Colleen Cummings

This book, for the first time ever, critically examines the role of full service and extended schools. The authors draw on their extensive international evaluations of this radical new phenomenon to ask: What do extended or full service schools hope to achieve, and why should services based on schools be any more effective than services operating from other community bases?What pattern of services and activities is most effective?What does extended schooling mean for children and families who are not highly disadvantaged, or for schools outside the most disadvantaged areas?How can schools lead extended services at the same time as doing their ‘day job’ of teaching children? Why should schools be concerned with family and community issues?Beyond the advocacy of ‘extended provision’, what real evidence is there that schools of this kind make a difference, and how can school leaders evaluate the impact of their work?This book will be of interest to anyone involved in extended and full service school provision, as a practitioner, policy-maker, or researcher.

This book, for the first time ever, critically examines the role of full service and extended schools. The authors draw on their extensive international evaluations of this radical new phenomenon to ask: What do extended or full service schools hope to achieve, and why should services based on schools be any more effective than services operating from other community bases?What pattern of services and activities is most effective?What does extended schooling mean for children and families who are not highly disadvantaged, or for schools outside the most disadvantaged areas?How can schools lead extended services at the same time as doing their ‘day job’ of teaching children? Why should schools be concerned with family and community issues?Beyond the advocacy of ‘extended provision’, what real evidence is there that schools of this kind make a difference, and how can school leaders evaluate the impact of their work?This book will be of interest to anyone involved in extended and full service school provision, as a practitioner, policy-maker, or researcher.

There is growing interest in the role schools can play in contributing to area regeneration. Schools serving disadvantaged areas are encouraged to be outward looking, to engage with families and communities and to coordinate their efforts with those of other agencies. At the same time, however, schools are required to maintain a relentless focus on their 'core business' of teaching and learning in order to drive up pupils' attainments. This report explores the ways in which schools serving two economically and socially disadvantaged urban areas have attempted to resolve this dilemma. It focuses on the relationship between the schools and their respective communities and on outcomes in terms of individual and community development.