The Blyth School has facilities suitable for use by the wider community and which, if made available, could benefit local people and community organisations.
To meet the Community Access element of the Extended Services Core Offer the school has;
- carried out an assessment to see which facilities could be made available to the community and consult with them to establish demand.
- where there is demand, has opened up suitable facilities to community users. Arts facilities, sports halls and playing fields, ICT suites and school halls are the type of facility that communities could access – outside of school hours, and even during the school day, if practical.
- has taken a role in supporting the development of the youth offer in the community by opening up facilities to youth organisations and other services as appropriate.
- has offered access to adult learning programmes
Not only does greater access to school facilities benefit local communities, it also benefits schools themselves, not least by helping make them even more the ‘hub’ of community life.
The benefits of greater community access to school facilities include:
- maximising the use of facilities
- improved income from facilities
- improved parent and community familiarity with, and
involvement in, schools
- improved sense of community
- improved adult learning opportunities
- greater involvement of community/groups on the school site, and dual use of facilities, pupils working with their parents/families
NORTHUMBERLAND ADULT LEARNING SERVICE
The vision for the Adult Learning Service is for a fully integrated service with a collective belief in educational excellence, leading inspirational learning locally.
- Delivering an integrated service which merges Northumberland Training Agency and Northumberland County Council’s Adult Learning Service,
with an increased focus on teaching and learning
- Working with Schools and Children’s Centres, to provide support for the delivery of the Community Access
core offer on family and adult
learning programmes
Head of Service: Heather Thomas: 01670 534821.
MAXIMISING IMPACT THROUGH COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
Although provision of the full core offer in each partnership is a statutory requirement, we aspire to go beyond this and move towards ‘Inclusive Learning Communities’, which will achieve far more than the core offer.
An ‘Inclusive Learning Community’ is one that identifies and meets the complete learning and development needs of the local community in a planned and effective way. It ensures transition from birth through to early years’ providers, into primary then secondary learning and beyond. The needs of vulnerable and at risk community members are met through targeted intervention and support whilst the wider needs of all are delivered through universal and preventative services.
An ‘Inclusive Learning Community’ looks after the care, health, learning and development needs of children and young people, parents and other community members using a collaborative and joined up approach. Key service providers including Third Sector organisations work cohesively to meet these needs to ensure efficient and effective service delivery. Services, provision and support are located within each ‘Inclusive Learning Community’, utilising locality resources effectively.
‘Inclusive Learning Communities’ will be led and managed through the
Extended Services Partnership Committees using a collaborative ‘Community Leadership’ approach.