Draft

A Diagnostic of Community Cohesion in Oldham Schools

THE INSTITUTE OF COMMUNITY COHESION

Futures Institute

10 Coventry Innovation Village

Coventry University Technology Park

Cheetah Road

Coventry

CV1 2TL

Tel 0247 679 5757

www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk

REVIEW TEAM

Ted Cantle

Daljit Kaur

Alveena Malik

Adam Newman Turner

Annette Hay

October 2008

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Section I Introduction 3

Section II Background 7

Section III Findings 13

Section IV Conference Event 19

Section V The Way Forward - Recommendations 33

Appendix I Listing of Interviews and Focus Groups 41

Appendix II ICC Team Biographies 42

SECTION I

INTRODUCTION

`Oldham is at the cusp of real change and now needs to demonstrate sustained progress in tackling what are extremely difficult issues. In place of a borough associated with riot and ethnic strife, Oldham needs to further transform itself into the borough that defeated segregation and ethnic conflict - a beacon for best practice in building cohesion across all its communities. If this new Oldham is to become a reality, accelerating the pace of change is critical.'

1.1 Schools are increasingly being recognised as a central plank of the community cohesion challenge. Schools have the potential to challenge and reduce prejudices via the curriculum, raise attainment, therefore increase opportunities to participate and integrate in socio-economic life and provide a safe community space for communities from different backgrounds to come together and interact.

1.2 Acknowledging the vital contribution that schools can make, the Education and Inspections Act 2006 introduced a duty on schools in England to promote Community Cohesion and on OFSTED to inspect schools' work in this area.

1.3 In Oldham where ethnic and class segregation remain the key cohesion challenge the New Duty provides real opportunity for Oldham schools to become the main vehicle for driving through `accelerated change' as recommended by the Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) in the 2006 Oldham Review.

1.4 In conducting this work the iCoCo team were impressed by the degree of innovation and commitment now displayed by the schools with whom we have been working closely and by the level of the support which was evident at the one day conference.

1.5 This report is commissioned by the Children Young People and Families (CYPF) Directorate of Oldham Council. It aims to provide an assessment of Oldham schools in terms of meeting the new duty, the key challenges they face, the opportunities and good practice taking place and to identify further support required for schools to meet their legal obligation and promote community cohesion within Oldham.

2.0 The Brief

There are three key components to the brief:

3.0 The Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo)

3.1 The Institute was established in 2005 to provide a new approach to race and diversity and, in particular, to focus on the development of harmonious community relations.

3.2 iCoCo is a unique partnership of academic, statutory and non-governmental bodies, which combines the experience and expertise of four Universities -namely, Coventry, Warwick, De Montfort and Leicester. Other key partners include Coventry and Leicester City Councils, Barrow Cadbury and the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA).

In addition, iCoCo has established an impressive practitioners network of over 300 plus Local Authorities across the UK.

3.3 iCoCo is committed to `improvement from within' by working with Local

Authorities and strategic partners and building on their current strengths. We therefore operate as a `critical friend', constantly questioning and challenging, but also trying to find ways of supporting councils and their strategic partners in improving community cohesion by bringing good practice and expertise to the recommendations we make.

3.4 Summary biographical details of the iCoCo review team can be found in Appendix II to this report.

4.0 Definition

4.1 What is Community Cohesion?

The definition most widely accepted is that put forward by the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) and the Local Government Association (LGA). It holds that a cohesive community is one in which there is:

appreciated and positively valued;

from different backgrounds in the workplace, in schools and within

neighbourhoods.

4.2 This has been recently augmented by the Commission for Integration and Cohesion (CIC) which has suggested that `rights and responsibilities' and `trust in local institutions' be included, which adds further credence to the schools agenda.

4.3 In March 2008 the Oldham Partnership published a revised Community Cohesion Strategy and Action Plan. This document sets out its shared values, vision and definition of community cohesion -

In Oldham we want to achieve a place:

To which people are proud to say they belong

Where people from different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds and with different incomes live side by side in peace and safety

Which is not disfigured by racism or other forms of prejudice, and where people treat each other with courtesy and respect

Where people support each other when they are in need, and where conflicts can be resolved rather than festering or growing

Where people receive, and feel they receive, fair treatment from organisations providing services, facilities and employment opportunities; and

Where people are able to contribute to decisions which affect their lives, and to participate fully in the economic, social and cultural life of the community.

4.4 Taking the above into account, the framework which underpins this Strategy is built upon three key pillars of Identity, Equality, and Engagement, which divide up into six cohesion outcomes.

Identity: by this we mean both shared identity and personal identity, wherein people share a sense of belonging and common identity, but are also strong in their own identities and respect others. We want to build a sense of what people have in common - pride in the Borough and its heritage and shared values - and pride in their own identity, whether that be in relation to race, faith, gender, age, sexuality or where they live.

Equality: our desired outcome is simply to create a more equal place, where people achieve greater equality in life opportunities.

Engagement: it is essential that people engage with each other and with organisations, so that they are enabled to relate to each other, play their part in society and create resilience to threats and conflict. We want to encourage positive interaction between people who have not previously tended to do so, for example between people from different ethnic or faith groups, inter-generational contact and the inclusion of disabled people. We want people to be empowered to play their part in the life of the Borough, through engaging with the Council and other organisations, getting involved in voluntary activity and so on. And we want to work together to identify potential threats and respond to hate crimes and incidents (those which are motivated by hatred or prejudice, such as because of people's sexuality or particular ethnic or faith group).

5.0 Methodology

5.1 In assessing what support schools in Oldham need to implement the New Duty, iCoCo:-

SECTION II

Background

2.0 Introduction

2.1 Oldham's population is currently around 219,600 with 17% of the population from Black and Minority ethnic communities. The population is expected to grow by 4% to reach around 228,000 by 2022. The largest two BME groups are from Pakistani heritage (7.1%) and Bangladeshi heritage (5.4%) with Black and Indian making up almost 1%. The ethnic diversity of Oldham is set to increase to around one-fifth (19.4%) in 2012, and to one quarter (24.6%) in 2022. Misbah to forward info on new communities.

