School Focus: Increase parental engagement and community cohesion
Expression of interest overview
Schools within the federation and Ysgol Bryn Gwalia serve the area of Mold, Flintshire and have recently experienced pupils engaging in anti-social behaviour in the evenings, exacerbated by being in an area of social and rural deprivation. The local Police Community Support Officers and local Town Councillor welcomed a programme for pupils to access in the evenings. The schools have only a small proportion of pupils who engage in after school activities due to lack of provision and inability to travel. The provision offered by the schools was typically competitive sport, and due to small school sizes, they struggled to maintain teams and failed to recruit girls to attend. Moreover, pupils would prefer a non-competitive sporting offer. The intention was for the funding to be spent on four overarching areas to support the creation of community hubs:
- Additional support for vulnerable and disabled pupils to attend
- Staff costs including training
- Session provision providers
- Equipment
Programme Implementation
The schools received funding from December 2021 to March 2022, though Ysgol Bryn Gwalia continued until July 2022. Attendance numbers recorded by the schools fluctuated across the months, with the greatest attendance in March (106 participants) and May (105 participants). The lowest attendance was in April (26 participants), which was notably lower than most months. Monthly learning logs listed activities the school had been offering, such as balance bikes, dodgeball, hockey, street dance, Forest School, and Urdd sports sessions. Through the monthly completion of learning logs, the following key reflective points were highlighted, and the school’s implementation of the programme was documented in the timeline shown in Figure 13.
