YSGOLION BRO

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COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOLS YSGOLION BRO
CROESO WELCOME

• CYFLWYNIAD BYR I LYWODRAETHWYR YSGOL
• A BRIEF INTRODUCTION FOR SCHOOL GOVERNORS

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AIMS OF THE SESSION

• To raise awareness of Community Focused Schools.
  
• To consider and discuss the role of governors in
  developing Community Focused Schools.
• To consider and discuss the benefits and
  implications of developing a Community Focused
  Schools approach in your schools.
• To look at governance models for managing the
  development of community focused services and
  activities?
• Anything else .?

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TODAYS PROGRAMME .

• 1. Introduction to Community Focused Schools.
• 2. The role of governors in developing Community
  Focused Schools.
• 3. The practicalities of delivering Community
  Focused Schools services and activities.
• 4. Next steps.

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INTRODUCTIONS

• About ContinYou Cymru .
• And you?
• Name?
• Which schools do you represent (primary,
  secondary, special)?
• What sort of Governor are you? (LEA, Community,
  Parent, etc.)

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1. INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOLS

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WHAT IS A COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOL?

• A community focused school is one that provides
  a range of services and activities, often beyond
  the school day, to help meet the needs of its
  pupils, their families and the wider community.
  Across Wales many schools already provide some
  community services including adult education,
  study support, ICT facilities and community
  sports programmes
• Community Focused Schools, National Assembly for
  Wales Circular No 34/2003

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COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOLS THE VISION

• always be supportive of the core mission of
  schools to improve pupils ability to learn,
  and to support their families.
• provide a range of activities/learning
  opportunities outside the school day for
  children, young people, families and adults. Some
  of these will be available to the wider
  community.

• provide a range of additional services/opportuniti
  es and relevant information for children, young
  people, families and the wider community.
• be sustainable schools that consult with their
  communities, engage in community life, work in
  partnership with others and think about the local
  and the global environment.

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TABLE EXERCISE

• In your groups, discuss
• What sorts of Community Focused Schools
  activities and services are taking place
  in/through your schools?
• Why are these activities/services being
  delivered?
• In response to particular needs?
• For how long?
• Who is delivering/providing?
• 5 minutes, feedback from each group.

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KEY MESSAGES

• Schools cannot, and should not, work alone in
  helping children and young people reach their
  potential.
• Children and young people learn more effectively
  when they are happy and healthy.
• Working in this way is a vehicle for
• meeting a range of targets
• delivering on a range of agendas including
• school improvement,
• delivering integrated childrens and community
  services
• and community regeneration.
• Start small .

• The approach isnt new and there is no blueprint.
• CFS - more than just dual-use of school
  buildings.
• Activities/services do not have to take place on
  school sites.
• Not about competing with existing provision
• The school can act as a signpost.
• Cluster working can be really helpful
• Well planned and implemented provision responds
  to identified needs.

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DISPELLING SOME MYTHS ABOUT COMMUNITY FOCUSED
SCHOOLS
It isnt about small and rural schools
It isnt about Urban disadvantage
It is about ALL SCHOOLS In ALL AREAS In ALL
CIRCUMSTANCES
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SO, WHAT DOES A COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOL LOOK
LIKE?

• No blueprint, but would expect a well planned and
  managed approach to include these elements
• Community Focused Schools provision responds to
  need.
• Community Focused Schools provision is embedded
  within the School Development Plan.
• Community Focused Schools provision is
  benefitting the wider community.
• There is a partnership approach to developing and
  providing Community Focused Schools.
• Planning for sustainable provision.
• Appropriate leadership and management structures
  in place to support Community Focused Schools
  developments.

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WHY DEVELOP COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOLS?

• 80 of childrens waking hours is spent outside
  the classroom.
• Supports School Development Plan built in, not
  bolt on.
• Benefits for children and young people, families
  and the wider community.
• Can help raise standards, improve motivation,
  improve attendance.
• Can help you engage with the community.
• Can help to meet a range of targets/agendas.
• But ..