2.2 Currently Oldham has a higher proportion of people aged 15 or under (28% are BME) and lower proportions of the population aged 65 or over. Generally, the proportion of children belonging to BME groups is highest for the youngest age bands. Nearly one third (31.3%) of 0 to 4 year olds, one quarter (25.4%) of 5 to 9 year olds and 25.7% of 10 to 14 year olds belong to BME groups. The population, as a whole, will “age” overall with 17% of the Oldham population over 65 by 2022.

2.3 The Borough of Oldham still remains highly segregated residentially with the overwhelming majority of BME population concentrated in just four of the Borough's twenty wards - i.e. those immediately surrounding Oldham Town Centre, namely, Coldhurst, Werneth, Alexandra and St. Mary's. Associated with this spatial distribution is BME concentration - to different degrees - in primary and secondary schools. Special school provision in Oldham is more ethnically diverse and with the increase of new migrants there is a changing local picture in outer areas such as St Aiden's and Oswalds.

A study conducted at Bristol University by leading experts on segregation concluded that `on average school segregation is greater than the segregation of the same group in the surrounding neighbourhood'. In other words children in Oldham and elsewhere are more segregated when in their schools than they are where they live. This highlights the significance of schools' work promoting community cohesion as schools are the places where most people first establish social relationships and the attitudes and behaviours that underpin them. Divisions seeded early in life reinforce differences in culture and religion and are part of the process by which communities may be said to lead separate and parallel lives

2.4 There are 92 Primary schools, 15 secondary schools and 3

Special Schools in Oldham. Approximately 67% of pupils are white and 32% of pupils are from BME communities.

Figure 1 illustrates the level of segregation in Oldham's schools.

Segregation in Oldham's Schools in 2008

     White pupils in majority population

      Type 1:   White pupils predominate (80% white or more)

      Type 11:   White pupils in majority (50% to 80% white)

Ethnic minority pupils in majority population

      Type 111:   Substantial white minority (30% to 50% white)

Type 1V:   Substantial ethnic minority in majority (ethnic minority 70% or more) but no single ethnic group dominant

Type V:   Substantial ethnic minority in majority (ethnic minority 70% or more) with one ethnic group 50% or more of the ethnic minority total.

Figure 1: Segregation levels in Oldham's Primary & Secondary schools 2008

Source: Oldham Schools PLASC Data Jan 2008 

2.5 According to Figure 1 there is far less Type 1 segregation in primary schools than there is in secondary school, and, there is far more Type V segregation at Primary School than at Secondary level.  

2.6 Type V segregation has remained fairly stable in Oldham's secondary schools with around 9.5% of the school population attending a school with Type V segregation in the years 2004 to 2008. The level of Type V segregation here, however, suggests that the figure of 9.5% is likely to increase as these primary school students move on to secondary school. However with the introduction of three new academies the increase of Type V is likely to be offset. The academies should also have a significant impact on reducing the high level of Type 1 segregation.

2.7 Figure 2 illustrates that Oldham's two largest BME groups, Bangladeshi and Pakistani, both see significantly higher percentages of pupils in primary schools than in secondary schools at this point in time in Oldham. This supports the general trend in Oldham which is that the proportion of children belonging to BME groups is highest for the youngest age bands.

Figure 2: BME groups by % in Oldham's Primary and Secondary schools 2008

Key

Ethnicity percentages by primary collaborative and school phase - DCSF main codes

Compulsory school ages only - first or only registration

ABAN Bangladeshi AIND Indian

AOTH Any other Asian Background APKN Pakistani

BAFR Black African BCRB Black Caribbean

BOTH Any other Black background CHNE Chinese

MOTH Any other Mixed Background MWAS White and Asian

MWBA White and Black African MWBC White and Black Caribbean

NOBT Information not yet Obtained OOTH Any other ethnic background

REFU Refused WBRI White British

WIRI White Irish WIRT Traveller or Irish Heritage

WOTH Any other White Background WROM Gypsy and Roma

Source: Oldham Schools PLASC Data Jan 2008

2.2.1 Impact of Segregation in Schools

2.2.1 It is well documented that in highly segregated areas schools can provide one of the few opportunities where different communities can come together and have meaningful interactions. However, in such areas schools can come to reflect patterns of residential segregation becoming sites where children and parents meet mostly those of their own ethnic group and thus accentuate rather than diminish issues of segregation, or worse, become an arena for tensions and conflict in the wider community to be played out.

2.2.3 In Oldham and elsewhere, where various ethnic communities live in separate residential communities, it can be seen from the data above that many of their children will attend schools with similar cultural compositions. Furthermore, in order to promote their own cultural norms and values, it may be that many parents will select schools for their children where these are emphasised, where `difference' is privileged and inter-cultural contact restricted, if not precluded.

2.2.3 The degree of ethnic segregation in schools “may affect such things as the level and distribution of academic achievement in the population, racial attitudes, subsequent social and economic outcomes of students, and patterns of residential integration”

2.2.4 Even where schools have a mixed intake of pupils with no one ethnic group dominating, there is evidence of pupils `sticking to' their own ethnic groups, mainly in the playground, but also in friendship groups and associations outside the school gates. This is not the case where a distinct premium has been placed in school association, such as, the school atrium at The Radclyffe school

2.2.5 Segregation is not the only factor affecting cohesion in schools. Pupils of different ethnic backgrounds achieving unequal outcomes in respect of academic achievement can also be divisive. Given the link between areas with high levels of deprivation and under performing schools, the concern is that inequalities in academic achievement can lead to poor cohesion.

