Every Child Matters promotes the idea that schools have a role inmeeting the all round needs of the child and family, that all agencieswithin a community have a duty to plan together to meet these needs,and, therefore, that schools should be working very closely with theircommunity partners. The great majority of schools have welcomed thisapproach with open arms - but what impact might the new Bill have?
To be frank, the proposals for trust schools are now of littlesignificance for good or ill. Initially spun as creating "independentstate schools", the Government has been forced to retract many of itsideas, and the Bill now simply encourages schools to work with others -either another local school, or a commercial company. Such partnershipsmay in themselves be positive, but the risk remains that the school willno longer feel like part of the wider community of provision that achildren's trust represents. So the Bill should also spell out whatduties schools have towards all children.
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