We formed a consultative management group with community, school and agency representatives. This group was to focus on developing actions for three task groups of:

Create protocols and practices that will improve the delivery of service to the community.

Working with services available to schools to improve delivery and effectiveness

Planning and delivering programs required in the community for services

The discussion in the consultative group was long and often difficult until some realisations were reached. These realisations can be shown as:

The diagram indicates that it was the school who was determining what it required. It then sought aid and assistance from the agencies to solve its perceived problems with the community and children from that community.

This was a very paternalistic view. The school selected the problems to be dealt with and organised external assistance in dealing with them. The community were not a natural part of the loop.

Reaching this understanding was a very long and difficult process. We had what we considered to be significant parental involvement in our school and we had a very supportive community. However all of this was at the control and discretion of the school and its employees.

It was a situation that needed changing.

1. We focussed our project to be:

This plan indicates that community needs, issues and concerns will be responded to by the school and the agencies. It is not for these groups to make assumptions about the community and its needs.

The school and the agencies must become an integral part of the community. They cannot divorce themselves from their client base nor superimpose their own agenda or solutions on the community.

Reaching this realisation and creating this as our new direction was a major achievement for the school, the Community Links team and the ACEE Project.

The Canadian Lead approach to developing the concept of the full service school has included both a community development aspect and the co-ordination and integration of existing agency and community group resources.

The project clearly is being aimed at encouraging direct control and ownership of the project in the school community. We are also trying to ensure that service agencies and community groups are available and able to be accessed by the local community and vice versa.

The project is at a very early stage and building core relationships through action and practice will take some time.

It is, however, these partnerships that will be at the core of the project as we attempt to make it part of the school community’s culture and ongoing practice.

The action plan has been developed in the Linking School and Communities team. This team has been the vehicle that has raised the issues and highlighted the tensions and concerns. As a process it has been very helpful in bringing quickly to the surface the problems we needed to deal with and address.

A reflective comment on the action plan gives some indication of its acceptance by the Community Team:

However, after much discussion it can be represented in a diagram as

This action has and will involve:

• Auditing existing school community activities and events that promote community spirit.
• Discovering who are our community groups and contacts.
• Actively promoting school community activities
• Establishing clear operational actions for community groups to use

The actions are:

• Developing and providing a list of available groups and agencies who work and operate in our community.
• Develop and use a broader publicity strategy for this information.
• Create an information centre at the school.
• Identify contact people who are available through the school.

The actions are:

• School community needs analysis for service agencies
• Establish a communication and information process for school community to agencies.
• Provide opportunities for agencies to conduct programs at the school and in the community.

The actions are:

• Audit school programs to identify where support is possible.
• Direct invitation to agencies to support school programs.
• Support the involvement of agencies in school programs.

We have established three working groups to implement the above action plan initiatives. These groups are being convened by parents and supported by staff and agency members. They are making the decisions about the direction of their group and the nature of its work.

The Linking Schools and Community Team now have a coordinating responsibility. They ensure each of the working groups has balance and system in what they are doing. They support the working parties and supervise any expenditure required by the groups.

These working groups have begun the process of taking community control. This will be achieved undertaking well planned tasks that are successful. The next step is to build on that success. Our strategy is to create working groups that achieve success. This will encourage more control and ownership by community members. Some of this is already becoming obvious even in this early work.

The result of the work done by the groups on the initiatives will be in the achievement of the following outcomes:

• Increased community involvement, participation and ownership in community issues and needs.
• An audit of our school programs to ascertain the points at which service and community groups could support or become involved.
• Some direct involvement of these groups in school programs, particularly in our Student at Educational Risk (SAER) work.
• A school pamphlet detailing our facilities, skills, availability and access for community groups.
• A needs survey of the community about their requirements and use of services.
• A response from agencies detailing the services they have to offer our school.
• A complete list of service agencies and community groups connected or available to the school and its community.
• Promotional and informational sessions provided to the school community by agencies and groups on a regular basis.
• Clearly identified contacts in our school community who will assist families to connect to the right group or agency.
• Appropriate training for the contact people.
• An established information point in the school for community groups and agencies.
• A communication system that uses newsletters, makes lists available and has a planned yearly approach to events and activities in the community.
• A set of agreed and working protocols for groups and agencies working in our school.

It will be these outcomes upon which our success can be in part measured.

The funding support we have received has made this work possible. We have retained some funds to ensure that projects that the community wants supported "get up and get going". We have been very conscious through out this project to ensure that what ever we put in place is able to be continued after the funding finishes. We are now confident that we have community members taking the initiative and working with the school to achieve this end. We believe the project will become a natural part of this communities operation. The funding has enabled this to happen.

This report reflects the projects situation in the latter part of 1999. Since then further actions and plans have developed in what will always be a changing community landscape. However, the basic thrust and integrity of the above summary remain very relevant.

Canadian Lead Primary School is centrally located in historic Ballarat East, close to the Sovereign Hill Park and it services a growing school community. The current school pupil population is 350 and there is an expectation that this will continue to grow over the next three years.

The school vision is to foster, encourage and develop every school participant’s head, heart and hands as they learn, grow and participate in our school.

The school aims to provide:

• A positive, supportive and safe learning and working environment
• Strong parent and community partnerships that support and contribute to the school programs.
• A focus on the individual and his/her needs.
• The attaining of basic skills and knowledge that will allow and encourage students to access their next stage of learning.
• Opportunities for children to develop and use their skills and talents.