2.2.6 Marked differences in attainment by ethnicity can be seen when looking at attainment levels in Oldham schools. Figure 3 illustrates the differences amongst the 5 key ethnic male groups in Oldham at Key stage 4.

Male attainment at Key Stage 4 in Oldham's Schools

Figure 3: Percentage of males in Oldham achieving 5 or more A*-C grades at KS4 by ethnicity, 2007

Source: KS4 Ethnicity Reports 2007

2.2.8 Figure 3 shows that male attainment in Oldham at GCSE level has seen significant increases across all ethnicities between 2003 and 2007. Of the five classifications listed on the graph and table, all have seen improved percentages of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades over the last five years.

2.2.9 When comparing by ethnicity, white males are the highest achievers in Oldham's schools with 56.4% of those taking their GCSEs in 2007 achieving 5 or more A*-C grades. This is up from just 39.1% in 2003.

2.2.10 Bangladeshi boys in Oldham's schools are the second highest achieving group and have made the greatest improvements in attainment since 2003 with 50.4% now achieving five or more A*-C grades as compared to just 28.3% in 2003. Interestingly though an improvement can be clearly seen over the five year time-frame this has actually fallen back since 2005.

2.2.11 Black males in Oldham's schools are the group with the lowest levels of attainment at KS4 and have also seen the smallest improvement since 2003 (though they too have fallen back since 2005). Just 23.5% of Black male pupils taking GCSEs in Oldham's schools in 2007 achieved five or more A*-C grades. This is less than half of White and Bangladeshi pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades.

Female attainment at Key Stage 4 in Oldham's Schools

Figure 4: Percentage of females in Oldham achieving 5 or more A*-C grades at KS4 by ethnicity, 2007

Source: KS4 Ethnicity Reports 2007

2.2.12 As with Figure 3 which showed an increase in attainment across the board for boys with regards to KS4 results, we can see the same pattern with female attainment with the one difference being that the females started and finished with significantly higher average attainment that the males.

2.2.14 White girls have shown a steady increase in attainment from 2003 to 2007 but their rate of improvement has been outstripped by that of girls from all over ethnic backgrounds except Pakistani who have improved at a similar rate.

SECTION III

Findings

3.0 Ethnic Segregation

3.1 The number one challenge for the Borough, identified in the one to one interviews, and substantiated by the plethora of reports following the 2001 disturbances, is the degree to which communities in Oldham remain divided.

3.1.1 Due to the intense focus on Oldham and the strong commitment and leadership of the Council and its Partners there has been much good work being undertaken by schools in promoting community cohesion.

3.1.2 The Schools Twinning project is one of the oldest in the country and has contributed greatly in giving children the opportunity to meet others who are different to them. Indeed the success of the Twinning project in Oldham, Bradford and elsewhere has led to DCSF funding the Schools Linking Network in 2007.

3.1.3 Oldham therefore starts from a very strong base and the new CYPF Community Cohesion strategy outlines in detail the achievement of schools in this area as well as the local support on offer to schools in order to move this agenda on.

3.1.4 Oldham took part in the pilot community cohesion inspections earlier this year and the Inspectors were impressed with what they saw. In their Ofsted summary report it was recognised that in terms of promoting community cohesion; `Oldham Council has worked hard, within its range of partnerships and links, to support and guide its schools and to support its colleges; and the visits made by inspectors have provided strong evidence of its success. Schools and the colleges have responded very positively to the lead taken by the Authority and have seized the opportunities offered which enable their learners to become more responsible and active citizens. In turn this has led our interviews with children and young people to demonstrate the clear impact of this work, in terms of their own values, attitudes and aspirations.'

3.1.5 However despite the efforts by the Council, schools and local communities Oldham still remains segregated and many schools reflect this context by being divided along ethnic and class lines.

3.2 School Twinning

3.2.1 All the schools interviewed spoke about their concerns that meaningful interaction between different groups remains limited. Many cited school twinning as a very important vehicle for establishing contact and spoke highly of its impact on changing attitudes of children. For many schools it was the only real opportunity for establishing interaction , however, it was felt that the lack of consistent support and funding of this initiative impeded the opportunity to develop real friendships as interactions were adhoc, time limited and piecemeal.

3.2.2 Many of the teachers interviewed cited pressurised timetables as a barrier to giving `twinning' the time and effort it requires being successful and sustainable. Further many expressed concern that `twinning' incurred extra cost such as travel or use of ICT facilities such as video conferencing which needed to be found within a very tight school budget.

3.3.1 The majority of schools interviewed expressed great concern for the increasingly important issue of class segregation, which in some areas, was as important as the issue of ethnic segregation. There was a feeling that the divide between rich and poor was increasing and that there was a real sense of hostility between the `have's and the `have nots'. One teacher spoke about the trip to Oldham Market which her children (and parents) feared, due to the fact they were going into an inner city area. She described the unease with which her children looked at others commenting more on their clothes than their ethnic origin.

3.4 Teaching and Curriculum

3.4.1 It was felt by the majority of the schools that the requirements of the National Curriculum and its assessment limited the successful promotion of community cohesion. Most schools however used core subjects as such as RE, PSHE, History, English, Sports, Arts and Drama as opportunities to incorporate community cohesion issues.

3.4.2 There was some innovative work done on issues of identity and belonging, race equality, cultural awareness and global citizenship across primary and secondary schools. It is significant that these pockets of good work in all schools are seldom shared effectively with other schools and precious staff resources are spent re-inventing the wheel or duplicating rather than building on the successes of other schools.

3.4.3 Despite progress in this area, many teachers spoke about the lack of time to go into any real depth on cohesion issues within core subjects, this was due to the pressures of delivering the national curriculum,. Many also stated that nationally based curriculum materials available to them on cohesion issues were generally poor. The CYPF school materials on citizenship and diversity were seen as useful in addressing this gap. For some schools, however, it had been a long time since they had looked at these materials. It was felt that the CYPF school materials on citizenship and identity could be further strengthened by taking account of the current challenges facing some schools (such as class divisions and the poor attainment of white boys). The use of local faith groups in order to understand difference was also cited as limited and ad hoc with the majority of schools restricted to engagement with Islam or Christianity.

