Extended Schools
“An Extended School is one that provides access to a range of services and activities within and beyond the school day, to help meet the needs of it’s pupils, their families and the wider community.”
The five areas of Extended Services:
- Childcare
- Swift and easy access to agencies
- Study support
- Parenting support
- Community access to school facilities
At St James Infant School, we are striving to be an Extended School. We provide before and after school care for children from St James and the Abbey Junior School at ‘Spencer’s Club’. Through our expertise in school and links with external agencies, we provide access to a range of support and advice for the various individual needs of the families at St James.
In January 2008, we carried out a consultation with the parents of St James and the wider community to find out what services may be required by them. We collated the responses to focus our attention in the areas most needed. Therefore, in March, we started a ‘parenting course’ for 8 weekly sessions for parents to learn more about strategies to use with their children at home. Also, we organised a ‘Reach Out and Read’ information session run by the charity ‘Volunteer Reading Help’. This was a 2 hour session on reading strategies in school, phonics and activities to try at home.
We are continuing our work with parents and the wider community to fulfil the offer of Extended Services and any feedback is gratefully received.
As part of the Extended Schools agenda, we applied for a buildings grant to help us improve our facilities and secured £85,000. We are currently carrying out improvements to our ‘Community Room’ and the Kaleidoscope room building.
Extended Schools work with other agencies to provide a range of services for young people and their families to support and motivate them to achieve their full potential. At St James Infant School we already provide many of these services, but are always looking to improve and increase our facilities to support you.
Consultation papers from Autumn 2007 (pdf)
Consultation papers from Spring 2008 (pdf)
Reach out and Read (ROAR) March 2008 (pdf)
Parenting classes March to May 2008 (pdf)
Action plan for Extended Schools - Dec 2007 to Sept 2008 (pdf)