Schools Plus: building learning communities
Improving the educational chances of children and young people from disadvantaged areas — a report from the Schools Plus Policy Action Team 11.
Foreword by Estelle Morris
I am very pleased to introduce this report from the Schools Plus Policy Action Team, which has been looking at ways of improving the opportunities for learning for all children and young people in disadvantaged areas. The team's main focus was on those activities both in and outside school which support pupil learning and lead to higher levels of achievement. It also looked for ways in which schools can help build learning communities.
The Schools Plus Policy Action Team was one of eighteen teams set up by the Social Exclusion Unit in September 1998 following its report on neighbourhood renewal. The Team's remit was to identify the most cost-effective Schools Plus approaches to using schools as a focus for other community services, and to reducing failure at school.
The PAT was made up of representatives from across Government and from a wide range of external partners with experience in working in disadvantaged areas, including headteachers, teachers, voluntary organisations, local authorities, faith communities and business people. I would very much like to thank members of the Team and its secretariat for the time and commitment they have given.
This report offers real opportunities and ideas for developing the Schools Plus agenda in disadvantaged areas. In setting these out the Team has taken care to emphasise that Schools Plus activities can only complement and reinforce good teaching and management in schools — they cannot be a substitute for it.
I welcome the recommendations the PAT has made for my own Department, the Department for Education and Employment. But I recognise that we need to work together with other Departments and agencies if we are to provide the help and support that schools and communities need. We therefore need to develop approaches that require closer working partnerships between Departments and agencies. We will be considering these recommendations alongside new and established initiatives, and as part of the current spending review. Schools Plus activities can make a real difference to the lives of pupils and others in the community. I look forward to working closely with everyone involved in taking the agenda forward.
Estelle Morris
Minister for School Standards
