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It'll be great to see you become active on the Learning Exchange. I hope that you'll find it useful when you need a sounding board and when you have good practice to share about your extra-curricular programmes or your other extended school and community focused activities. It'll be great too if you find inspiration and ideas here. Here are some of the things you can do on the site: 

Be a blogger   The Learning Exchange is about sharing challenges, successes and ideas. And, yes, you're busy, but it would be great if you could find a little inspiration and time during your week to write a reflective blog here about your work. No need to do it every week - now and then would be just great. But you never know, the blogging bug might bite and before long you could be churning one out regularly. We're interested what hasn't worked out that well too - and the reasons why; this is the Learning Exchange, after all... you never know what advice or ideas other members may have to share if you try blogging. Also, don't forget to share you documents on the website. You can do this by clicking on the documents tab above your member profile.
And... a big bonus for voluntary and community organisations that are registered on the Learning Exchange VCS Hub: use your blogging space on the Learning Exchange to promote your extra-curricular activities to schools and local authorities.

Tap into the forums   Need advice with tricky issues? Cluster managers and local authority-based extended services staff are thinner on the ground now, so our offer here at the Learning Exchange is to find you answers as quickly as possible. If we can't, we'll put you in touch with someone who can. Members have found the Feeling stumped? forum particularly useful - that's  where you can ask any question whatsoever about developing extended services, or running an extra-curricular programme. Take a look at all the forums.

Explore the Learning Exchange Library  There's a huge amount in it - and we're constantly hunting for more on your behalf. Please tell us if there is anything missing.

A big idea    Offering extra-curricular activities and extended services at schools, in schools or near them, is a powerful way for schools to raise the aspirations and achievement levels of their pupils and to connect productively with their communities. The idea isn't new, of course; here's a potted history of its origins. But, it is recognised more and more as an effective way to enhance the learning experiences that young people have, as well as those of their families - particularly if they live in disadvantaged and deprived areas. Partnerships lie at the heart of the strategy - and when funding shifts around or dries up in a recession, working this way for change is all the more important. The Learning Exchange helps foster and disseminate workable approaches to sustaining what schools offer.

The strategy is gaining ground   Extra-curricular activities and extended services are referred to differently in England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The strategy is also taking hold in the United States (here is Arne Duncan, US Secretary of State for Education, talking about extended schools/services). And, similar strategies are being adopted in Australia and South Africa, as well as several regions in Russia and Siberia and in several other Eastern European and Eurasian countries. It's also happening in Nepal.

It's over to you now   Though the strategy is now pretty much embedded in most schools in England and in many schools in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, we need to keep showing parents, funders, local and national politicians the powerful and beneficial ways it can improve outcomes for children, families and communities - beyond school hours and beyond school walls. Sharing the outcomes and impact of what you do on Learning Exchange is a key way to do that. 

Any professional networking website is as good as the activity and discourse among its members – so, please join us to help make the Learning Exchange a vibrant place for sharing professional expertise and learning with others. My colleagues and I look forward to seeing you using the site. We're here to help you, so please don't hesitate to get in touch because we love hearing from you.

Paddy O'Dea
Manager/Moderator