3.4.4 In a number of schools, initiatives such as Philosophy for Children and the Rights Respecting School agenda are being used to transform teaching and learning and are helping to tackle issues of difference with impressive results.

3.5 Diversity of Teaching Staff

3.5.1 A key cohesion challenge for schools internally, and indeed a national one for DCSF, is the fact that in every school interviewed, the teaching staff are not ethnically diverse and do they adequately reflect the diversity of their local communities. There are currently 3 head teachers from BME communities in Oldham schools compared to 139 white head teachers, and, there are only 122 BME teachers across the Borough compared to 2487 drawn from the white communities.

3.5.2 In contrast there is a significant number of teaching assistants (TAs) (135 BME TAs and 945 White TAs) which are drawn from the local communities and this has enhanced the sense of well being in schools who value the additional skills and experience that TAs bring as well as the fact they address the skills gap in schools where the teaching body is predominantly White.

3.6.1 It was acknowledged by all those interviewed that the engagement of parents (both White and Asian) to promote community cohesion is vital. However all schools agreed this is often the biggest barrier to implementing the New Duty. Many felt that schools had some control of the two strands of the new duty; teaching, learning and curriculum and equity and excellence. It was felt a great deal of impact could and indeed has been made in these areas to challenge prejudice and tackle inequalities.

3.6.4 Engaging with parents while their children are in early years settings has the greatest impact in terms of community cohesion. The work done in one children's centre using Philosophy for Parents to challenge prejudice is an excellent example of how to engage parents in the cohesion agenda.

3.7 Engagement and extended services

3.7.1 In order for schools to actively deliver effectively on the third strand of the New Duty they need to engage more widely with local partners. Schools alone cannot successfully deliver this agenda. All schools interviewed had little or no awareness/involvement with wider cohesion work in the Borough.

3.7.2 In addition, to be able to engage and provide extended services schools need to be aware of their local communities need. Generally schools agreed that this was their weakest area, in implementing the New Duty, relying on conversations at the school gate with parents and general word of mouth issues of need/conflict in the area to determine priorities. Those schools which have developed a more strategic approach to engagement by using parent surveys, home liaison officers or non teaching staff to develop community engagement, are both able to evidence community needs and to provide services on site which cater for those needs. These extended services are also attended by a diverse range of service users.

3.8 Low attainment of poor White boys

3.8.1 Another key finding from the Diagnostic Review is that whilst previous community cohesion reviews focussed on the lack of attainment of Pakistani/Bangladeshi children in Oldham, there is a shift showing that there is an emerging new underclass of `white Boys' who are bottom of the class (Check stats at Key stage 1-3 to support this). This trend highlights a common issue that adversely affects both parents from White British background and BME backgrounds. This could be a potential area for parents too work together in addressing.

3.8.2 The majority of the schools interviewed stated that white boys from deprived backgrounds are the single group needing most support in their schools. Many teachers expressed great concern for this section of the community highlighting the lack of adequate curriculum materials and resources to raise attainment of this group.

3.8.3 Two secondary schools in Oldham are adopting cutting-edge work to address this underachievement through direct academic intervention. This has led to impressive results. These boys have been taken out of mainstream groups and put into a separate class to allow for individual attention and support. In addition they have been exposed to extra-curricular activities tailored to their needs in order to boost confidence and competence. One primary school has also provided direct intervention at Key Stage 1 for example by selecting reading materials that are particularly suited to underachieving boys.

3.9 Academies

3.9.1 The strongest views raised during the interviews were about the proposed academies. The majority of those interviewed voiced concerns that the academies were too little too late and could lead to further tensions amongst parents, pupils and the wider communities. Academies which are part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme are perceived by many in Oldham to be a national policy imposed on Oldham as a way to socially engineer integration of the different groups and hence promote community cohesion.

3.9.2 Parents, pupils and teachers have not felt they can either influence or own this agenda. The debate has remained stuck on bricks and mortar issues, ie on the location of these academies, rather than on the potential to raise aspirations, provide new opportunities, subjects and learning environment these Academies will present for Oldham.

3.10 Conclusions

3.10.1 In conclusion it was acknowledged by all those interviewed that there are no quick fixes and building community cohesion is a long term agenda. There is much good work in Oldham schools which needs to be shared locally and some exemplar work which should be showcased nationally. Overall however general cohesion work in schools in Oldham is often under resourced, time limited and piecemeal lacking strategic direction.

3.10.2 All schools interviewed have begun their community cohesion journey but many are unsure of the next phase. CYPF and schools in Oldham need to consolidate this learning, expertise and experience in order to move forward with the community agenda. Whilst certain issues such as ethnic segregation persist other issues have changed since 2001. Therefore Oldham needs to redefine a strategic approach to cohesion which does not look to the past disturbances for its reference points, but looks to the future challenges of a new equalities landscape, increasing class segregation, low attainment of poor White boys, rising extremism, economic downturn and the skills deficit, increasing population churn and an ageing population if it is to reduce divisions and strengthen unity.

Section IV

Making Community Cohesion Happen:

What the New duty Means for Schools

15^th September 2008

The feedback from the interviews informed the structure and content of the

one day Community Cohesion conference on the 15^th September 2008.

Over 150 people attended the conference which was made up of Head Teachers, Teachers, Parents, Governors, Local Authority and its Partners. The aim of the conference was to explore the challenges and opportunities the New Duty to Promote community Cohesion presents and to showcase local good practice.

The Key points from each session are below:-

4.0 Welcome and Introduction: Andrew Kilburn, Chief Executive Oldham Council

Very pleased that we have today an opportunity to unlock and showcase good practice in Oldham.

