‘Extended services’ is an umbrella term that refers to schools’ extra-curricular activities or wider services provided before and after the school day to the local community. Extended services can enable schools to provide

  • high-quality learning opportunities either side of the school day
  • ways of intervening early when children are at risk of poor outcomes, e.g. by providing access to study support, parenting support or to more specialist services (such as health, social care or special educational needs services)
  • ways of increasing pupil engagement
  • ways of improving outcomes and narrowing gaps in outcomes between different groups of pupils
  • access to childcare services and/or activities before and after school (such as breakfast clubs, sports and arts activities, and study support) that can enable parents to take up or stay in employment
  • community use of facilities, such as facilities for adult and family learning, sports and ICT.

Schools often find it helpful to work in partnership with their local authority, other schools (as part of clustering arrangements) and private and voluntary sector providers to develop and deliver access to extra curricular activities and services. As at September 2010, more than 99 per cent of schools were offering access to a range of extended services.

Section 27 of Education Act 2002 gives governing bodies a power to ‘provide any facilities or services whose provision furthers any charitable purpose for the benefit of pupils at the school or their families, or people who live or work in the locality in which the school is situated’. 

The Coalition Government has said that it wants schools to decide which extended services to offer based on the contribution they are making to improving pupil outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
 
The recently published schools White Paper states that the Government ‘will rely on schools to work together with voluntary, business and statutory agencies to create an environment where every child can learn, where they can experience new and challenging opportunities through extended services, and where school buildings and expertise are contributing to building strong families and communities’.

There are a number of ways in which extended services can raise standards, improve attendance and improve pupils’ engagement with learning. Extended services can also provide an important source of childcare for working parents – research indicates that children living in households without at least one parent being in employment are at greater risk of poor outcomes. You can download a short summary of the potential benefits of extended services from this page.

Funding

Since April 2011, the amounts of extended services funding that the standards fund previously provided now form part of the overall schools revenue baseline. Schools are able to decide whether they use this funding on extended services or on other work that they do to raise standards, narrow attainment gaps and improve outcomes. They have freedom and flexibility across all their budgets to support their pupils.

As part of their wider strategies to raise standards for the most disadvantaged pupils, schools may wish to consider using some of their Pupil Premium funding on offering extended services where there is clear evidence that these can raise attainment or improve behaviour and attendance. For further information, please see the frequently asked questions available from this page.