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4.7 Working with parents and carers and partners
An important feature of an inclusive school is "a strong commitment to involving parents and the wider community" and "a strong belief in building effective partnerships with other agencies" (Count us in, HMIE Dec 2001). Over the years, schools have improved their channels of communication with parents and carers, with the result that they have become more supportive of schools and schools have become more understanding of the difficulties that parents/carers face. Home-school link arrangements which allow parents to become involved in their children's learning have been put in place in each area, supported by partnership officers, and more opportunities have also been made for young people to take part in pupil councils, enterprise activities, work-experience, and community events. Joint Assessment teams and multi-agency working practices are now an established feature of many schools and these mechanisms ensure that close links are maintained with a range of support services, providing opportunities to share information and to make joint decisions about how best to meet individual needs and evaluate progress.
4.8 Developing partnerships
North Lanarkshire values its links with voluntary bodies and, as part of the Scottish Executive innovation fund programme has entered into a national project in co-operation with the Equity group. This has as its focus the development of an Inclusive learning network, involving parents and teachers working in partnership to support the inclusion of children and young people with additional support needs. The project is about to enter its second phase and will form a basis for the development of inclusive support networks within the council.
4.9 Accessibility strategy
The Accessibility strategy outlines the principles of inclusion and access to education for pupils with disabilities in relation to increasing the extent to which pupils can participate in the curriculum. These include improving the physical environment of schools, improving communication of school information to pupils, and in particular providing information to pupils with disabilities in alternative forms, taking into account the pupils' needs and any preferences which they or their parents and carers express. Implementation of the accessibility strategy will form a key element of the overall inclusion strategy.
4.10 Integrated community schools
The Integrated community school model provides a further infrastructure for access to a full range of services. Integrated provision of school education, family support and health services is a central feature of this approach, which aims to develop support teams in local area clusters, involving all agencies working collaboratively to deliver a range of services, thus allowing establishments to successfully include all pupils and to provide the appropriate help for pupils with additional support needs. Community schools across the authority have already allowed a wide range of service providers to work together, and emerging good practice will greatly assist other schools to develop their practice over time.
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