Every school does not have to actually provide every element of the core offer themselves, but each school must be able to ensure that there is access to every element of the core offer for all their children, young people and families, if and when services and support are needed by them.
One of the important principles of Extended Services is partnership work, both between local schools, and between schools and other organisations and agencies in the area. By developing work together needs can often be met across a geographical area where it would be impossible for each school to provide or resource a service by itself.
Signposting is also important, where structured information and support is given by the school to link a family to an outside service or agency where they can get more specialised services than the school could provide themselves.
Here are some examples of how Extended Services can be delivered, both by individual schools and with other partners in the area:
Wrap around childcare available 8am -6pm all year round
Wraparound childcare is childcare that is available before and after school and during school holidays. All schools need to ensure that they have information available to signpost parents and carers to their local Families Information Service, who can help families to find local childcare that is right for them, whether that is a childminder, daycare of before and after school care.
In some schools there is enough demand for wraparound childcare and resources, such as staffing, funding or parental contributions, to run a school based breakfast clubs or after school childcare provision. However, in most cases, this is not possible and it is a more practical to signpost families to one of the other organisations in the area who provide out of out of school childcare clubs, some of which is which is based on school sites. In Bedlington, for example, Trinity Youth Association and the Sure Start Children's Centres provide these, with pick ups from all local schools.
For older children, after schools clubs and activities can provide "a safe place to be" when childcare is not appropriate.
A varied menu of activities e.g. study support, music, dance, drama, sports, volunteering, enterprise activities etc.
For some time schools have been developing a good range of additional fun and educational activities, including sports, outside curriculum time. Some of these can be provided by school staff and resources, but schools also draw on partnership work through, for example, the Sports Partnership, Wansbeck District Councils Sports Development and culture and arts teams, as well as joint work with a wide range of other local providers. Study support is essentially activities and clubs that support learning, such as homework clubs and additional "catch up" activities, but this can also be broad so that activities can often be offered using fun and engaging approaches.
Schools need to have available information to signpost to local sports and other activities and clubs in the area, especially now that it is being recommended that children and young people take part in up to 5 hours of sport and activity a week.
Parenting support, including parenting programmes and family learning.
Schools usually provide information to parents through regular parents information sessions e.g. around starting the school, SATs, exams etc, and "open door" policies. However, where more intensive specialist support , for example about good attendance, supporting children's learning or parenting issues, schools need to put more structures activities and support in place. This is where its important for schools to work with other organisations and agencies who can provide parenting groups and other support services, for example Parenting Initiatives, School Health, Educational Welfare and Educational Psychology Service. A key person in this will also be our local Parent Support Partner, who works within the Bedlington Partnership specifically around helping schools develop this area of the core offer.
Swift and easy referral to a wide range of specialist support services, e.g. speech therapy, health, behavior support, child mental health etc.
Most schools already work closely with a wide range of specialist support services provided both by the council and a number of voluntary organisations, as well as with their local FACT team ( Social Workers, family health staff and Education Welfare Officers). Developing the use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) will help schools meet the core offer more fully, as will developing new and innovative pieces of work within the school and across the partnership area, particularly around providing early intervention when there are problems or difficulties.
Providing wider community access to ICT, sports and arts facilities, including adult learning
Many schools already open their school building and outdoor areas for wider community use, but often there are legal and practical barrier to this which need more work to overcome. While some schools provide some adult learning opportunities it may not be realistic for all schools to offer a full adult learning programme, so they need to ensure that robust signposting is available to other local providers such as the Open Learning Centre, colleges, community education and "pathways to employment "projects.
You can find out in much more detail about the range of work we are doing locally to meet each element of the core offer by following this link.
Schools have to consult with children, young people and families to find out what services and support they need, and with other local organisations and agencies to find out what can be developed together to meet those needs. You can find more about how we have done this locally by following this link about consultation.
Schools in Northumberland are supported by their locally based Extended Services team to consult, and then make links with potential partner organisations and resources to develop new services which address gaps in current provision to meet the core offer.
Follow this link to meet your local Extended Services Team
Each school is accountable at individually around meeting the Every Child Matters and Extended Services Core Offer outcomes, as part of their OFSTED inspection, where they can draw on the evidence of the joint work and the sigposting that they do as well as any direct delivery.
You can find out more about Every Child Matters, the Extended Services Core Offer and government guidence by clicking the links below:
Download Core Offer Guidance (ppt:105KB)
Northumberland County Council Extended Services website (forthcoming)
Training and Development Agency for Schools (extended services page)
Teacher.net (extended services page)
Continyou (extended services page)
Every Child Matters
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