Schools are more than places of learning.
They are places where communities connect, families find support and relationships are built.
The Community Champion School Award exists to help schools recognise the importance of that role and develop the confidence, knowledge and practice to strengthen it.
Community engagement matters. But where does it sit?
Schools are under increasing pressure to deliver across a complex range of priorities.
At the same time, staff are building relationships with families, working alongside community organisations, supporting local initiatives and creating opportunities for people to feel connected.
This work matters.
Yet community engagement can sometimes sit outside the structures, language and recognition normally associated with school improvement. It is the connective tissue of a school community, and yet the training pathways for it barely exist.
Important work can remain difficult to measure, develop or celebrate.
A structured approach to becoming a community champion
CCSA gives schools a framework to reflect on their current approach, strengthen their practice and recognise the role they play within their communities.
Through professional learning, practical development and accreditation, schools can move from individual initiatives towards a more purposeful and recognised approach.
At the centre of it is a single practical idea: give one person in the school the skills, the framework and the recognition to do this properly.
Learn
Develop knowledge and practical understanding through the CCSA programme.
Apply
Consider how the learning connects with your school’s existing priorities, relationships and community.
Recognise
Demonstrate your commitment through CCSA accreditation and the Community Champion Schools Award.
Belong
Join a community of schools sharing the same ambition.
Why this matters now
CCSA has been designed with the wider education landscape in mind.
The programme connects with the growing importance of relationships, inclusion, family engagement, community connection and whole-school improvement.
The inspection context
Ofsted’s education inspection framework, in use from November 2025, names personal development and wellbeing, and inclusion, among the evaluation areas for schools. CCSA helps your school build, and evidence, the community partnerships that sit behind that work.
Source: Ofsted, Education inspection framework: for use from November 2025, published 9 September 2025, gov.uk
The evidence on engagement
The Education Endowment Foundation rates parental engagement as moderate impact for very low cost, based on extensive evidence, with an average of four months’ additional progress. CCSA gives schools a structured way to build that engagement and to evidence it.
Source: Education Endowment Foundation, Teaching and Learning Toolkit, Parental engagement strand, updated May 2025
The Champion model works
In the EEF’s independent evaluation of the Schools Partnership Programme, the Improvement Champion role was found to be particularly highly valued by participating schools. CCSA applies the same principle to community partnership, by training a designated Community Champion in every member school.
Source: Education Endowment Foundation, Schools Partnership Programme trial, independent evaluation by UCL Institute of Education, published 2 March 2023
Belonging drives outcomes
Research by the National Children’s Bureau with Goldsmiths, University of London found that a sense of school belonging is one of the strongest predictors of academic achievement, and that involving parents in the school community is linked to higher levels of belonging.
Source: National Children’s Bureau and Goldsmiths, University of London, School Belonging: A Literature Review, 2024
Meet the people behind CCSA
CCSA was founded by Joel Dunn and Chris Leslie, bringing together experience, insight and a shared belief in the role schools can play within their communities.
Joel Dunn
Co-Founder, CCSA. Founder and CEO, Paradigm Project
Founder and CEO of Paradigm Project, which works across schools, local authorities and the voluntary sector to build preventative approaches to safeguarding and school exclusion. Joel holds an MPhil in Education Leadership and Improvement from the University of Cambridge, where he is now a doctoral researcher, and is a parent governor.
Chris Leslie
Co-Founder, CCSA. CEO, Inside Out Support Wales
CEO of Inside Out Support Wales, which delivers mentoring, training and enterprise support across prisons, probation services and community partners throughout Wales. Chris is a trustee of the Hardman Trust and a specialist criminal justice consultant advising statutory bodies, charities and national organisations.
Working with organisations that share our ambition
CCSA is supported by its channel partner, Lessons for Life, helping connect the programme with the wider education and community landscape.
A professional development and accreditation programme helping schools strengthen community engagement, recognise the work they do and build lasting connections beyond the school gates.
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© 2026 Community Champion Schools Award. All rights reserved. · Privacy notice · FAQ
CCSA is an independent programme. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by Ofsted, the Department for Education, the Education Endowment Foundation or the National Children’s Bureau. References to their published work are provided for context only.