Welsh Government Community Focused Schools

Recently the Welsh Government published some information on it’s vision for Community Focused Schools, why they’re important and what they hope they will achieve for the people of Wales.

You can find the information in full here; Community focused Schools

They said of why this idea is important;

We want all schools in Wales to be Community Focused Schools:

building a strong partnership with families
responding to the needs of their community
collaborating effectively with other services

The article continues;

Estyn, the education and training inspectorate for Wales, has recognised the importance of Community Focused Schools. Their report, Community schools: families and communities at the heart of school life’ provides case studies illustrating aspects of each element of the community focused school approach. They also identify 8 defining characteristics of a Community Focused School:

1. a focus on social, emotional and health needs of all learners including access to a coherent range of services and personal learning plans
2. engagement with families, often including the development of a family support service in school
3. engagement with the wider community, providing both the opportunity and the mechanisms to build capacity in the local community
4. integrated provision of school education, informal as well as formal education, social work and health education and promotion services
5. integrated management often supported by an integration manager
6. services delivered according to a set of integrated objectives and measurable outcomes, a significant feature in many cases being co-location
7. commitment and leadership
8. multi-disciplinary training and staff development

Here you can find a diagram of the Government’s model for Community Focused Schools;