Impact of Extended Schools and Children's Centres

Ofsted have reviewed 30 Children's Centres and 32 Schools across 54 Local Authorities to find:

- over 75% of those examined provided good or better service overall
- All those examined integrated education and child care effectively
- Both extended schools and children's centres need to better reach new parents and children
- Strategic guidance from the local authority assisted the children's centre and extended school, however there was no assessment of whether the centre was providing value for money as monitoring was weak
- Those using the centres found them to be beneficial and take up was best when consideration was given to transport and integrating health service provision
- Uncertainties around the finances of multi-agency partners threatened services and staffing especially in children's centres

For Children's Centres:
- In 23 (of the 30 examined) children's centres children were seen to be making at least good progress in sessions observed, however, none of the centres monitored the long term progress of children
- There was a positive link between the senior staff having qualifications in education and the children's attitude towards learning and their enjoyment of learning

For extended schools:
- 13 (of the 32 examined) provided the full core offer
- All schools examined provided a varied menu of activities but they also found it difficult to offer year round care or to support families in finding provision
- A positive impact on the child's achievement and personal development was evident, this was greatest for the most vulnerable children
- The most effective are those which integrated the extended school into the whole school improvement plan
- There was some radical thinking in the application of multi-agency working