Schools as community hubs open all the time

Schools as community hubs open all the time

There are over 100 primary schools in Bristol with fantastic facilities, playgrounds, fields, halls, rooms, kitchens…………but they are generally shut to their communities for more hours than they are open for education and learning.

They could be open after school every day, at weekends, and in the holidays providing a familiar social play space for children and families where they can also do the sports, arts and other activities that children thrive on, where parents and the local community can come together for community events, a base from which to organise trips and activities, with a community kitchen doing food, a library…………. Each community taking ownership to deliver the mix of uses that that community wants.

School associations could create a sense of community within the area, a meeting place for past pupils keeping them in touch with each other and with each new generation.

This is not the responsibility of the teachers. They have a full time job teaching and can help but it is not their responsibility. It is ours as parents, grandparents and community members but we need support to facilitate us and allow us to use what is already ours. We cannot do it alone. We need to come together as partnerships around each school with sports clubs, arts groups, charities, scouts, churches, businesses, educationalists all working together to bring up our children in supportive, inclusive communities.

Some schools already do this, or are well on their way, but we need to set it as a clear aim for all our schools and then work towards it.

It supports children and families in our communities

It will give our children the environment in which they can thrive and learn well

It can create a sense of community which is so often lost within a city

It can reduce travel if keen parents no longer have to drive their children to football, dance, karate, scouts, music lessons……. And make those things more readily available for those who don’t have the time, money, ability or inclination to do it.

It supports the idea of a Green City by making better use of what we have and reducing travel

It facilitates a more healthy lifestyle

It is replicable across the city and around the world

It interprets child protection and health and safety to support children and families rather than isolating us and dividing us