Gloucestershire County Council - Community Learning in Schools

Thomas Keble School, Eastcombe, Stroud

SCHOOL INFORMATION & BACKGROUND

Thomas Keble School is a rural 11-16 Comprehensive located in the village of Eastcombe, approximately 4 miles East of Stroud. It serves a wide catchment area both socially and geographically. It is currently the fastest growing secondary school in Gloucestershire with 555 pupils on role, set to grow to 640 by September 2003.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF COMMUNITY ETHOS.

"support local, national and inter-national causes, because these are our community as well"

Thomas Keble is different from many schools in that it sees community links and partnerships from a wider perspective. A year 7 pupil made the above statement when discussing which charities could benefit from school fund raising events.

Developing community links here does not just involve the odd evening class on a computer or a couple of parents showing an interest in the school. It revolves around every age group in the community, from 4 to 80 taking part or benefiting from school facilities and activities.

AIMS OF PROJECTS

Through the various activities the Headteacher, Mr C Steer, has found the parents of 'Thomas Keble' children are very willing to come to the school, both to learn, and to enjoy themselves. He has found that the size of the school lends itself to creating a relaxed atmosphere, which encourages better use of the facilities. This high usage by the community runs full circle in that:

WHAT KNOWLEDGE/EVENTS DID THEY BUILD ON

ACTIVITIES

Thomas Keble has worked on a wide range of activities, which range from Local through to international links. The following is a snapshot of the community work being conducted by the children, parents and staff of the school:

Parent Education Seminars: The school PTA runs these events which cover a wide range of topics with guest speakers to help parents of every year group in one aspect or another. Each seminar can last from one and half to 3hours depending on the subject matter. Previous topics have included:

· Coursework advice and guidance for parents of year 10 pupils.
· Drug Awareness and Health Issues
· Preparation for exams
· ICT developments

The ICT seminars have received the highest attendance figures with approximately 150 people attending a practical session where the pupils demonstrated the facilities at 6 locations within the school. This is an outstanding figure considering the rural location of the school. It indicates the genuine interest from the community to have an understanding of what is available within school.

Parents Evenings.
Although an event which every school holds in one form or another Thomas Keble have an ongoing programme of evaluation for their evenings. This ensures the school is providing the best possible access to all members of the community.

This has been achieved by moving the standard time slots from 6.30pm - 9pm to 4.30pm - 7pm. This system resulted in an increased participation of a 92% attendance. Feedback indicated the new time was preferred by 71% of parents as it allowed for appointments on the way home from work, or after picking up children from after school clubs. This reduced the need for parents to travel home and back to school again along some fairly remote roads, as well as easing domestic arrangements when having to obtain care for younger siblings when visiting the school in the evening.

The Gatsby Project It is through this project that strong links have been formed with the local primary sector. It involves children from Year 5/6 classes writing stories suitable for Reception age children. These stories are then passed to students at Thomas Keble who produce 'Story Bags'. This involves making the stories into booklets, producing audio tapes, toys, jigsaws and games depicting the theme of the story and crating a bag to store the goods in. This kind of work has also attracted funding through the Gatsby Foundation in the form of cash as well as loans of laptops from Design Foundation to develop the work.
	Primary & Secondary Pupils working together

The School Choir

As well as giving concerts at school the pupils visit local Old Age Pensioners to perform their latest musical pieces.

Fund Raising
As well as receiving funding for Community Work the school is keen to raise funds for other charities nationally and globally. Pupils held a sponsored walk to benefit 4 of their chosen charities including:

· Local branch of the Macmillan Nurses,
· Nehimia School (a partner school in war torn Sierra Leone)
· American Disaster Fund.

This event raised in excess of £4200, a sum which could not have been achieved without the motivation and commitment from all involved, even the local fire brigade were drafted in to help!

	Cheque Presentation to a Macmillan Nurse representative.
	Some of the walkers with the fire brigade members who assisted with the water stops.

School Facilities
Naturally being in a rural location the school facilities are imperative to a great number of people who cannot travel into nearby Stroud or further afield for a variety of activities.

The school is currently able to boast that it is the only school in the Stroud area to have a lift providing access to all facilities on the first floor to learners of all ages and disabilities. To ensure that the lift would benefit users with disabilities there was liaison with a local Physical Disability School and the Disabled Access Initiative.

Liaison with the Stroud District Council and Stroud college has led to evening use every day of the week. This can mean that the Information Technology suite, craft rooms, sports facilities, main hall or ordinary classrooms are in use for 12-14 hours a day for Pupils, Open College Network Learners, Recreational Clubs, other schools and individuals of any age from any background.

	IT class and weekly Bridge club.	.	Brand new gym and Sprung dance floor

INTERNATIONAL LINKS

On a global note there are strong connection with the 'wider 'community via the Comenius International Project. The school works with schools in France, Poland and Spain on Shared Landscape Projects. This involves pupils studying their own landscapes and creating Artwork depicting them, this artwork is then exchanged between schools for pupils to learn about the partner countries. This project also attract external funding from the Central Bureau.

An example of artwork from a Partner school in Poland.

SUCCESS OF PROJECT/EVALUATION

Given the number of Community Projects/Works on the go at any one time it is difficult to gauge any one success. However from visiting the school it is apparent that the success and evaluation of one project is the motivation to expand the next.

FUTURE PLANS
Whilst touring the school it appears that there is plan to develop, and use, every area into its full potential. Thomas Keble has been conducting community projects for many years and it is only in latter years that this kind of work is being recognised by means of funding and support through both internal and external bodies.

The school is currently involved in a joint bid with Berkely Vale School to achieve Technology College Status. This kind of recognition is not easy to come by, but with the 4 year Community Development Plan attached to the application there could be some superb community opportunities in the future.

This Plan has made it necessary for the school to evaluate its current practices and look to the future in Partnership with other communities by means of:

Outreach IT Training - to promise access to a high quality technological learning environment for isolated rural communities.

Adult Education - to provide outreach facilities to meet the needs of villages and to reach social groups currently not participating in adult education.

Employment - to address the needs of local employers by enhancing the work related curriculum and providing facilities for the training of their workforce.

All in all:

'To promote responsible citizenship of our global community' Taken from the Thomas Keble web-site