5.1 Engaging the community
The ICS initiative had made little impact in terms of increasing the capacity of communities through involvement of pupils, School Boards, parents, voluntary organisations and members of the community in decision making. Many cluster and school development plans contained ethos statements but there was little evidence of these statements having been developed and agreed on a joint basis. Despite the active involvement of these groups within individual schools, they had almost no influence on decision-making regarding the setting of priorities for development, resource deployment or service provision within ICS clusters.
Education authorities had promoted the development of pupil councils and many schools had established these groups. Pupils were often consulted effectively by headteachers and staff on a range of matters but this rarely related to decision-making in relation to identifying and achieving ICS objectives. In some schools, pupils were encouraged to take more responsibility for decision making through contributions to pupil councils and by suggesting ways in which their school might improve. In good practice these contributions enhanced the overall ethos through allowing pupils to influence the development of their school and to share a sense of ownership in its work. The absence of school councils in some schools, particularly within the secondary sector, had a negative impact on the extent to which pupils felt ownership of their schools.
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Good practice In a few primary schools, pupils were being encouraged to develop a sense of empowerment and responsibility through being directly involved in contributing to their schools' development plans. In one primary school the pupil council had made a measurable impact on the life and ethos of the school. They had identified gaps in security and suggested how extra playground space could be acquired. In another primary school, the pupil council had surveyed the views of their fellow pupils on how part of the ICS budget should be spent. In one cluster, pupils had been consulted on aspects of the authority's 5-14 health education and child protection policies. |
In most clusters there was a positive ethos of raised expectations as a result of the promotion of ICS objectives by Integration Managers and other partners. The development of a positive ethos was particularly effective when there was good communication with all involved and strong leadership from heads of establishments and Integration Managers. There were some examples where the ethos experienced by staff, partners, young people and their families had been improved by the ICS initiatives. This was most evident within individual primary schools and pre-school centres, but there were also some positive examples at secondary school and cluster level. However, the enhanced ethos was still often associated with only those members of school staff and other partner services most directly involved in ICS projects. In most clusters, many teachers, parents, pupils and members of the community were unaware of the aims of the ICS initiatives. Families had been consulted to varying degrees but had not been engaged enough, in most clusters and schools, through appropriate awareness-raising activities.
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Good practice In one primary school the headteacher and Integration Manager focused on ensuring attitudinal change amongst staff as a pre-requisite for effective planning and delivery of services. Most staff within the school had positively changed their attitudes and approaches towards supporting a more community-based ethos and approach to learning. This had been achieved through involving staff in discussing and agreeing strategies for enhanced community involvement, in consultation with parents. |
In some cases the initiative had effectively built on an existing positive ethos within a cluster.
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Good practice The provision of arts, sports and residential outdoor education activities had been very effective in one authority in helping pupils to raise their expectations of achievement and to address issues of social exclusion. The resulting increase in pupils' self esteem led to their feeling greater involvement in the school community and a consequent improvement of the general school ethos. In two primary school ICS projects, breakfast clubs and summer school developments had also been very effective in supporting the needs of pupils and their families. As a result, pupils, parents and staff had benefited from activities which contributed to an enhanced ethos of achievement. |
5.2 Supporting parents and families
In almost all clusters and schools there were cases of individual vulnerable young people and their families who reported an increase in confidence and improved attitudes to school as a result of support from multi-agency teams. There was some evidence of improved awareness of health issues among parents and young people as a result of various ICS sports activities and initiatives to promote healthy eating through provision of fresh fruit and water. In one case, the local dentist indicated that an improvement in children's dental health appeared to be linked to the provision of free fruit and drinking water in school. In another cluster, the formation of a Health Promoting Schools Steering Group further enhanced children's and families' knowledge and understanding of health issues. Several schools reported that vulnerable young people and their families were actively engaging in a range of enhanced health-promoting initiatives and social interaction taking place during and after school.
A range of activities developed by ICS projects provided opportunities for parents to experience and contribute to a purposeful learning ethos, particularly where there were opportunities for engagement with staff to support children's learning. Some clusters had organised adult education classes, based in one or more of the schools, on topics agreed with parents. These included classes on the curriculum and early intervention to support children's learning, and the enhancement of computing, art and parenting skills. Some classes were provided jointly for children and parents. For a number of parents this provided a first opportunity for post-school learning, and a few went on to take up college or university places. Parents were involved in running some pre-school and after-school clubs and activities organised as part of the ICS initiatives. They were also involved in paired reading and homework support schemes. Parents were often used as volunteer tutors in adult classes or were given training in how to support their children's learning. These initiatives helped parents to become more involved with the school, to increase their confidence, knowledge and skills in helping their children learn and to identify more closely with its work. They also provided valued support for children.
However, individual projects were often at too early a stage of development to measure any added value in comparison to similar initiatives in other schools outwith the ICS initiative.
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Good Practice In one primary school a support for learning teacher, supported by the community nurse for ICS, organised sessions on cooking skills and healthier eating for parents and pupils from vulnerable families. Those parents who took part reported increased confidence and improvement in their communication with their children. Food that was prepared and cooked, especially by the children, was taken home and responses from family members were recorded as being very positive. One result of this initiative had been the completion of a food hygiene course by some of the parents. |
In a number of clusters, support for identified young people and their families had been improved through enhancing the work of joint assessment teams and through the deployment of home-link workers. While this had led to enhanced support for identified groups some partner services had difficulty meeting the additional demands made on their staff. There was often tension where the secondment of a social worker to an ICS team was at the expense of the more general demands made on local social work services.
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Good Practice One cluster ensured that vulnerable families were supported well by the ICS social worker and the home-link worker. Two family support workers employed by social services provided practical and emotional support where appropriate. The home-link worker focused on vulnerable families who were insufficiently engaged with the education system. The worker took referrals from all schools in the cluster related to attendance, learning difficulties, behavioural and health issues. She also undertook some daily transporting between home and school on a short-term basis to encourage a more committed approach by parents and pupils towards attendance. |
In good practice, joint assessment teams with representatives from all partner services had ensured a sustained and focused level of support for looked after and accommodated children. However, there was considerable variation across authorities in the extent to which the progress of looked-after children had been monitored. In good practice a specialist education and social work team had been established and had developed a reliable database for monitoring the progress of looked after children. A focus on the whole child had been developed and there were community interventions and alternative support for education. The development of initiatives such as home support or support in care placements and intensive support packages showed a commitment to ensuring that looked after and accommodated children had access to equal educational opportunities. In some cases, such opportunities applied only to looked after and accommodated children. In one authority, children on home supervision, homeless children, and children in need were also included in these strategies.
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Good Practice The Looked After Children's Team in one authority had worked collaboratively with the ICS cluster. The team was innovative in the breadth of its approach and worked with children with home supervision requirements and with those whose families were homeless as well as those who were looked after and accommodated. Support was mainly provided for looked after children within their current school but there was a small unit for very disaffected young people. These young people were encouraged to undertake qualifications and were beginning to have some success. Overall, the attainment of looked after children in this authority was some of the best in Scotland and they had nearly three times the national average (90% rather than 31%) of their children on home supervision achieving some qualifications. |