Education and Health Collaboration in Paulsgrove, Portsmouth

In June 2023, Beacon View Primary School joined a cross-sector initiative led by Health and Care Portsmouth (a partnership between Portsmouth City Council, NHS (including Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board) and HIVE Portsmouth). It aimed to address health inequalities in Paulsgrove, where life expectancy is significantly lower than the Portsmouth average and many residents face preventable health challenges. Despite these statistics, the community holds rich assets in its people, relationships, and local institutions.

Beacon View acted as a community anchor, connecting health and care partners with families and residents through well-established, trusting relationships. Supported by United Communities – United Learning’s community development team – and guided by the United Communities framework, which is underpinned by Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) principles, the school shared its local knowledge and networks to mobilise action.

The Principal and the Community Development Lead shared their experience of community listening campaigns with Health and Care Portsmouth, hosted community conversation sessions by taking a sofa to community spaces where people naturally gather, and invited colleagues from the NHS to join them on the sofa, and opened its doors for local people to connect over a shared ambition to improve health for those who live there. Feeling more relaxed in a welcoming environment, residents shared what was going well for health in the community, and their concerns – such as the closure of the healthy living centre. What emerged was a group of well-connected residents eager to drive change, supported by education and health institutions.

Rather than designing solutions for the community, a working group was established, featuring people from multiple organisations and representatives from the community. The group co-produced an action plan rooted in 10 themes from the listening work. Beacon View supported this by convening residents, amplifying their voices, and facilitating access to parent networks. The school also helped broker relationships with HIVE Portsmouth, a small charity which connects local people, voluntary groups, and partner organisations to improve lives across the city, enabling residents to form their own community group with training and governance support.

This group - Paulsgrove ARK - has since established itself as a Constituted Community Group and is working towards running their own welcoming space, run by the community - for the community. They’ve received funding from the council’s Public Health team to explore how to do this, but their aims are to ensure Paulsgrove people are the heart of what they do, to empower residents, to cultivate a spirit of togetherness, to raise awareness and build on existing services, to foster continual growth, provide opportunities for participation and feedback, and to support Paulsgrove to be an evenhappier and healthier community.

They’ve also received funding from the council’s Easy Travel Fund to support people to access appointments, activities etc. by travelling on the bus and distributed these to residents and from HIVE Portsmouth to develop a printed community newsletter. They have set up their own social media channels and promoted local activities including cooking lessons, focusing on preparing and eating nutritious meals on a budget, and are engaging with the weekly boot camp sessions, both part of the school community offer.

The Community Development Lead at Beacon View continues to serve as a non-voting advisor for Paulsgrove ARK, supporting capacity-building and peer learning, and actively contributes to the cross-organisation working group that aims to further develop the action plan around the 10 themes identified by the listening work In addition, the school secured funding to begin a “Coffee and Connect” group to connect organisations working in the area, further supporting the work of the community group, which is attending by 10-15 organisations monthly, with almost 50 on the email distribution list.

What worked:

• Starting with what’s strong: Schools can identify and connect local leaders, animators, and safe spaces.

• Building from the inside out: Co-design with residents ensures relevance and sustainability.

• Work relationally: Trust and collaboration grow through shared experiences and listening.

• Support community-led governance: Schools can guide and mentor emerging groups without taking control, ensuring sustainability of offer.