Partnership working is key to a well planned and
sustainable Community Focused Schools approach
you cannot do it alone.
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COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOLS AND THE SCHOOL
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Where do Community Focused Schools developments
fit in the development cycle?
What is your role in this development cycle?
Plan
Evaluate
School Development Plan
Implementation
Modify Action
Monitor
Built in, not bolt on
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TABLE EXERCISE THE BENEFITS OF COMMUNTIY
FOCUSED SCHOOLS

• In your groups
• Thinking about the services and activities you
  identified earlier, what are the benefits they
  are bringing to your school/pupils/families/wider
  community?
• Or think about potential services/activities
  which could meet the needs in your school and
  community.
• 5 minutes, feedback on the two or three benefits
  from each group.

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SOME BENEFITS WHICH YOU MIGHT HAVE IDENTIFIED

• For pupils and schools
• higher levels of achievement
• increased pupil motivation and self-esteem
• specialist support to meet wider needs
• enhanced partnership working with the local
  community

• For families
• improvements in child behaviour and social
  skills
• greater parental involvement in childrens
  learning
• more opportunities for local adult education
• local access to specialist family support

• For communities
• better access to services
• improved local availability of sports and other
  facilities
• local career development opportunities
• things to do for children and young people
  outside school
• closer relationship with the school

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COMMUNITY FOCUSED SCHOOLS INPUTS AND OUTPUTS
Improving Achievement
7 Core Aims
Community Focused Schools
Meeting community needs
Better services for children and families
Greater parental involvement
Supporting each others targets
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CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE RIGHTS TO ACTION

• 7 Core Aims
• Have a flying start in life (children aged 0-7
  years).
• Access to a comprehensive range of education,
  training and learning opportunities, including
  essential personal and social skills.
• Enjoy the best possible physical and mental,
  social and emotional health, including freedom
  from abuse, victimisation and exploitation.
• Have access to play, leisure, sporting and
  cultural activities.
• Children are listened to, treated with respect
  and able to have their play and cultural identity
  recognised.
• Have a safe home and community that supports
  physical and emotional well being.
• Not disadvantaged by child poverty.
• Children and Young Peoples Plans.
• The vehicle for planning children and young
  peoples services across all Local Authority
  areas.
• Each plan will need to show how services and
  activities will contribute to achieving the 7
  Core Aims.
• Significant role for Community Focused Schools.

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WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH TELL US SO FAR?

• Most FSESs developed additional provision to
  overcome pupils barriers to learning, which
  were seen as related to family and community
  problems.
• Promising partnership arrangements, genuine pupil
  and community involvement, and strategic
  initiatives at local level were emerging, but in
  some places sustainability and partnership
  working were a problem.
• FSESs were impacting positively on the attainment
  of their pupils particularly those facing
  difficulties. They were also having a range of
  other impacts on outcomes for pupils, including
  engagement with learning, family stability and
  enhanced life chances.
• FSESs were generating positive outcomes for
  families and local people, particularly those
  facing difficulties.
• FSESs typically experienced improved school
  performance, better relations with local
  communities and an enhanced standing of the
  school in its area.
• Where decision making was shared with partners
  beyond the school (including local people), this
  could lead to greater stability of resourcing.
• The success of FSESs bodes well for the roll out
  of the extended schools approach nationally.
  Their experience underlines the importance of
  clear thinking about the nature and purposes of
  that approach. This needs to take place in the
  context of a coherent and stable policy context
  at national level, and the development of
  frameworks at local level.
• (Evaluation of the full service extended schools
  (FSES) initiative
• Final report, DFES, June 2007)

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2. GOVERNORS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
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TABLE EXERCISE

• In your groups
• Try to list as many functions of governing bodies
  as you can.
• Which ones relate to Community Focused Schools
  developments?
• 10 minutes, feedback from each group.

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PURPOSE OF GOVERNING BODIES

• To help the schools they lead provide the best
  possible education for pupils. This involves
• Setting the schools vision and strategic aims,
  and agreeing plans and policies, making creative
  use of available resources.
• Monitoring and evaluating performance and acting
  as a critical friend to the headteacher and
  leadership team to support and challenge them in
  managing the school.
• Ensuring that the school is accountable to the
  children and parents it serves, to its local
  community and to those who fund and maintain it,
  as well as to the staff it employs.
• Source Governing the School of the Future

All three are central to the development of CFS
and your roles as governors.
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GOVERNORS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (1)

