News

Editor's view

Misunderstandings about the nature of extended schools seem to abound- that they involve keeping children cooped up in school for a mandatory 10 hours a day, or that teachers will be working as playleaders after the schoolday has finished, for example. The Government needs to do some work to dispel these misconceptions and to persuade both schools and private and voluntary providers that they can benefit from involvement in the extended schools programme.
Misunderstandings about the nature of extended schools seem to abound- that they involve keeping children cooped up in school for a mandatory 10 hours a day, or that teachers will be working as playleaders after the schoolday has finished, for example.

The Government needs to do some work to dispel these misconceptions and to persuade both schools and private and voluntary providers that they can benefit from involvement in the extended schools programme.

As our eight-page special pull-out this week shows, some primary and secondary schools have already extended their services in imaginative ways, working with a wide range of partners (see pages 13-20) and have found that the school's all-round performance improves and the community reaps the rewards too. Our pull-out has lots of case studies and contacts for further information to help schools as they prepare to become extended as well as those looking to offer their services as part of that provision.

The debate about no-notice early years inspections continues on our Letters page this week. To help you prepare for Ofsted, we begin a new series based around the five outcomes in Every Child Matters that form the basis of the new regime (pages 24-25).