Extended School

All schools are being asked to work in ‘families' with other local schools to develop ‘Extended Services'. We are working as a family that comprises The Rushcliffe School and ‘feeder' Primary Schools:

• Abbey Road Primary School, West Bridgford
• Edwalton Primary School, West Bridgford
• James Peacock Infant School, Ruddington
• Lady Bay Primary School, West Bridgford
• Pierrepont Gamston School, West Bridgford
• St Peters Junior School, Ruddington
• The Rushcliffe School, West Bridgford

We will be using the web-site to keep you up to date with the development and launch of Extended Schools services. In the meantime the following may answer any questions you have.

What is an Extended School ?

Extended Schools are at the heart of the delivery of ‘Every Child Matters', the government agenda to improve outcomes and raise standards of achievement for children and young people.

Extended Schools provide a range of services and activities, often beyond the school day to help meet the needs of children, their families and the wider community. The Department for Education and Skills (DFES) want all children and their families to be able to access a core offer of extended services, developed in partnership with others, through the school.

What is the Core offer?

The DFES require that schools work towards the core offer of extended services being available to children and their families by 2010.

The core offer comprises:

• High quality childcare before and after school between 8am and 6pm. To be provided on the school site or through other local providers with supervised transfer arrangements where appropriate for 48 weeks in the year. For secondary schools formal childcare need not be offered although a ‘safe space' for young people could be provided.
• A varied menu of activities to be on offer, ranging from homework clubs and study support, sport, music, dance & drama, arts & crafts, special interest clubs.
• Parenting support including information sessions for parents at key transition points, parenting programmes run with the support of other agencies/organisations and family learning sessions to allow children to learn with their parents.
• Easy access to 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.
• Enabling wider community access to various facilities on the school sites from ICT, sports and hall/room hire.

Will all schools have to offer all these services?

Schools have to offer what is required by the communities they serve and in the light of other similar provision already available in the area and in the context of any service needing to be financially sustainable. Additionally many aspects of the core offer are likely to be delivered on a ‘cluster' basis. In other words there may be demand for a specialist activity from one or two individuals from several of the schools. In this situation the cluster of schools would seek to deliver it for all the interested individuals but at one site only.

How much will we be expected to pay for these services?

If there is demand for statutory services such as health and social care to be delivered via the school then the school will seek to work in partnership with the relevant agencies and authorities such as Primary Care Trusts. Such provision would be free of charge.

For other services such as childcare and activities, ‘market rate' charges will be made. However for those with low income we would hope some subsidy will be available from a number of sources. For instance the childcare element of the Working tax credit provides support for low income parents in meeting childcare costs. Exact details are still to be decided.

In all cases where charges have to be made schools will look to provide the highest quality service at a sustainable competitive price. If services are not financially sustainable the schools will be unable to offer them.

The schools in the Rushcliffe cluster are already providing many elements of the core offer. This will continue and you will be informed through the normal channels of letters, newsletters, notice boards and the school web-site. However you are likely to increasingly find these activities under an extended schools heading.

What about new services and how do I share my ideas?

The Rushcliffe group of schools is carrying out an extensive consulation exercise with pupils and parents through a web-based questionairre. This seeks to identify your needs and ideas on the development of Extended Schools services.

Many pupils will participate in the survey as part of an ICT lesson. All parents are invited to participate by completing a similar web based questionnaire.

Do the parent/carer survey now.

The results of the survey will be published on this website. Informed by these results the school wants to work closely with parents, pupils and staff to shape new activities in response to identified demands

PLEASE NOTE : If you do not have access to the internet please enquire at the school office where staff will be pleased to provide you with a paper copy of the questionnaire/results or arrange for you to use a computer at the school.

What if I want to talk to someone about Extended Schools

Please contact the school office who will arrange for someone to talk to you.