An extended school is one that provides a range of activities and services, often beyond the school day, to help the needs of its pupils, their families and the wider community. 

Schools, located as they are, right in the heart of the local community, are ideally placed to support the Every Child Matters objectives.

Across the country many schools already provide some extended services including; adult education, study support, ICT facilities and community sports programmes.

These services may not all be based at your child’s school; however they will be within the Extended School cluster.

What are the benefits?

Schools offering extended activities and services have already seen major benefits.

Benefits for pupils and schools:
Higher levels of pupil achievement
Increased pupil motivation and self-esteem
Specialist support to meet pupils’ wider needs
Additional facilities and equipment
Greater opportunities for staff for flexible working and career development
Enhanced partnership working with the community and better school security
Easier access to essential services for staff
Helping staff recruitment and retention

Benefits for families:
Improvements in child behaviour and social skills
Greater parental involvement in children’s learning
More opportunity for local adult education and family learning
Greater availability of specialist support for families

Benefits for communities:
Better access to essential services
Improved local availability of sports, arts and other facilities
Local career development opportunities
Better supervision of children outside school hours
Closer relationships with the school

Every Child Matters and Schools

The Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme is a shared National programme of system-wide reform designed to ensure that children’s services work better together and with parents and carers to help give children more opportunities and better support.  It focuses on five outcomes that children and young people told us were key to their wellbeing:

    •    to be healthy
    •    to stay safe
    •    to enjoy and achieve
    •    to make a positive contribution
    •    to achieve economic well-being

Bringing services together makes it easier for universal services like schools to work with the specialist or targeted service that some children need so that problems are spotted early and handled effectively.  Opening up schools to provide services and activities also means that parents can access childcare without worrying about children moving between school and childcare facilities.

High quality childcare provided on some school sites or through other local providers with supervised transport arrangements where appropriate, available 8am – 6pm all year round.

A varied menu of activities on offer, including homework clubs and study support, sport, music tuition, dance and drama, arts and crafts, special interest clubs such as chess and volunteering, business and enterprise activities.

Parenting Support including information sessions for parents at key transition points, parenting programmes run with the support of other children’s services and family learning sessions to allow children to learn with their parents

Swift and easy referral to a wide range of specialist support services such as speech therapy, child and adolescent mental health services, family support services, intensive behaviour support and (for young people) sexual health services.  Some may be delivered on school sites

Wider community access to ICT, sports and art facilities and adult learning

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