Scan the list of 61 extended schools recently unveiled by the Government and you won't find Claremont Primary. But the Blackpool school, in a disadvantaged area a stone's throw from the glitter of the famous illuminations, could be a prototype for the integration of education, health and social care envisaged in the latest initiative from the Department for Education and Skills.
Awarded early excellence status in 2002, and due to become a designated children's centre in 2004, the 650-pupil school has forged strong ties with the local community, encouraged parent involvement and created a sanctuary for pupils who need help with behavioural and emotional problems.
But it was not always like this. When headteacher Pat Wills arrived seven years ago she recalls that 'parents and children had very low self-esteem', and 'families needed a significant amount of support just to get the children into school'.
Emotional well-being
Recognising the urgent need to rebuild communication with pupils, Mrs Wills, together with Kaz Duckworth, who was helping tackle attendance issues, and the special educational needs co-ordinator, attended a course run by Penny Moon, a qualified hypno-psychotherapist in Liverpool. Her 'Quiet Place' techniques involve a holistic approach to developing children's emotional health and self-esteem. The school decided to create its own version of a 'quiet place', Xanadu, where pupils can have one-to-one counselling (see box).
Ms Duckworth, now the school's family worker and fully-trained counsellor, says, 'If children have got emotional baggage they are not going to access education. Taking away those stress blocks leaves them freer to go into the classroom. If we can catch them early and put some strategies in, it will help them cope and unload.'
The sanctuary, which houses Xanadu, also has a bean-bag area and space for body massages by the school's 'bodyworker'. This is proving popular among the children - there are massage sessions for each year group - parents, staff and ex-pupils.
Pupil mobility
Like many seaside towns, Blackpool has a transient population which is sharply reflected in the school, with pupil mobility rates of up to 49 per cent - the equivalent of four new classes of children joining the school and three classes leaving.
With 90 admissions each year, and only a 26-place nursery, Mrs Wills says that many children from these transient families never had the chance to access the nursery which, in the days before 'integration' became a buzzword, was sited far away from the reception classes.
The introduction of the Foundation Stage in September 2000 enabled the school to take the bold step of bringing reception and nursery children together in a new early years unit.
'It meant that those families whose children might in the past have come into school without the benefit of any pre-school education at all could now access the appropriate curriculum for their children,' says Mrs Wills.
Early years manager Helen Mitchell says the 120 nursery and reception children in the unit have blended well and the school is ensuring the benefits of the Foundation Stage are continued into year one.
While some areas have opted to support teachers with a classroom assistant in every class, Claremont Primary decided that the transient nature of the population required a more flexible approach. Learning support and inclusion teams were developed to work closely with the counselling and family support worker to help children with behavioural or emotional difficulties access the curriculum.
They help parents to make links with other agencies to tackle social issues such as housing, act as an honest broker between the child and the teacher and ensure that PE and swimming kits are cleaned.
Several parents, who have undertaken 'parents as educators' courses, are now members of the school's support staff and the creation of a multi-ethnic women's group, reflecting the growth of the Bangladeshi population, has resulted in the employment of two people to work with families and children who have English as an additional language.
Mrs Wills, who was national chair of Early Education, says that improved methods of tracking pupils' achievement coupled with parental involvement are vital. 'The only way we are going to raise attainment is to switch the culture round so that the parents can see that by supporting their children in school it's a win, win situation. But it can be hard for parents to appreciate this, especially if their experiences of school have not left them with a positive view of education.'
Centre of Excellence
Housed in a rambling building nearly 100 years old, the school is overcrowded, but the lack of space is soon to be addressed with the help of capital funding from the DfES and Blackpool Borough Council to create a purpose-built early excellence centre.
'This will enable us to extend our full-day care on site and to be open to the community for 50 weeks of the year. Our most vulnerable families need us when school is officially closed,' she adds.
It will mean that the six health visitors and a school nurse will be able to meet parents and children in a designated room as well as offering a drop-in service for the transient population and others in the community.
With breakfast and after-school clubs, growing support from parents for a homework club which they are encouraged to participate in to develop their own skills, and plans to expand services when it becomes a children's centre next year, Mrs Wills believes Claremont is 'an extended school in all but name'.
However, while agencies work well at local level to integrate health, education, social services, housing and the voluntary sector, she says, 'This is not always matched at more senior decision-making levels'. Health, in particular, is harder to draw into a strategic plan because of the way it is structured and the way it is dominated by targets, most of which do not relate to children.
Additional funding
Mrs Wills is also concerned that insufficient account has been taken of the likely costs when schools become children's centres. She explains, 'There is going to have to be some guidance on what additional funding is going to be needed to run the extra services, not least from a management point of view. With a school of 650 children and 85 staff, you are looking at quite a big jump in terms of staffing, especially as children will be on site for 50 weeks of the year.'
The centres will need to be staffed by professionals with knowledge of health, child development and child protection issues. 'It's not about people doing things in an enthusiastically amateurish way. We need people who have got those sorts of skills to work in multi-disciplinary teams,' she adds.
There are still 'lots of grey areas' around the extent to which delegated school budgets, which are ostensibly for education, can be used for additional services such as Xanadu. Mrs Wills says, 'It's been accepted that we can spend money from the delegated budget on that, because it's about children accessing the curriculum.'
But while she recognises that the Local Management of Schools way of funding is open, transparent and aspires to equality, it cannot ensure it because 'unfortunately, all are not equal'. She argues, 'In wards like ours, where we have incredibly high levels of deprivation, there has to be additional needs-led funding for vulnerable families.'
