Unit 302 – Schools as Organisations

Outcome one – Know the structure of education from early years to post-compulsory education
1.1 – summarise entitlement and provision for early years education
Early years children (aged 3-4) are entitled to free nursery are (or a similar alternative) for up to 15 hours a week. This is funded by the government and gives both parents/carers and children the chance to experience an early school setting and prepare them for when they are old enough to start primary school. It also gives parents a chance to have a break from their children, whether this is to give them the opportunity to return to work or just to allow them some time to do housework and general things. There are many different forms of provision for early year’s children, including day nurseries, child minders, preschools and sure start centres. All of these things give children a chance to socialise with other children their own or a similar age and helps them to begin getting into a routine that will benefit them when they begin school.

1.2 - explain the characteristics of the different types of schools in relation to educational stages and school govemance
There are many different types of school that children can attend. The main ones to think about are private and government funded schools. Private schools are where parents/carers pay for their child’s education and know the exact curriculum that is being taught. They have the chance to look around the school and get an idea of the morals of the school before choosing to allow their child to attend there. Children from any school age (4-18 years) can attend a private school. The amount of tuition that people have to pay depends on the school and what they teach. As private schools can be specialised to just one subject and can be very broad and just teach the entire national curriculum. A government funded school is a school that children can attend without their families having to pay the school any money for their education. Government funded schools tend to follow the national curriculum and (unless it is for further education) they do not tend to be specialised to one subject.

1.3 – explain the post 16 options for young people and adults

There are several options for post 16 young people and adults. Once young people have completed their GCSE’s (year 11) they have three main options. They can stay on at school to go to sixth form and study their A-levels, which can then lead to them going to university. They can go to college to either study their A-levels or a specific course related to which career they would like to do (mental health, childcare, music). Post 16 people can also start an apprenticeship in a specific field that they wish to work in, for example training as a teaching assistant or a nursery nurse. All of these options give young people the chance to go to university or to gain a fulltime job within a certain field that they want to make a career in.

Outcome two – Understand how schools are organised in terms of roles and responsibilities
2.1 – explain the strategic purpose of –
A. School governors
The purpose of a school governor is to ensure the head teacher of the school is able to keep the school financially and morally stable. The governors are in place to help keep the school running smoothly and to assist the head teacher with any issues that may occur that could affect the school as a whole. They can also help to determine how the schools money is spent and whether staff should or shouldn’t keep their jobs. They have the final decision on pretty much everything in the school and they are the person that the head teacher needs to go through if they wish to spend money on something or if they wish to dramatically change anything about the school.
B. Senior management team
The senior management team is there to help with the daily duties of the school. They are there to help people who have issues that need resolving straight away and they