News

There's nothing too remarkable about a school running an after-hours club nowadays, but what about having a social worker, doctor, dentist, and optician regularly on site? This was the situation observed by Ty Goddard when he visited "full service schools" in New York during half-term recently. Goddard, who is Brighton and Hove Council's strategic manager for schools in the community, was there on business as Brighton and Hove was one of 25 local education authorities to be granted pathfinder status in December 2002 for the extended school model (news analysis, page 14, 24 April).

In New York, the idea for full service schools really took off in 1992 when voluntary organisation The Children's Aid Society had "a shared vision of the improvement of the health of young people along with improvement of standards of reading and writing", says Goddard.

Back in Sussex, he radiates enthusiasm about creating similarly imaginative models over here: "Extended schools go beyond what's being done at the moment and encapsulate a vision of working with the whole child with a range of health and social care needs. You support the family and begin to work in a profoundly different way with them, across agencies, with proper professional co-operation."

With the amalgamation of children's social services and education services into a new directorate called children, families and schools, Goddard believes the council is structurally better able to work in partnerships and on a multi-agency basis - an essential ingredient if extended schools are to be successful. On top of this it is implementing a family support strategy, which will involve developing area-based family support teams that will link in with school inclusion activities and extended schools.

Brighton and Hove Council was at the forefront of work around extended schools after being picked as one of three pilot areas to run demonstration projects between January and April 2002, funded by the Department for Education and Skills. Five schools in the area participated, including Bevendean primary school (see below).

Each of the five schools received £18,000 to be used at their discretion, and additional money to evaluate the whole project. The evaluation report by the University of Brighton in 2002 says: "Improvements in attendance, motivation, behaviour, and achievement were anecdotally reported, including pupil benefits of reduced alienation, development of positive relationships with others and development of interpersonal social skills."

Following this, Brighton and Hove was one of 25 local education authorities to be awarded pathfinder status. This brings in £200,000 of new money to be spent on developing extended school services in 17 schools, with an additional £25,000 to develop child care projects.

Pathfinder money is being used for different purposes in different schools. For example, at Whitehawk primary school, a community room will be used for parent coffee mornings, workshops and talks, family literacy, school nurse appointments, and child and adolescent mental health services drop-ins, as well as by social workers, a community paediatrician and a dental nurse among others.

Work is guided by the Schools Plus working group, which comprises the five headteachers from the schools involved in the original demonstration project. Goddard is clear that the leadership, support and vision of the headteacher and governors are vital to creating successful extended schools.

In several schools, part of the pathfinder involves having a counsellor on site at certain times during the week. "Headteachers told us that this would be of major importance for them," says Goddard. Some of the funding will be used to start up counselling in a primary school in Portslade. Also as part of the pathfinder, counselling for pupils is already being provided in Hove Park secondary school and will be provided for parents at one primary school.

"Schools identified this as a huge need, because if we can help the parents we can help the children too," says Kim Crewe, counselling co-ordinator for education settings at Hove Youth Advice Centre (YAC), part of Hove YMCA. YAC is experienced in providing school counselling and already works in seven secondary schools, 24 primary schools and two colleges in Brighton and Hove.

"Teachers are realising that the distress and worries that children have interfere with their school work. They thought if they had someone on site to help them through these stages, it would help their attendance and attainment," says Crewe.

"It doesn't matter where they come from - every child has issues they need to talk about. It may be that the need is greater in deprived areas."

Time with a counsellor gives children space to express their feelings, and it's not necessarily about problems at school. Most problems lie at home, from not getting on with their parents to worries about divorce and grief over bereavement, says Crewe.

Counsellors follow school child protection procedures, and if there are any concerns they either speak to the child's favourite teacher or, where necessary, break confidentiality. This is explained to both parent and child at the beginning.

Self-referral is encouraged in secondary schools, whereas primary school children are more often referred by their teacher or parent. All pupils must have parental consent to attend a session.

Crewe has seen little evidence of any stigma attached to seeing a counsellor among schoolchildren, and puts it down to a sea change in public perception. She believes that with the advent of primary school counselling, it will become seen as even more acceptable.

As all this and more can be provided in a school, why build another building when you already have everything you need to provide services to the community under one roof, asks Goddard.

"The pathfinder is part of an evolving, exciting area of social policy," he says enthusiastically. "There can be no better, lasting regeneration than learning."

No sleepy hollow for pathfinder

There is one road in and one road out of the Bevendean area of Brighton. Built in the hollows of the South Downs, overlooked by Brighton racecourse, this discrete community houses one church and three shops - two owned by the same person. Unemployment is high, facilities and transport services poor.  