• The governing body has the ultimate
  responsibility for deciding whether the school
  should offer additional activities and services
  and what form they should take.
• Before making decisions, governors need to be
  aware of any additional responsibilities that may
  arise.
• As with existing school activities, governing
  bodies can delegate the practical delivery of
  services to others, but they keep ultimate legal
  responsibility.
• The governing body should identify one of its
  members to take lead responsibility for this area
  of work.
• Community Focused Schools, National Assembly for
  Wales Circular No 34/2003

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GOVERNORS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (2)

• As strategic leaders and managers, you are
  critical in the development of Community Focused
  Schools.
• You offer that vital continuity of vision and
  links with the community when new headteachers
  are appointed.
• S27, Education Act 2002 legally, the governing
  body has the ultimate responsibility for
  Community Focused Schools provision.
• Duties to consult and to abide by provision that
  may be included in the LEAs scheme for financing
  schools.
• Important to have a clear strategic oversight of
  the schools CFS services/activities and how they
  relate to the schools core teaching and learning
  function.

• Other issues to consider
• Staffing implications on staffing structures.
• Allocation of school resources/funds.
• Re-modelling/workforce reform.
• Make up of the governing body.
• Buildings/premises.
• Inspection.

Toolkit Section 3, Leading and Managing CFS
and Governors Pack.
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HOW SHOULD I BE INVOLVED AS A GOVERNOR?

• Providing strategic leadership and direction,
• together with the headteacher,
• Develop appropriate governance structures for
  managing CFS
• including delegated responsibilities and powers.
  
• Nominated governor for Community Focused Schools.
  
• Being a critical friend to the schools
  Community Focused Schools developments.

• Ensure that CFS is built into the School
  Development Plan.
• A link between the school and the community.
• Ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and management.
  
• Safeguarding the delegated budget.
• Ensure that requirements are met (health and
  safety, insurance, child protection).

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3. THE PRACTICALITIES OF DELIVERING COMMUNITY
FOCUSED SCHOOLS
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TABLE EXERCISE

• In your groups
• Identify the practicalities and processes to
  consider when planning, implementing, developing
  and managing Community Focused Schools activities
  and services.
• 10 minutes, feedback from each group.

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SOME ANSWERS

• Consultation school staff, pupils, families,
  the wider community.
• Audit whats already taking place in/through
  the school and in the local community.
• Developing a vision and an action plan.
• Funding and sustainability.
• Working with partners.
• Monitoring and evaluation.
• CFS as part of the school inspection.
• Health and safety, risk assessments.

• Insurance.
• Child protection.
• Accessibility car parking, disabled access,
  welcoming school...
• Capacity.
• Staffing.
• Management of services/activities.
• Governance structures.

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THE PRACTICALITIES OF DELIVERING COMMUNITY
FOCUSED SCHOOLS (1)
Toolkit Section 2 Becoming a CFS CD
GOVERNANCE MODEL
AUDIT school community
VISION
CONSULT identify needs
DEVELOP PARTNERSHIPS
PLANNING
CHECK POLICIES
MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP
MONITORING EVALUATION
CAPACITY
STAFFING
FUNDING SUSTAINABILITY
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THE PRACTICALITIES OF DELIVERING COMMUNITY
FOCUSED SCHOOLS (2)

• HEALTH SAFETY
• Governing body has ultimate responsibility.
• Needs to satisfy itself that appropriate risk
  assessments have been carried out and
  satisfactorily actioned.
• PREMISES
• Governing body control use of school premises
  during and outside school hours. Some
  exceptions.
• Needs to be clear about the basis on which a
  third party is using the school premises
  agreements/contracts.

• CHILD PROTECTION/SAFEGUARDING
• Review existing policy.
• CRB checks.
• INSURANCE
• Responsibility to ensure that appropriate
  insurance cover is in place.
• When services/activities are provided by external
  providers, any agreement should make clear who is
  responsible for insurance cover.
• DISABILITY ACCESS
• Schools are subject to Parts III and IV of the
  DDA in respect of providing CFS services and
  activities.
• Refer to schools accessibility plan under Part
  IV of the DDA when planning.

Toolkit Section 4, CFS in action and Governors
Pack.
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THE PRACTICALITIES OF DELIVERING COMMUNITY
FOCUSED SCHOOLS (3)

• CHARGING FINANCE
• Governing body will need to develop a charging
  policy setting out what can and cannot be charged
  for.
• Cannot charge for certain activities.
• Delegated budget can only support services or
  activities which directly support pupil
  attainment.

