The central extended services team would like to wish all of our ...

Building on Success
In November five Northumberland heads attended ‘Building on Success: a
national conference on the Extended Services Programme’
The purpose was to give primary heads leading full core offer schools an
opportunity to share practice with colleagues and understand more about
how extended services can help schools achieve the 21 st Century vision.
High profile speakers included Beverley Hughes MP Minister of State for
Children, Young People and Families, who delivered a powerful keynote
address. Her theme was the extended school as the blueprint for a 21 st
century school that…….
ensures that all its pupils have access to the support they need for a happy and fulfilling
childhood
positions itself at the centre of the local Children’s Trust,
works in partnership with a cluster of schools employing an extended services coordinator
who can manage the day-today tasks
understands its community needs and designs extended services to meet those needs
offers a broad range of services to pupils, families and local communities
focuses on disadvantage, disability, poverty and ‘closing the gap’
reaps ever greater rewards in motivation, behaviour, attainment and well being.
She and others strongly promoted the new and improved TDA and NCSL School Improvement Planning
Framework, which is pupil focussed and outcomes led.
Another speaker was Leon Feinstein, Professor of Education at London University Institute of Education.
He has developed a comprehensive picture of the nature of social inequality in the UK and the relationships
between things that happen in early life – childhood experiences, school experiences – and adult life
outcomes through a detailed analysis of the UK longitudinal studies of large cohorts of children. He spoke
convincingly to the question of ‘why do we need extended schools?’.
For further information: DASmith@northumberland.gov.uk
We asked some first school heads
“What difference have you seen the extended services agenda make to children,
young people and families?”
They said:
“Space for Sport and the Arts (Community Access) – A capital building programme allowing us
to vastly improve our own sports provision and include a full programme of community
groups who use our facilities every night of the week and most weekends.
The BEST & BiP programmes in Blyth, now CEIT (Swift and Easy Access) – has allowed a multiprofessional
team to operate and bring much faster support to vulnerable children and
families. Hopefully the CEIT teams that are currently being rolled out around Northumberland
will allow other partnerships to benefit in this way. Place 2 Be provision (funded through BiP)
here has had a three fold effect of supporting children’s emotional wellbeing, providing
services for parents and giving expanded opportunity for children’s voice.
Parent Support Partner (Supporting Parents) – We only have a PSP for half a day per week but
this service has allowed us to engage and support parental aspirations in a positive way. An
existing friends of the school group has been re-invigorated, parents have re-engaged with
work and one parent has been inspired enough to wish to become a parent governor. Family
learning days have been held during holidays and these have all built upon our existing
provision”.
Charles Ellis, Headteacher Croftway First School, Blyth