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What are Extended Services/Schools?
 Extended schools are at the heart of the delivery of the government’s Every Child Matters, improving outcomes and raising standards of achievement for children and young people. There are now over 8,000 schools offering the full range of extended services, with almost half of all schools well on their way to doing so.
Extended schools are a key vehicle for delivering the Government’s objective of lifting children out of poverty and improving outcomes for them and their families.
There is now clear evidence that children’s experiences greatly influence their outcomes and life chances in later life. In particular, educational attainment is a powerful route out of poverty and disadvantage.
The publication Extended Schools: Building on Experience sets out a core offer of services that all children should be able to access through schools by 2010.
The core offer includes:
A varied range of activities including study support, sport and music clubs, combined with childcare in primary schools
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Parenting and family support
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Swift and easy access to targeted and specialist services
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Community access to facilities including adult and family learning, ICT and sports grounds
Schools will need to work closely with parents, children and others to shape these activities around the needs of their community and may choose to provide extra services in response to demand.
Every Child Matters and high educational standards
 High educational standards and pupil well-being go hand in hand. Children succeed best when they are healthy, self-confident and well-motivated. Extending the range of services that schools can offer is crucial to making sure children and families are given the support they need to thrive.
How do schools benefit from extended services?
 Evaluation of the second year (2004/5) of the national evaluation of full service extended schools, shows that extended services can have significant positive effects on children, adults and families. These effects can also benefit schools - improving pupil attainment and exclusion rates.
This follows an Ofsted evaluation (July 2006) which suggests that extended services are helping to enhance self-confidence, improve relationships, raise aspirations and produce better attitudes to learning.
How do parents benefit from extended services?
Parents will have greater choice, flexibility, convenience and accessibility to help them balance family and work commitments. The 8am-6pm offer allows greater flexibility for full or part-time employment. Some parents may choose to use home-based carers who can also be part of the extended schools offer. Working parents on lower incomes, who are accessing childcare through their school, can benefit from claiming the childcare element of the working tax credit which can cover up to 80% of the costs. Parents will know that their children are engaging in positive activities in a safe environment. They will also be able to access themselves those services through their local schools thus furthering their education themselves or increasing their career prospects or simply having fun and supporting their children.
What does it mean for The Bishop of Winchester School?
 Because the school has rapidly improved those last few months and has re-built the trust within the community, it is now able to provide those services to its young people and their families. So new clubs/activities/events will rapidly start to happen at the school within the next few months. All those new opportunities will be advertised on the website, through regular newsletters, via posters and leaflets sent home … So please, keep asking your child/ren about those new activities and encourage them to take part in as many as possible. Some of the activities will have a cost attached to them although they are extremely subsidised. This cost is an essential charge to guarantee sustainability of the activities. We understand that some families might find it hard to pay those charges. This should not stop young people to take part in any activities at all. If it is the case, parents should let either the Education Welfare Officer or the Year Learning Manager (tutor) know for necessary arrangements to be made.
Currently on offer but needing participants!!!!!!!
New DJ School
If you want to learn how to professionally DJ or if you are simply interested in music, come along to this very exciting workshop every Wednesday after school (from 3.15 to 4.30pm) in the Community Learning Centre. The first week is free but after that there will be a £0.50 charge per week to enable new equipment to be bought.
The new DJ school started a few weeks ago but students are still failing to attend despite having asked for it!!!!!
Please don’t be shy, give it a go if you like your music and fancy being the cool one!!!!!
Other planned activities … Watch this space for start dates and any new information …!!!!
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Computer networked games club/competitions: This club will soon start but before we do so, we would like you to tell us what kind of games you would like to play. So, take part in the current opinion poll at the top of this page and watch this space for the start date!!!!
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Revision club has been happening for the last 2 weeks for year 11s to make sure they all get the grades they deserve and enjoy the perks that came with participating in the sessions (free pizzas, tickets to the proms, limousines ….)
And a lot more to come ……
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