But it says stronger, more focused leadership and direction are needed if the full benefits of the new community schools approach are to be achieved.
The report, The sum of its parts?, published by HMIE in partnership with the Social Work Services Inspectorate and the Scottish Executive Health Department, also says that some of the most innovative work, in terms of involving parents, is taking place in nurseries.
A multi-agency team evaluated the progress made by eight 'cluster' projects in different local authority areas. The clusters were varied, but included nursery, primary and secondary schools, and child and family centres.
Bart Biagini, the inspector who led the team, found that a number of primary schools were able to take advantage of the whole initiative.
He said, 'In most clusters there was a positive ethos or raised expectations as a result of the promotion of integrated community schools objectives. This was most evident within individual primary schools and pre-school centres.'
Mr Biagini acknowledged that implementation had been patchy and that weak monitoring arrangements meant that there was a lack of hard evidence so far. But he did point to anecdotal evidence of improvement and good indicators of achievement, and said that it was apparent that the initiative worked best in areas where there were clear rules and responsibilities and an investment had been made in staff development.
While there had been little effect on overall levels of pupil attainment in schools as yet, he said, there was clear evidence that the broader achievements of some pupils had improved, as had some aspects of health and personal development.
The report highlights a number of examples of good practice, particularly those supporting the most vulnerable young people and families. The team found that out-of-school care and learning had been well developed in some of the initiatives reviewed.
Anne Stewart, head teacher of Raploch Primary School, which has been working as an integrated community school since the beginning of the initiative, said she had seen improvements, particularly in the area of health, which was a priority from the start.
'We have a healthy tuckshop selling fruit, water and fresh juice to the children each day, as well as a breakfast club, which is partly funded by community schools funding,' said Ms Stewart. 'We have also been involved in exercise activities and playground games. In the past couple of years, we have set up a successful parent and toddler group, and our latest venture is developing a children's language programme working with speech therapists.'
Raploch Primary School has received 30,000 from the community schools budget for each of the last two years which, as well as paying for specialists such as health visitors, covers the cost of arts and crafts materials and community events in the local hall.
A national evaluation of the pilot programme was published by the University of London in August 2003. This latest report aims to identify issues and good practice and ways to develop strategies to take the concept forward.
The Scottish Executive has committed 30.6m to support the roll-out to all schools in Scotland by 2007.
The sum of its parts? can be downloaded from the website www.hmie.gov.uk.
