The timetable for action of the Schools White Paper which came out on the 4th December is interesting in that it references for commissioners the ASCL Act, 14-19, extended services and wider partnership at local level. Commissioners will have an even busier six months with the extent of legislative change and it will be understandable if the challenge of keeping a strategic view of this picture gets somewhat lost in the workload. However, the changes themselves do form part of potentially a more comprehensive reflection on the role of schools and overall commissioning priorities. This will operate on different levels starting perhaps from the commissioning of places, partnerships and intervention for school improvement and getting to grips with the challenge of commissioning 14-19 to meet both the structural issues of the task and those young people we have so far not managed to prevent from being NEET. However , this needs to develop within a clear sense of the part schools can play both as co-commissioners at local level and using their knowledge at more strategic level and sometimes the best examples of real innovation are at a locality partnership level . The lessons here are significant for the system as a whole. We already see some excellent examples of this in some local authorities/children’s trusts and for those not yet there a good starting point is to reflect with the trust and partners about the wider challenges and opportunities of creating a holistic picture of the way forward with all partners.
