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Guardian Education Supplement, October 2007
Extended Schools
Many times over the last three years Mr Lund, Mr Turner and others who argued against the forum have used as a reason for not facing up to issues or refusal to answer questions, the theory that those asking the questions or raising the issues have had 'no direct connection' with Marton School. Judge for yourself how this fits with the Philosophy of Extended schools being at the heart of the local community as reinforced by the education secretary at Labour's party conference. Below are some relevant sections from the Guardian's report.
In 2003 the government launched its EveryChildMatters agenda. The new policy makers wanted to recognise the central role schools were playing and to do this they called on schools to extend their teaching and learning services to open up their expertise and facilities to their communities, and to play a central yet - most importantly - supported role in helping to raise standards and enrich the lives of pupils, families and the local community.....
The philosophy behind extended services is to make schools the focus of the community and the target for all schools to offer extended services is 2010. The day of the school as a hermetically seaIed unit are gone. No longer are parents kept at a polite but firm distance, facilities placed out of bounds and children left to standing in the playground, waiting for the door to open. In the last year there has been a revolution in which the old barriers have begun to be broken. Achieving these goals needs careful preparation and, in particular close consultation between schools, governors, parents and outside organizations.
Mr Balls stated at the recent Labour Party Conference "Extended schools are at the heart of the Every Child Matters agenda, which aims to improve outcomes and raise standards of achievemment for all children and young people. "You cannot raise standards and close achievement gaps without focusing on all the needs of every single child and tackling every obstacle to their learning," says Mr Balls. "Extended schools do just that - improving children's, lives, boosting their attainment and placing schools at the heart of their communities."
Caroline Coles, extended schools lead at the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), explains the aim of the programme: "It's about narrowing the attainment gap so all children, regardless of background, are provided with personalised support and services that will impact on their ability to learn in the classroom. You can't look inside the classroom", she says, "without looking at what's happening outside as well, and you ignore what goes on outside the classroom at your peril" .
Read more at :
http://www.tda.gov.uk/remodelling/extendedschools.aspx
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/ete/extendedschools/
http://www.parentscentre.gov.uk/familymatters/childcare/extendedschools/
to help you draw your own conclusions.
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