Lynne Neagle, Cabinet Secretary for Education
As this school year comes to a close, I am pleased to provide an update on the progress that has been made across Wales through our Community Focused Schools approach.
Our ambition is for all schools in Wales to be Community Focused Schools, building a strong partnership with families and collaborating effectively with other services to support learners and enhance the wider community. I would like to place on record my thanks to all the schools, individuals and organisations who have been involved in supporting this approach across this school year.
Over this period, the Welsh Government has increased financial support for on the ground delivery of Community Focused Schools approaches to over £11m. This includes a specific increase, to £9.5m, for the recruitment and retention of Family Engagement Officers (FEOs), plus the continued funding of Community Focused School Managers. These roles are crucial in supporting schools to develop the trusting relationships required to work with families in a meaningful way and to support partnership working.
To support development of the roles, we are providing local authorities with £1m to help them embed delivery strategies and enhance professional development. We have also established a Family Engagement Officer National Network. The aim of this network is to enable professional discussion and good practice to be developed at a local level and across Wales; with directed Professional Learning opportunities and a structure for FEOs to raise strategic and operational issues on the development of Community Focused Schools.
I am pleased that this financial year the Welsh Government has been able to provide a further £20m specifically for Community Focused Schools infrastructure projects across Wales through the Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme. This builds on the £40m of projects approved throughout 2023-24 and 2024-25, and £20m in 2022-23.This will provide settings that specifically support family, community and pupil engagement, and multi-agency working. I look forward to being able to announce further details of the projects that will be taken forward shortly.
In March 2025, we published Developing Multi-agency Engagement in Community Focused Schools. This is the final piece in a full suite of guidance which has been developed to support key stakeholders to implement a Community Focused Schools approach. The suite also includes overarching guidance on Community Focused Schools policy; supplementary guidance on the key aspects of family engagement and community engagement; and a set of case studies. I am pleased, today, to be able to add to this resource with the publication to the Welsh Government website of three new video case studies that showcase examples of the strategies and activities that local authorities and schools have taken forward to implement positive changes that engage and support their learners, families, communities and partners.
I am grateful to Adamsdown Primary School, Queensferry Learning Campus and Ysgol Y Moelwyn for providing their time and expertise in developing these case studies.
I am pleased to say that this significant investment and activity is making a real difference for children and their families across Wales. Estyn, the National Inspectorate, has identified specific cases where community-focused school approaches have had a positive impact on individual attendance, pupil and family well-being, and confidence as lifelong learners, both at the local authority level and within individual schools.
I look forward to continuing this important work in the new term.