Learning Communities - Teaching Expertise

An on-site community learning centre opens up opportunities to adult learners and school learners. Jackie Lees, senior strategic leaders at Mitchell High School Business and Enterprise College, shares the development of their CLC, with tips for organising community learning provision

Building links within learning communities — collaborations with other schools, parents, groups and agencies — can have wide-ranging benefits, says Alan Gough. Here he outlines the Better Together programme, which is aimed at collaborative working at local level

What is ‘ability grouping’, why is it necessary and what is its potential impact on students? Kate Wall explains

A headteacher and a governor from Havering report on their experiences of amalgamating an infant school with the neighbouring junior school

Some of the key success factors in the development of extended schools provision across a cluster are discussed by Dave Dunkley, headteacher at Coleshill Heath Full Service Extended School in Solihull, and Ruth Shand, lead officer for extended services at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council read more

Ruth Bradbury considers the relationship and boundaries between the roles of school business manager and teaching and learning leader read more

Headteacher Bernadette O’Brien describes the core themes of extended provision at Priory School and Sports College

Anne Humble describes the benefits to be gained for nursery schools from participating in the Eco-Schools scheme read more

Headteacher David Dixon takes a close look at the philosophy behind elective home education, enshrined in a recent consultation document on guidelines to cover this parental option

Providing an extended schools service with a community learning centre brought about unexpected synergies for Mitchell High School. Shaun Morgan describes the changes read more

Principal Ian Johnson describes how an extended school day and a high level of community involvement are central to the strategy for raising achievement at The Marlowe Academy in Ramsgate read more

Ruth Bradbury offers a wealth of practical advice on getting the most from the extended schools initiative read more

Rather than see governors as a nuisance to be endured, schools instead should be working with them as an invaluable source of help and advice, argues Colleen Arnold of the National Governors Association read more

Liz Rowbotham looks at how extended services have worked for one community college read more

Headteacher Peter Kent and deputy Annabel Kay describe how vertical tutoring has moved them towards the extended, cross-age family ethos that they seek to develop within their school

The CPR Learning Space is a building with a ‘wow’ factor, providing services to schools and the wider community. Jane West looks at its development

Gerald Haigh begins a three-part series on primary assemblies by looking at values

I have just got back from the SFM annual conference in London: a long journey for me, but definitely worth it – not only because it gave me the opportunity to present a couple of sessions, but also because it is encouraging to see the quality and variety of business management professionals who are now working in our schools. read more

Barbara Spender outlines the benefits for students that can come from schools collaborating with each other in a formal partnership where staff give mutual support and share resources read more

The Leading into Learning NLC has developed into a major force for professional development and improved attainment in Blackburn with Darwen, as John Westwell, Des Callaghan, Joanne Emberton and Jenny England explain

Anjana Khatwa explores the implications of acquiring World Heritage Site status read more

‘Community cohesion’ is now a legal obligation on school governors and we must make the best of it, says Richard Bird, former headteacher and now legal consultant to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). He asks how teaching of history could contribute to this objective. read more

Neil Hawkes outlines a values-based approach to school improvement

Cooperative learning strategies aim to promote feedback loops relating to assessment and reflective learning in the classroom at Fallibroome High School. Jane Gormally and Francis Power describe the developments.

Student Volunteering Week offers all young people opportunities, says Christine Fanthome. read more

Casterton Business and Enterprise College (CEBC) is one of three truly comprehensive Rutland secondary schools with 800 pupils on role in Years 7-11. Here they outline their approach to communicating and working with parents

Many governors’ influence in their schools falls short of the model suggested by law, regulations, training, and the perceptions of politicians and the press. read more

Casterton Business and Enterprise College (CBEC) is the hub of local learning, offering 11-16 education by day and a wide range of recreational and academic activities for young people and adults in the evenings and at weekends read more

In recent years assembly has been squeezed by the pressures of the curriculum but its importance in demonstrating what your school stands for should not be under-estimated, says former headteacher Gerald Haigh. read more

Carole Farrar highlights how you can make the most of formal communications with parents. read more

Under the extended schools agenda, all schools are expected to enhance their community provision and open up their sites to embrace a range of wider community initiatives. Nina Siddle explains how one school in East Yorkshire is developing an innovative garden area, and outlines the key role that school business managers can play in such initiatives read more

Dr Barbara Spender considers the key questions underpinning Every Child Matters implementation from first considerations about individual school priorities, through visibility in specific curriculum areas, to evaluation and measurement of success

Dr Barbara Spender, Freelance Writer and Researcher, with information supplied by Terry Smith, Assistant Headteacher, Ninestiles Secondary School, Acocks Green, Birmingham

Susannah Temple, Giles Barrow, Julie Leoni and Trudi Newton describe how teachers can use the principles of transactional analysis (TA) to build relationships that stimulate learning. read more

The government’s campaign to persuade more schools to offer extended services continues with the publication of new guidance. read more

In his regular column, Dr Graham Haydon suggests that reflecting on your own school can be a good way into raising wider questions about communities and the values they share.

What are the potential benefits to young people and how are schools preparing? Richard Bailey looks into the future

John Potter explores a government proposal for citizenship education. read more

What lessons can be learned from the community education movement to help ensure the success of extended schools? Richard Bird, former headteacher and now legal consultant to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), looks at this issue

This project supports the National Framework for PSHE and the National Healthy School Standard, as well as supporting the development of Citizenship throughout the school with some 1400 pupils

Our theme was ‘Rich World, Poor World’. How do we open the eyes of children to equality issues? read more

Global citizenship links can help increase children’s and young people’s knowledge of the wider world. The Manchester Healthy Schools Partnership created a close working relationship with three schools in Kabwe, Zambia. read more

Fair trade day formed part of a whole school curriculum enrichment programme at Congleton High School, and was linked into Citizenship, which explores diversity and human rights in a local, national and global context

Our multi-cultural arts day was aimed at Year 7 students and was one of a programme of stop days around global citizenship in our school. read more

Many communities are keen to know what is happening in local schools and the profile of your school can be raised and presented in a positive light by successful use of the media. This counters a great deal of the damage done to the public view of education by more generalised central reporting, where sensationalism is the main criterion for publishing/reporting. By Linda Trapnell read more

There is always room for enhancing the curriculum through the creation and development of special events in school that pull teachers, pupils, local businesses and the wider community together, writes Rosemary Cairns read more

Family learning covers all forms of informal and formal learning that involve more than one generation, writes Melissa Gardner

School culture is a term that curriculum managers are having to pay more attention to in nearly all areas of their job. But how do you identify what culture prevails in your school, understand the implications this has for your curriculum leadership, and from there make changes for the better? Jon Prosser, Director of International Education Management at the University of Leeds, shows how. read more

This case study follows the change process in a school that, under the effective leadership of a new headteacher, was able to transform its culture from one of a once cruising school to a highly successful moving school with an enviable local and national reputation

To help entrench lifelong learning in the common psyche, this website from ContinYou displays the programmes it is developing to build learning communities throughout the UK. The aim is to give communities, and the individuals within them, access to new learning opportunities, and by so doing to change lives. It is based on the premise that learning is about much more than just that which goes on in schools.