4.1 The role of community cohesion in schools, Professor Ted Cantle

(Refer to power point but some key messages given below)

iCoCo approach the conference today by building on the successes and focus on the future .Oldham is very different from many other authorities and the key is to break down the insularity of communities, and try and create a sense of belonging. Education needs to give young people the skills for cultural navigation and find ways round a much more dynamic world.

Building links between communities and breaking down barriers must include parents and whole communities, not just the children. Oldham has had success through school twinning which has allowed some young people to grow up experiencing different views. Other ways to explore this is:

Need to ensure community cohesion is not seen as something separate and explore what it means at a local level:

To conclude the key is how you bring partners together and see the future which has to be about creating a diversely engaged Oldham. Head teachers need the space to explore the agenda, provide leadership and to take ownership of the work. It does need a wider ownership, for example with governors, but partnerships are two-way and schools need to demand more of other agencies and to work collaboratively with other schools and with all agencies.

4.2 Segregation in schools? How will change impact on schools in the future? Professor Simon Burgess

(Refer to the power point but key points made below)

From the floor

Response

Focus was upon all state schools. The duty applies to all maintained schools. Most Muslim schools are independent and not included but are being offered the chance to become maintained. A small number of other minority faith schools have taken this step, but most faith schools are Cof E or RC. There are good and bad in both sectors but some faith schools do contribute to segregation where faith and ethnicity are aligned.

Use of Britishness as a concept in Education is worrying as it could be a way couching superiority. What are your views?

Response

Any top down notion is difficult. If ask people what it means they say it's about fish and chips or other cultural dimensions. It is difficult to pin down and schools need to give students a chance to debate it more in terms of values.

A bottom-up approach is also productive, by getting people to negotiate the way they relate to others - which will change over time - people will talk about culture, gang's relationships.

Are schools equally segregated on socio economic lines?

Response

Patterns are different and related. Some ethnic minority communities experience higher poverty rates than White people. Segregation is not dependent upon poverty.

4.3 The New Duty to Promote Community Cohesion, Adam Newman Turner, iCoCo

(Refer to power point but some key points below:)

4.6 Case Study 1 Leeds Academy, Ros McMullen

(Refer to power point )

Key points made below:

4.7 Case Study 2 The Radclyffe school, Hardial Hayer

(Refer to power point)

Some key points:

4.8 Case Study 3 Stanley Road Community Primary school, Nye Goodwin

(Refer to the power point)

Some key points:

4.9 Morning workshop

4.9.1 Parent Engagement

Presentations from:-Lynne Burnley, Headteacher of St Hughs Primary School

Des Hurlihy, Headteacher of Royton and Crompton Secondary School

Some Key points:-

Challenges to Parent engagement:-

4.9.2 Teaching, Learning Curriculum

Presentations from: Adrian Guy, Head Teacher of Whitegate End Primary School and Nigel Wickham, History and Geography Networks Coordinator, Education Consultant

Some key points:

4.9.3 Academies

Presentation from Kathy August, Principal at Manchester Academy

and input from Ros McMullen, Principal at Leeds Academy

Some Key points:

4.9.4 School at the heart of the community

Presentations from Bernard Phillips, Headteacher of Breeze Hill

Nicola Melvin, Community Plan - Family Support Co-ordinator, The Radclyffe School

Some key points:

4.10 Emerging themes in Oldham, Alveena Malik Principal Associate iCoCo

(Refer to power point)

Some key points:

Challenges

4.11 Oldham Offer and Revised Community Cohesion Strategy, Richard Gore and Graham McGuffie

Some key points:-

4.12 Leading to Respect; James Ferguson

4.13. Action planning session

Feedback session

14.0 Closing Remarks, Andrew Kilburn Chief Executive Oldham Council

Section V

Recommendations

5.0 The recommendations made below take into consideration the review of policy documents, feedback from the interviews and also points raised at the school's conference.

5.1 Recommendations in this section are in support of and are also an extension of those made by iCoCo in 2006. All of the recommendations made for the schools in the previous report still stand in 2008 and for the foreseeable future.

They are :-

attention to increasing the representation of BME governors on School

Governing Boards and also in challenging existing Boards on how they can contribute to building community cohesion in the future.

5.2 Both in 2006 and in 2008 it is very apparent that schools are playing an important role in promoting community cohesion within Oldham. Many schools in Oldham have impressively approached issues of diversity, equality and community cohesion and taken bold steps to respect religious difference and celebrate different cultures. The following recommendations are aimed to support schools in continuing to play their role to the fullest.

5.3 Ethnic Segregation

5.3.1 Early Years Provision

Tackling ethnic segregation at the earliest stage will have the greatest impact. Building community cohesion into all Early Years services is crucial in desegregating communities in the long term.

5.3.2 Most early years centres will be working to implement the Early Years Foundations Stage Learning and Development Requirements which are now obligatory. They contain a range of helpful prompts to embed community cohesion learning throughout provision. Guidance and support will be needed to ensure that all centres take this opportunity to make a significant and long term contribution to Oldham's cohesion strategy. Leadership and coordination will also be needed to ensure that these developments connect with relevant work in primary schools and beyond and form the foundation of a 3 - 19 cohesion learning strategy.

5.3.3 The new Children Centres and extended schools agenda in Oldham provide real opportunity to ensure mixed intake and to establish dialogue and meaningful interaction between parents. Adopting approaches such as parent classes and philosophy for parents are excellent tools in breaking down barriers between different communities. Approaches such as parent classes and philosophy for parents are excellent tools to help break down barriers between different communities. These can be valuable in other settings as well as early years.

5.4 Encouraging Positive Community Responses

It is also important to ensure all community cohesion policies and approaches to reduce ethnic segregation aim to secure buy- in from all the local communities. Embedded in each approach should be the principle of `fairness' so that one community does not perceive it is being ignored at the expense of another or that the burden of social responsibility is placed only on one section of the community. Oldham Council will need to play an important role here in ensuring its communication strategies publicise facts widely and also the rationale for why decisions are made on issues such as community funding and capacity at a community level and location of new Academies etc.