• SELF-EVALUATION INSPECTION
• CFS services and activities should be integrated
  into the schools self-evaluation cycle.
• Community Focused Schools provision can be
  inspected as part of Key Questions 3 and 7 in
  particular.
• Inspection checklist developed by ContinYou
  Cymru, with input from Estyn evidence of
  Community Focused Schools provision can be
  presented under each Key Question.

Toolkit Section 4, CFS in action and Governors
Pack.
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THE PRACTICIALITIES OF DELIVERING COMMUNITY
FOCUSED SCHOOLS (4)

• REMEMBER
• We can only give an overview here and it isnt
  intended to replace advice or information from
  your LEA.
• Each LEA has officers who can advise on issues
  such as health and safety, insurance, child
  protection, finance, accessibility and wider
  legal issues.

Governors Pack annex sample template
memorandum of understanding, pre-service checklis
t and an initial checklist when planning CFS.
Toolkit Section 4, CFS in action and Governors
Pack.
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MODELS FOR DELIVERING COMMUNITY FOCUSED SERVICES
AND ACTIVITIES

• Direct delivery school/cluster provides services
  and activities directly with the governing body
  having overall responsibility.
• Delivery contract school sets up a contact or a
  Service Delivery Agreement with a third party,
  specifying how it is to be provided and how.
• Management contract as above, but a contractor
  is paid to manage the extended services and
  sub-contract their delivery.
• Hosting a service/activity hosted on the school
  site but the governing body does not arrange or
  take a direct role in its delivery.
• Access only/signposting the school provides
  information about a service, and may help with
  access, but neither hosts nor provides it.
• Co-location of services other services share the
  school site e.g. multi-agency team, an integrated
  childrens centre, sports centre, community
  library.

Any delivery model should be underpinned by an
agreement setting out roles, responsibilities
and accountabilities. There should be agreed
governance structures in place which allows for
decisions to be made about the services or
activities, involving those providers.
Toolkit Section 3, Leading and Managing CFS
and Governors Pack.
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GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS FOR COMMUNITY FOCUSED
SCHOOLS

• What does this mean? The system of
  decision-making which will determine the services
  offered through a Community Focused Schools
  approach. Ways and models of managing Community
  Focused Schools developments.

Governors Pack annex sample template
memorandum of understanding.
Toolkit Section 3, Leading and Managing CFS
and Governors Pack.
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MODELS OF GOVERNANCE MODEL 1

• Full governing body
• In smaller schools in particular, it may be more
  effective to include stakeholders as part of the
  full governing body.

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MODELS OF GOVERNANCE MODEL 2
Full governing body
Community focused schools sub-committee
Stakeholders
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MODELS OF GOVERNANCE MODEL 3
School Council
Other stakeholders
Community Focused Schools Co-ordinator (if in
post)
Community focused schools Steering Group
Parental representation e.g. PTA
Headteacher / Member of SMT
Governing body
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MODELS OF GOVERNANCE MODEL 4
Community Focused School Cluster Co-ordinator
(if in post)
School Council Representation from each school
Community representation from each of the areas
in the cluster
Community focused schools School Cluster
Steering Group
Other stakeholders
Parental representation from each school
Headteacher / SMT representative from each
school
Governing body representative from each school
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4. NEXT STEPS
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NEXT STEPS

• Resources from ContinYou Cymru
• Community Focused Schools, Making it happen A
  toolkit.
• Community Focused Schools A Governors Pack.
• Community Focused School, Making it happen a
  checklist for audit and inspection.
• Website www.continyou.org.uk (click on red
  dragon on homepage).
• Out of school hours learning resources to support
  particular activities.
• LEA
• Developing Community Focused Schools strategy and
  other support.

• Next governing body meeting
• Discuss way forward.
• School Development Plan
• How can CFS support your priorities?
• Vision
• Develop the school/school clusters vision.

Any burning questions?
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FURTHER INFORMATION

• Heledd James, ContinYou Cymru
• Heledd.james_at_continyou.org.uk telephone 07792
  185278.
• Website
• www.continyou.org.uk

DIOLCH AM DDOD THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING