If a partnership is to succeed, it must be based on mutual trust and respect, an ongoing exchange of information, agreement on goals and strategies, and a sharing of rights and responsibilities. (headteacher)
The boxes on these pages contain snapshots from schools.
A chess development project run by community learning and development staff addresses young people’s literacy and numeracy needs. It helps to develop critical thinking, improvements in verbal reasoning and reading skills. In preparing learning materials, community learning and development staff take full account of learners’ needs. The project has raised young people’s self-esteem and helped them to achieve. Teachers report improved concentration and behaviour among learners who had been experiencing difficulties. The project has also developed effective home-school links. |
In one cluster, school staff and their partners commented favourably on the impact of a joint education and social work peer education programme. The programme has been successful in developing the potential of pupils identified as being at risk from underachieving at school. |
Scottish Executive funding is used to deploy youth workers in primary and secondary schools. School staff express strong support for the initiative. It has been successful in supporting vulnerable and isolated pupils, reducing absenteeism, developing social skills and improving behaviour. |
One cluster has very successfully promoted integrated working among front-line staff from different professional backgrounds. Support is given to children and their families by a team of school staff, social work services staff, community staff and health professionals. Joint training has been very successful and has included imaginative sessions with families on a range of topics. |
Key features
Dimension 5: Works in partnerships with other agencies and its community
No school operates in isolation. Children learn within, through and about the community in which they live. Wider links broaden their horizons even further. Many people touch the lives of young people. Of these some, working closely with teaching and support staff, make all the difference.
We are working with our Comenius partners in Finland, Latvia, Wales and the Spanish Basque region. We are taking health promotion and developing it in our community. We then look out into the wider community of our partners and see how they are developing this aspect. We learn a lot from our partners — they all have different ways of achieving the same thing. (headteacher)
Visitors to school — like the police and fire fighters — can help us learn. (primary pupil)
One secondary school has established a group for supporting pupils in danger of exclusion. Pupils who participate have become more supportive of each other. Direct support from a mental health worker and youth social worker has helped them develop anger management techniques and more positive attitudes to school. |
The self esteem and confidence of a small targeted group of S4 pupils have improved through their participation in a car mechanics course and national XL activities provided in partnership with a range of other agencies. Their attendance and motivation has significantly improved. |
In one residential special school young people had very good opportunities to participate in drama productions at a local arts centre. As a result they became keen to attend drama events in their local area and also gained in confidence and self esteem when performing to others. |
Nursery staff worked closely with parents and a range of agencies such as social work and speech therapy. |
Education is all a matter of building bridges. (Ralph Ellison)
The school in its community
A focus on broadening and deepening the learning of children and young people and developing their confidence and self esteem; understanding and awareness of the needs of the community; involvement of all staff and young people with the community; external contributions to young people’s learning across the curriculum.
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
Links with the community provide experiences which enhance young people’s learning and help them to develop positive relationships. |
Work with other establishments, organisations and businesses is used to broaden and deepen young people’s learning and enable them to achieve success in wider contexts. |
Staff make effective use of local facilities and organisations when planning learning activities. Such activities focus on developing a wider awareness of the world beyond school and encourage young people to perceive and use the community as a resource. |
Staff take advantage of opportunities for community involvement which help them to improve their work with young people, provide innovative approaches to learning and address new challenges. Community-based activities are used to develop young people’s self-esteem and creative skills, meet individual and group needs and prepare them for their future roles in society. They also enable young people to make positive contributions to the experiences of other people. |
Young people participate in activities and learning experiences within the community designed to develop skills in problem solving, decision making and making informed choices. |
Staff draw on community resources to develop young people’s leadership skills. All pupils participate in enterprise activities, community involvement, work placements and shadowing, sports leadership awards or similar activities. |
Both staff and pupils contribute to local projects and engage actively in the wider life of the community. Members of the local community make use of school facilities. |
Staff demonstrate a highly developed understanding and awareness of the needs of their communities. Members of the community see the school as central to community life. |
We are involved with our local community through a range of enterprise activities, collaboration on building our sensory garden and providing use of our minibus. (headteacher) |
|
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
Classes undertaking specific curricular programmes have access to community-based activities. Staff and young people make productive contacts with groups beyond the school as part of projects or activities or through out-of-school activities such as music and drama. |
All staff and young people expect to be actively involved with the local community in some way and at some time. Individual staff and pupils, classes and groups have strong and sustained links with groups elsewhere in the UK or abroad. They share interests with them and provide and receive information, expertise or enrichment. |
Staff call on the services of partners, agencies and community groups which they know can provide relevant and high quality additional experiences, to contribute to programmes in specific curriculum areas. |
Staff actively seek out and enter partnerships which are productive in helping to provide imaginative contexts, learning experiences and opportunities for personal development. Teachers build such contributions into the curriculum to improve learning and meet identified needs. |
The school has several international links. Pupils correspond in Scottish/Irish Gaelic with pupils in Ireland. The school’s Gaelic choir has performed in Canada and the football team has had fixtures in Spain. (headteacher) |
|
Working with partners to meet the needs of all children and young people
Agreeing aims and objectives; supporting vulnerable young people; effective transition arrangements for all young people; maximising wraparound care and cross-sectoral and out-of-school learning; active engagement of all leaders with key partners.
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
Most school staff have a good understanding of the needs of their pupils and how some of these would be best met through integrated approaches. They identify key aims and involve other professionals in delivering them. |
School staff and other professionals involved in providing integrated services to children and community-based projects work together to identify local objectives which fulfil the specific needs of all the young people they serve. |
Vulnerable pupils and their families receive positive emotional and educational support from the school and its partner agencies. They feel that their needs are understood. |
Interagency working relating to care and welfare provides vulnerable young people and their families with a prompt service, as soon as possible after their needs are identified and well matched to these needs. Staff respond flexibly to the needs identified. All staff recognise their own roles in supporting all young people and in particular those who are vulnerable. |
The school has effective transition arrangements, working in partnership with other local educational establishments. These arrangements focus on providing the personal support necessary for pupils to settle in well and approach their learning positively. |
Staff ensure that individuals and groups, including the most vulnerable, are well supported and that their learning needs, in particular, are addressed throughout transitions. Young people experience coherent and progressive curricular programmes, consistent learning approaches and appropriate levels of challenge when they transfer from one establishment to another. |
Staff organise wraparound care and cross-sectoral and out-of-school learning within the constraints of the existing arrangements or timetable. Wraparound care and out-of-school experiences are well organised and productive and part of a well-managed programme. |
Staff build their planning of young people’s learning experiences and activities, the school day and, where relevant, the school timetable round the needs of individuals and groups, adjusting it to enable cross-sectoral and out-of-school learning when, where and in the ways in which it most benefits pupils. |
We deploy two youth workers to support a small group of S1/S2 pupils who present behaviour difficulties during lunch time. These workers engage with the pupils both in school and within an out-of-school programme overseen by a depute headteacher and a community education manager. (secondary headteacher) |
|
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
Links with some partners, community representatives and agencies are well established. Specific members of staff manage these links. |
Leaders throughout the establishment engage actively with partners, community representatives and agencies and promote and support community partnerships. |
Through flexible approaches to learning some young people participate in alternative curricular arrangements such as attending college to enhance their vocational and lifelong learning. Younger children may visit colleges for specific topic work and enterprise activities. |
Partnership agreements with colleges include monitoring of the progress of all pupils and prompt intervention to ensure pupils stay on track when things do not go according to plan. |
Excellent teachers are nice, funny, helpful, make you work, are strict and are good at organising. (primary pupil) |
|
Multi-agency approaches to improve learning
Commitment to joint working by all parties; clarity about the distinctive contributions of community groups, professional and voluntary agencies and the business community; joint planning which draws on a range of information and support; joint training of staff from schools and partner agencies; focus on improvements in young people’s learning and support; minimising barriers to partners’ involvement.
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
School leaders and staff whose professional responsibilities relate to support for pupils are involved in multi-agency work. |
All staff are fully committed to joint working. They expect to be involved in some way and as part of ongoing support for pupils. |
Staff identify gaps in the school’s provision and engage with community groups, partner agencies and others who can provide the necessary expertise. |
Staff work with a variety of agencies to identify their distinctive contributions to providing rich and inclusive educational experiences for pupils. Staff participate actively in initiatives led by other agencies. |
Joint projects are included in the school development/improvement plan and receive appropriate support from school resources. |
Joint planning and coordination of projects take place within an action plan agreed across agencies which reflects key national and local priorities. Plans encourage innovation. |
School staff involved in teams made up of different agencies are given guidance on how they should fulfil their roles. |
Joint training of staff from different backgrounds and agencies helps them to learn from each other, discuss common issues and make joint decisions. |
Actions agreed with partners result in improvements in the learning and support of pupils. Success is carefully monitored and reviewed. |
Staff seek creative ways of working together to benefit pupils. They and their partners identify their individual and shared roles in ensuring that children are safe, active, nurtured, valued, successful, respected and included. They have an integrated approach to quality improvement. |
Staff have a practical understanding of established limits to joint working and operate within them to provide productive experiences for young people. |
Staff actively reduce barriers and obstacles which hinder joint working. |
Staff are open to advice and views expressed by partner agencies and change their practice in response. Consultation and reporting back are ongoing and regular. |
Staff actively seek feedback from partner agencies and, where needed, change course significantly to benefit pupils. They listen to partners and stakeholders at times suitable to partners and respond to, and do their best to act promptly on concerns, challenges and contributions. |
Communication is really important — reporting on progress particularly to parents who for varying reasons have limited contact with the school. (class teacher) |
|
Leadership and coordination
Clear guidance on joint working; consultation and communication; involvement in joint decision-making groups; active seeking of feedback and constructive challenge from partners, stakeholders and the community; openness and responsiveness to unsolicited suggestions from partners, stakeholders and the community.
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
It has established effective links with a range of establishments, agencies, local businesses and voluntary organisations. Leaders of partner agencies are clear about the aims of their joint working and communicate these to the staff involved. |
Partnership activities with other establishments, local businesses, voluntary organisations and training and careers organisations are managed through partnership agreements which make clear the expected outcomes of joint working, the roles of the key partners and the funding arrangements. Partnership agreements ensure that young people benefit from enrichments to their learning, achieve success and are safe and well supported. |
Aims, policies, procedures and guidance make clear the purposes of joint working and the roles and responsibilities of individual partners. They result in consistency in the way children are treated to ensure their safety. |
The success of aims, policies, procedures and guidance for partnership working is regularly monitored and evaluated. Necessary improvements are made to ensure that pupils’ learning is maximised. Policies and guidelines encourage innovation and flexibility. |
Protocols for information sharing are clear and are followed by staff. They enable the necessary decisions about pupils’ learning and welfare to be made. Partners, young people and families are consulted regularly and at an early stage in developments. |
Management information systems enable all partners to have access to the information they need to ensure young people’s emotional well-being and improve their learning. Pupils and their families are fully aware of any information held about them and with whom it might be shared. Partners, young people, families and other stakeholders are actively involved in decision making at key stages. |
Representatives of the community, agencies and other stakeholders are informed of relevant decisions taken within school committees. |
The community, agencies and other stakeholders are represented on relevant school committees and decision-making groups. Members of joint groups make decisions and commit resources, within agreed parameters. |
We keep re-inventing ourselves constantly — evolving practice — we’re never satisfied with what we do. (headteacher) |
|