5.5 School twinning

5.5.1 Schools linking programmes have become established between a number of schools in Oldham and elsewhere. In some cases these have been very successful and have led to significant learning for the children involved. Where they have become embedded into curriculum programmes and sustained greater spin-off benefits start to emerge, but this is not always the case due to the constraints mentioned earlier. This work needs to be positively supported, developed and consolidated in order to build bridges across communities in Oldham. Possible ways of further extending the Links Project include encouraging teacher swaps, stronger links between urban and rural schools and working class and middle class schools.

5.5.2 The Schools Twinning Programme works best where it is part of a range of activities to promote interaction between pupils and parents of different backgrounds in the wider local community. These activities also work well where schools had developed a close working relationship with the Youth Service and Community Support Services.

5.5.3 In particular, and given adequate resources, the school linking project could be an important vehicle in developing a sense of shared vision and identity between pupils coming together to form the three new academies. A regular programme over the next four years of joint lessons, extra-curricular activities, teacher swaps, parent engagement (using Philosophy for Parents approach) and twinning of governors, could positively impact on the confidence and establish a more optimistic view of the proposed Academies.

5.5.4 Consideration should also be given to other ways of building bridges between schools, such as promoting further successful work from the established Young People's Interfaith Forum, including more inter-school sport and leisure activities. Caution is needed here however, as experience suggests that in some cases competitive tournaments set up between schools predominantly of different ethnicity can exacerbate tensions rather than reduce them. These recommendations require extra funding as schools report that the current budget limitations can result in poorly planned short-term projects and a lack of strategic approach and direction at the school level.

5.6 Social Class Segregation

5.6.1 It is important to note that the issue of social class segregation is as important in many areas as ethnicity and any approaches to cohesion need to go wider than just race.

Opportunities should be made for pupils from working class/middle class and rural/ urban schools in the Borough to develop meaningful interaction.

5.6.2 A project to raise aspirations which targets class difference could raise attainment of both the White and Asian communities in Oldham.

5.7 Teaching, Learning Curriculum

5.7.1 A Framework for Cohesion Learning in Oldham

Work should be initiated by the LA with leading practitioners to develop a local framework document for schools that will suggest entitlement learning and experiences to be made available to all young people in Oldham. This should set out attitudes, skills and knowledge needed by young people to appreciate diversity and to make their own contributions to cohesion throughout their lives. It should be designed specifically for the Oldham context, relating to Oldham community resources but also utilising the most relevant national materials and making them easily accessible to Oldham schools. It is important that cohesion issues beyond ethnicity and religion are emphasised and creative approaches to tackling class and economic divisions are explored. The Oldham community cohesion web environment should host this framework to allow updating and development.

As a part of this work, existing CYPF school resource materials on promoting community cohesion need to be represented by the LA and more extensively used across the Borough. In addition. new materials need to be developed in light of current cohesion challenges that go beyond ethnicity and religion.

5.7.2 Guidance for auditing, planning and evaluation

Some schools in the interview sample suggested that they would welcome some guidance in auditing their curriculum with regard to the promotion of community cohesion. A starting point for this work would be a selected group of schools joining a short-term working group to pilot and evaluate the various audit tools available (e.g. from Teachernet and Leicester City Council), make suitable adaptations for the Oldham context and make the resulting audit materials widely available to all schools. As responses to the cohesion duty are developing nationally, many schools are seeking guidance on how to evaluate the work - to assess baselines across the many relevant aspects of school life, to establish useful indicators to monitor progress and to arrive at overall evaluations. Work in this area could be developed by the same pilot group (or a similar group) addressing the use of specific indicators in the Oldham context.

5.7.3 Philosophy for Children (P4C) and the Rights Respecting School Award should be extended to all schools across the Borough and particular attention given to how these initiatives can be adopted at secondary level. Local teachers who have developed expertise in delivering these approaches should be released to offer support in other schools within Oldham and develop a programme of network learning between schools.

5.7.4 Multi-faith Learning and Inter-faith Work

When working to develop respect for religious difference schools need to expand study opportunities that go beyond Christianity and Islam. In their work to develop understanding and tolerance of other faiths schools should deploy a wider range of learning activities and resources to build on the current practice of study visits to local religious buildings. Engagement with all faith and non faith organisations in Multifaith Oldham must be increased and developed There is a growing network of faith organisations, and a range of guidance, resources and teaching material available for schools to explore (for example Faith in the System, Interfaith Network etc.). The young people's Interfaith Forum provides a real opportunity for pupil-led engagement in this area. The SACRE in Oldham can also play a supportive role.

6.0 Diversity of Education Workforce

6.1 Improving the supply of support workers

A targeted programme to further support ethnic minority teaching assistants in Oldham to gain teaching qualifications will significantly improve the diversity of the teaching profession. Breeze Hill Secondary school, for instance has produced eight graduate trainees, four of which are from the BME communities and all of whom began as volunteers or TAs in school. This approach has greatly increased the confidence, competence and cohesion within the teaching body and the whole school. In the longer term, Oldham MBC needs to work with teacher training colleges to ensure a mixed representation on teacher training courses.

6.2 Local communities that include BME families often have a wide range of English language competence and learning needs amongst their adult populations. The provision of low-cost classes can be targeted at local needs in such a way as to emphasise opportunities to join the education work force. This can include specific development programmes for support workers in schools (e.g. the SWIS Programme) as well as language, ICT, parent and family learning. This approach may link with measures to increase recruitment of governors representing the various communities of Oldham

6.3 Professional Development for the Workforce

Community Cohesion Training providers need to train all teaching staff in Oldham in order to address the percieved lack of confidence and competence in dealing with `tricky issues'.