It comes as a surprise, then, to walk into Bevendean primary school and experience the hive of activity within. The first taste of what is to come lies in the visitors' book. On the last page alone, signatures reveal there have been visits from staff at American Express to read with pupils in their lunch-hour, a student from Brighton University helping out, and work placements from Sussex Police.  

The school is a shining example of extended schools pathfinder money working hand-in-hand with a host of funding initiatives. A new block, which still has the smell of new plaster in the air, built with Sport England funding includes a disabled ramp and toilet. The money also paid for a professional stage with lighting and soundbox to be built in the school hall.  

Acting deputy head Joan Marshall says the school's progress happened because "we had this growing vision of the school being part of the wider picture". 

Bevendean has always been ahead of the game. Years ago it ran family learning sessions, funded by the council, where parents and children worked together. Then came adult education classes once a week. These are still run, funded by the Learning Skills Council. A breakfast club, funded first by the Education Action Zone and then New Deal for Communities, is also up and running.  

 "Because we began to open our doors, more people asked if they could use our facilities," says Marshall.  

During the demonstration project the school proved its need for a child care facility, and opened an after-school club. But when funding ran out, Marshall persuaded a group of parents to form a committee and apply for New Opportunities Funding. The after-school club is now in operation.  

The result is a school that opens at 8am, does a normal day's work, and is then open in the evenings until 6pm for the community and until 8.30pm one night a week. 

During the school day there are mother and toddler groups, and a health visitor drop-in. These sessions are run in the adult learning room and in the next-door play room - complete with soft play area. They have their own entrance separated from the classrooms by doors with security codes known only by the class or group provider.  

Pathfinder money will be spent on a pre-school health visitor, speech therapist and play worker. The money has already built a specially designed mother and toddler toilet unit, and paid for a pilot scheme, City Direct, to be set up with a computer in another office. This will help Bevendean residents access up to 12 council services, such as benefits and council tax. Two more schools also have a City Direct computer.   

"All these things have to be done using additional money because the school budget has to be for education," says Marshall. "First and foremost, the school is for the children."

Building pride in community

Carlton Hill primary school is in the heart of Brighton. Goddard describes its headteacher Phil Smith as a visionary in the authority. It's easy to see why. After 30 seconds in his office, Smith leads us up to a second-floor room from where you can literally see the community he wants the school to serve. Two blocks of housing association flats and two blocks of council flats to the right, and in front of the school,  Guinness Trust Housing flats in the process of being built.  

Lack of pride in where they live has led to a culture of mobility in the area, says Smith. But, as he points out the various tower blocks, it's clear that Smith himself is passionate about the area: "I love it here; it's like a little New York." 

He is also full of energy for the challenge he has set himself - building pride among the community. "There is a huge amount of skills and vibrancy around; all you need is someone to unleash and focus it, and I see the school as the centre of that," he says. 

"To do that, we need to offer all the different elements the community needs, such as health and social care, parenting skills, and opportunities for parents to access services that make their lives better. I see the school as being able to offer that." 

Currently, this second-floor room provides space to teach English as a second language and computing to adults, and for a creche. But now it has won its bid for £20,000 for the extended schools pathfinder, the room will become a "nurture" room for children, from those who have been bereaved to those who need to learn social skills. 

Then an outside area will be converted into a community room, again separated from the school by security-coded doors. It will house drop-ins - the school already has drop-in sessions with an education welfare officer, and Smith envisages these being extended to include a school nurse and social worker.  

He acknowledges the school would have to work carefully around breaking down negative perceptions of social workers. "A social worker would be there to offer preventive advice to parents, not policing or enforcing but helping. Being able to refer them on site to the people who can help is what I see extended schools as being all about." 

Unexpectedly for such an urban area, the school has a field. At the moment, pupils can't use it because the fencing isn't secure. But £150,000 funding from somewhere would bring "endless possibilities", says Smith: "We could level it, turn it into a stadium with seating in the bank. It would be managed by the community after school hours." 

Another plan lies in the potential of nearby Tarner Park. Here, the Tarner Land Trust runs an after-school club; three-quarters of its attendees are from Carlton Hill school, so, says Smith "why not help run it?" He wants to help raise funds for a new building in the park to replace the present dilapidated one, to provide an after-school club and other "wraparound" care for families such as a breakfast club.  

"Children will not learn unless they are happy, and they won't be happy unless their parents are happy, and they won't be happy unless their community is happy." 

To make this happen, Smith paints an impressive picture of what he wants the school to do as a part of the pathfinder project. And for someone who has only been in post since last September, he has big plans. So why is he so fervently behind extended schools? "Because I want the kids to achieve, and I can't see them achieving unless the community is achieving." 

As Goddard says: "If you do what you have always done, you get what you have always got."