ABSTRACT
In many urban areas—and for many local communities—the local school represents the largest publicly funded resource. Schools are very often major employers of local people, particularly in the case of non-teaching staff and those who work for contractors (catering, cleaning and grounds maintenance, and so on). It is only right, therefore, that schools should endeavour to make their resources available to their local community, not forgetting at any time that their primary function is to educate the children on roll. Apart from this moral viewpoint, there are other reasons why schools should seek to become centres of their community.