7.0 Parent Engagement

7.1 Exploratory work in home-school liaison could re-focus attention on community cohesion issues. Building on previous work on home-school agreements, schools and early years settings could work on a new charter for parents to sign which embeds community cohesion commitments for the school and the parents. Governors, Parents and their children should be encouraged to participate in a dialogue over what specific aspects should be included. For example agreeing to ensure zero tolerance of racism promoting respect, tolerance and interaction with others, at home and at school. This may be appropriate for piloting and consultation work in selected areas of Oldham.

7.2 The Philosophy for Parents programme should be extended across all Early Years provision and schools in Oldham.

8.0 Engagement and Extended Services

8.1 Schools should consolidate existing information on local communities collated by local public service providers, and, if necessary undertake regular community needs surveys in order to inform priorities and focus for onsite extended services. The extended services team are an important partner in this area and have up to date information on local community profiles etc.

8.2 Schools should feed this information to CYPF in order to build up a local picture of community cohesion issues. CYPF can use this information to better inform policy and decisions on service provision.

9.0 Low Attainment of poor White Boys

9.1 Some examples of direct academic intervention are working at primary and secondary level in Oldham. One secondary school is using the model developed by Hurworth School in Darlington of Assertive Mentoring to raise attainment of White boys with very positive results. This approach seeks to enable pupils to achieve with no loss of stature amongst their peers, by receiving quick and direct feedback on progress and for deals to be struck leaving pupils with explicit interventions. This model should be piloted, tested and evaluated in other Oldham schools with a view to using it in all schools. Lessons from intervention work with Black Boys locally and nationally should be looked at in order to make comparisons, identify what works and avoid reinventing the wheel.

9.2 As academic intervention initiatives are developed, work should be done to see how community cohesion elements can be built in ensuring that life skills are included which prepare young people to work and live in a multifaith, multiethnic and multicultural Britain and beyond.

10.0 Academies

10.1 Academies present a real opportunity to provide meaningful interaction for future generations. Much is to be learned from Oldham Sixth Form College, in getting pupils to better relate to each other during school hours. Bristol, Burnley, Manchester and Leeds academies also provide important lessons on how to make academies work in challenging circumstances such as ethnically segregated areas.

10.2 Strong leadership from the Council, inspirational vision from the local education department and teaching staff, real engagement of parents and pupils and shared ownership by the wider communities are the important success criteria.

10.3 A community-led approach which builds ownership and taps into the needs and aspirations of all communities is most likely to succeed. A successful community engagement strategy can demonstrate publicly that white and BME communities have a lot in common regarding what they want to see in the academies. These commonalities will provide opportunities for partnership work between different groups of parents and different groups of pupils. It will be useful to identify external organisations with experience in community engagement to facilitate a community-led approach in order to avoid local sensitivities, ensure neutrality and independence draw upon experienced facilitation skills to widely accepted consensus about priorities

10.4 Setting up Student Councils made up of pupils affected by the proposed Academies to put forward their aspirations and concerns is important.

10.5 Consultation Forums

Setting up collaborative work between student councils made up of pupils affected by the proposed academies and creating proper consultative forums for students to explore their aspirations and concerns with key decision makers is essential

10.6 Using the Link Schools Project to start twinning of schools to be merged into the new Academies is important. In addition important to look at teacher/governor swaps and parent engagement between the two schools in order to establish dialogue and an opportunity to develop a shared approach to the new structure.

10.7 Oldham may want to access the newly launched community cohesion camps by Minister Beverley Hughes in order to establish contact between pupils who will come together in the new Academies.

10.8 The debate needs to move from where it currently stands on issues of location to deeper issues of the opportunities Academies will provide in providing new, safe, disciplined learning environments taking the best of previous schools and leaving the worst behind. Establishing a steering group which is diverse and also has cohesion experts on it will ensure cohesion principles are embedded from the outset and therefore challenges for cohesion are minimised.

11.0 Conclusion

11.1 Oldham is already leading the way in much of the policy and practice on community cohesion, but because of the may deep seated and difficult problems it faces, there is clearly much more to do.

11.2 Many of the recommendations made above are medium to long term. In order for schools to meet the New Duty now and be prepared for any forthcoming Ofsted inspections it is important for schools to assess for themselves where they are in terms of community cohesion activities by using the cohesion audit tool available on the teachernet website (www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion/communitycohesionresourcepack/). Importantly, to ensure this work is sustained CYPF and schools need to develop a strategic and consistent approach to promoting community cohesion.

11.3 The final recommendation is for a steering group (made up of CYPF members, Heads and Governors) to be set up to monitor the implementation of the new duty, support schools by sharing practice on dealing with cohesion challenges and learning from what works or does not in terms of community engagement, community needs audits, provision of extended services and so forth.

APPENDIX I

Schools Interviewed

Schools Visited

Primary Secondary

Freehold Hathershaw

Limeside Grange

Friezland Breezehill

Deplh Royton and

Crompton

Broadfield The Radclyffe

St Thomas St Augustine RC

St Hughs Bluecoat

Stanley Rd

Mather St

St Stephens and All Martyrs

Whitegate End

Appendix 11

Team Biographies

Professor Ted Cantle, CBE - Chair, iCoCo

Ted established the Institute of Community Cohesion, iCoCo in 2005 and holds the post of Executive Chair.

In over 30 years in public service, Ted has held a wide range of senior positions at a local level and has served on a number of national bodies focussing, in particular, on urban regeneration and key social and economic problems. He has been responsible for many action research projects, a wide range of development programmes and has helped to establish a number of new policy frameworks.

Ted was the Chief Executive of Nottingham City Council between 1990 and 2001. Previous positions include Director of Housing in Leicester City Council and in Wakefield MDC and Under Secretary at the AMA.

