How do extended services help to raise standards in schools?
Extended services provide children and parents with access to the support services they need so that barriers to learning are removed early on and the needs of whole child are addressed. Children's learning is enhanced through enrichment activities, a key element of extended services.
Read guidance on how best to link extended services with school
improvement planning - Extended services:
supporting school improvement guidance (published 20 December 2006).
Specifically the core offer supports improvement in standards:
Childcare - research has shown that breakfast clubs can improve educational attainment by benefiting children's concentration levels, memory, school attendance and punctuality, improving examination results, problem solving abilities and reducing truancy. Read more in the report — 'Breakfast and breakfast clubs for primary school children — UK literature and lessons to be learned'.
Study support activities — research shows that pupils taking part in study support activites score, on average, a total of 3.5 grades more on their best five GCSE results. They also gain on average one more A-C pass at GCSE, and can improve their attainment in Maths and English by half a grade. Additional benefits are improved attendance and behaviour and increased self-confidence. Find out more about study support.
Parenting support - supports parents to help their children achieve. Research evidence and inspection data summarised in the DCSF toolkit for schools, 'Involving parents: Raising Achievement' has shown that schools which work well with parents had improved levels of achievement and more positive pupil attitudes and behaviour.
Swift and easy referral to specialist services — provides early intervention and enables teachers to focus on teaching and learning. Addressing issues and problems faced by children at an early stage can ensure that their impact on their performance in the classroom is reduced. Multi-agency teams and integrated services lead to better outcomes for children and parents.
Opening up schools to the community — can raise the status of the school and provide courses for parents and the community. It can also demonstrate to children that learning is life long and, therefore can have a positive impact on their attitude to learning.
General - research shows that extended schools are helping to raise attainment and pupil engagement with learning.
It is therefore important that extended services are developed as part of the School Improvement Plan and that schools evaluate the impact they are having. Extended services will also contribute to the Ofsted inspection. Read the Ofsted Framework 2005 — inspecting schools — briefing paper: inspecting extended schools.
Case studies
Goddard Community Primary School, Swindon — extended services have helped the school to improve standards. At Key Stage 2, only 33 per cent of pupils reached level 4 in 1995 while 72 per cent did in 2005; in maths, the proportion reaching level 4 grew from 35 per cent to 74 per cent, and in science from 52 per cent to 83 per cent. The number of exclusions have also reduced. Read the full case study.
Tenbury High School, Worcestershire — extended services are contributing to improvements in exam results (Level 6 in English was up from 84 per cent in 2004 to 87 per cent a year later, with level 6 up from 31 per cent to 43 per cent. Science results were up from 72 per cent to 78 per cent. There was a 16 per cent improvement in science and a nine point gain in maths. There has also been improvements in standards of behaviour, with a better attendance record, fewer exclusions and few detentions. Read the full case study.
Carlton Hill Primary School, Brighton and Hove — extended services, in particular family support work, has helped Carlton Hill School to have the most improved 2005 Key Stage 2 results in Brighton and Hove: English from 48 per cent to 78 per cent; mathematics from 30 per cent to 83 per cent and science from 78 per cent to 96 per cent. The headteacher attributes this rise to the higher level of engagement in learning, both from children and their parents, as result of family support work done in collaboration with other agencies. Fixed term exclusions have also reduced and the school makes excellent use of its extended provision to promote school improvement and to safeguard its pupils. Carlton Hill School is in an area of disadvantage.
Last updated: 16 July 2007
