News

Schools have always had the potential to improve the way services are delivered to children. At last, it seems that the government has realised this.

All children are required by law to attend school. As a result their well-being can be monitored over a long time. Schools by their nature spring up in the same places as children, with their size and infrastructure proportionate to the number of pupils they cater for. But the wide range of facilities that schools have on offer are often under-used, with most school buildings standing empty after 3.30pm, at weekends and for about 70 weekdays a year.


So how should these valuable assets be used to best advantage? If we imagine a re-engineering of the way services are delivered to children, we can begin to see their potential. Schools could become hubs for local children's services. No longer operated exclusively by head teachers, they could become children's centres. A children's services manager could run them and co-ordinate under one roof a range of departments including education, health, and social work.

This new budget-holder would be accountable to the parents and children in the area and could operate a social inclusion policy. A child facing exclusion from school because of problems at home could be supported from within the children's services team. The centre could have a medical practitioner based on site who could offer advice and appropriate referrals. A social worker could link home visits, social services records and behaviours observed in the classroom and develop a comprehensive plan for early support. If removal of a young person from home becomes necessary, the insight offered by the children's centre team could help secure a local placement that allows the young person to maintain their peer group and networks.


We all know that positive social outcomes for young people are not one-dimensional. They succeed because of a blend of social, health and educational support. The government needs to set up a process that can improve the way that these different agencies work together.

A child sees a simple world - if they tell the teacher about their problem, they hope that the teacher or other adults they know will be able to help. It is the adult construct of departments that introduces strangers into the equation.

Andrew Constable is managing director of SACCS, which provides residential care and family placements for children.