In August 2001, Ted was appointed by the Home Secretary to Chair the Community Cohesion Review Team and to lead the review on the causes of the summer disturbances in a number of northern towns and cities. The `Cantle Report' was produced in December 2001 and made around 70 recommendations. The concept of `community cohesion' was subsequently adopted by the Government and Ted was asked to chair the Panel which advised Ministers on implementation.

He is presently Associate Director at the IDeA and also a member of the Board of the Environment Agency for England and Wales.

Ted has contributed over 200 articles and publications on a wide range of subjects including, `social capital', `housing defects' race and housing' `sustainable development' `leadership' and `community cohesion' - which is the subject of his book: Community Cohesion: A New Framework for Race and Diversity .

He was awarded the CBE in 2004.

Daljit Kaur - Director Development Services, iCoCo

Daljit is Director, Service Development at iCoCo, having joined the Institute at its inception in 2005. Her role is to work with organisations and individuals from all sectors to help provide practical solutions to the Community Cohesion challenges. She has played a key role in many of iCoCo's local reviews, including Oldham, Sandwell, Bolton, Sunderland and the London Boroughs of Hounslow, Waltham Forest and Lambeth. In addition she has undertaken extensive work in relation to elected member development, schools and their duty to promote community cohesion and the mapping of local communities and the development of engagement and participation strategies.

Prior to this Daljit has 20 years work experience in Training and Development, Organisational Development, Human Resources, Equalities and Diversity with Sheffield City Council and 17 years experience of working with the voluntary, community and faith sectors across South Yorkshire.

Daljit was a member of the Cantle Review team in 2001 and was also an integral part of the IDeA's Community Cohesion team working across the country engaged in identifying strategic priorities and action planning for community cohesion. She also assisted in delivering Modern Member modules on community cohesion and leadership. She was also the IDeA's advisor for Beacons on the theme of supporting the Social Care Workforce and was a member part of the team that assessed and advised the ODPM on the Race Equality Beacon's theme.

Her particular interests are in community cohesion, equality and diversity in service areas such as education, employment and housing and in broader areas of social and economic regeneration. She is experienced in community involvement, policy development, service delivery in the area of employment programmes, facilitation and training and development.

Alveena Malik - Principal Associate, Education, iCoCo

Alveena is a Principal Associate with iCoCo with lead responsibility on Education and Cohesion policy.

Alveena has worked on issues of community cohesion for the past decade including working for Barnardos and Cardiff Bay Development Corporation.

In 2000 Alveena joined the CRE where she was responsible for developing national policy on race and regeneration. After the 2001 disturbances Alveena held the portfolio for community cohesion and regeneration. She sat on the LGA Community Cohesion steering group which produced the Community Cohesion guidance (2000) and the Community Cohesion Practitioners Toolkit (2004).

In 2005 Alveena became CRE Head of Communities and Integration Policy and was responsible for promulgating new thinking around the Integration agenda and mainstreaming this into Whitehall policy making . She led the development of CRE policy on issues of Migration, Segregation, Extremism, Interfaith dialogue and Conflict resolution and mediation.

As Deputy Convenor of the Government's Preventing Extremism Together (PET) Task Group in 2005, she presented a number of proposals to the Home Secretary to consider in tackling deprivation, disaffection and disengagement amongst Muslim communities in Britain. In 2007 she was appointed as Special Adviser to the film Brick Lane and was appointed Adviser to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee on Migration and Cohesion. In 2008 Alveena was appointed for six months as Policy Adviser to Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Annette Hay - Project Manager

Annette Hay is Project Manager for iCoCo. As such Annette is engaged in several projects of work around the country, and has already made a significant contribution to a number of Reviews of community cohesion, building on her successful background in community engagement and working with young people. She has also been involved in several iCoCo led projects in Lambeth, Wolverhampton, Oldham and Bristol. As well as supporting iCoCo at a number of regional conferences on the New Duty to Promote Community Cohesion in schools.

Annette has a particular interest in Education and Young People and as such she played a key role in developing and implementing the successful, `Young Gifted and Educated' Project aimed at raising the attainment levels of African Caribbean and Mixed Heritage Young People in and outside of schools in Coventry. This project was recognised nationally as an example of Good Practice. In addition Annette has over 20 years' experience of working with the Voluntary and Community Sectors throughout the region, mainly supporting and working with BME organisations and groups including, Osaba Women's Centre, NIACE's Black Practitioners Learners Network, Advantage West Midlands Ethnic Minority Business Network and many more.

Adam Newman Turner, Associate, Education, iCoCo

Adam is an education consultant with 35 years experience in comprehensive education, twenty of which include senior management, secondary headship and local authority advice and inspection work. Having been county adviser for equal opportunities, PSHE and citizenship, his consultancy, writing and training work now centres on active, participatory methods for intercultural learning and global citizenship, and positive strategies for motivating learning behaviour. He is a part-time Associate Deputy Head Teacher at Rushey Mead School, Leicester, a large city comprehensive school with 93% minority ethnic origin students aged 11-16, where he has developed numerous student leadership projects for which the school has gained an international reputation. Adam is joint UK Coordinator for the European Commission Comenius `Get-in!' Network which facilitates international learning for schools, serving ethnically diverse communities. Adam recently edited the European Commission's `Get-in manual for international school projects' now published in seven languages.

iCoCo Review `Challenging Local communities to Change Oldham' 2006

Oldham's Joint Strategic Needs Assessment of Health and well Being 2008 - pg11

Parallel lives? Ethnic segregation in the playground and the neighbourhood 04

Simon Burgess, Deborah Wilson and Ruth Lupton

School and Residential Ethnic Segregation: An Analysis of Variations across England's Local Education Authorities by Ron Johnston, Simon Burgess 2006

Clotfelter 2001, p. 199

iCoCo 2006 Review - `Challenging Local communities to Change Oldham' pg 56

Assertive Mentoring pack is available from www.modellearning.com

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