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CHAPTER
1
The Vernacular and the Global
Fulbridge Primary School, Peterborough
Iain Erskine and Charlotte Krzanicki
Editor’s Introduction
The main theme of this chapter is how a school has developed a local, vernacular curriculum which takes as its starting-point local histories, geographies and resources as the means to galvanise children’s learning. This work is based upon Kolb’s model of learning from experience and particularly demonstrates how different mediums, such as sculpture, film, animation and drama, can be used to explore curriculum links with writing. This did not, however, lead to a situation where children were labelled as one of the four Kolb learning stylists: convergers, divergers, assimilators or accommodators. Rather, this approach enabled teachers to rethink how they could design the curriculum to meet their children’s needs and interests. This curriculum – described by the schools as the Peterborough Curriculum – is characterised by:
- inspiration from local funds of knowledges and resources;
- learning from early years practice and disseminating this throughout the school;
- providing opportunities for deep-learning, cross-curriculum activities;
- flexibility in timetabling;
- ongoing redesign of school premises to support those opportunities; and
- the complementary involvement of external practitioners to support and extend the work of teachers.
The Fulbridge story demonstrates how teachers were able to adapt from a heavily prescribed way of teaching to one which was more open ended, evolutionary and, critically, reliant on the development of a creative curriculum which stemmed from what the local environment and community was able to provide. This curriculum asked a fundamental question of its teachers and pupils: ‘What does Peterborough have to offer?’
Fulbridge created its own curriculum based around its locality – Peterborough – whilst simultaneously ensuring that it reflected the demands of the National Curriculum. It is in contrast to those schools that had adopted existing models of curriculum development such as Building Learning Power, Kagan Structures or drama-based frameworks such as Dorothy Heathcote’s Mantle of the Expert (all models which will be referred to later in this volume).
This chapter explores two phases of curriculum reform in the school: phase one, which was generated by teachers themselves, and phase two, in which other agencies, such as CapeUK and the Creative Partnerships team, acknowledged the success of the school and contributed to its further reformative energies.
It has been written by Iain Erskine, the head teacher, from transcribed interviews. Charlotte Krzanicki, deputy head teacher, wrote the section about phase two of the development.
The Backdrop to the School
The city of Peterborough provides an interesting intersection of both industrial and agricultural societies. Whilst on the one hand it has been a hub for the development of the railways after the Industrial Revolution, it is also strongly rooted in deep agricultural values with the fenlands – literally on the doorsteps of the city’s residents. It consequently has for many years accommodated both long-standing, established communities and communities who have travelled from their homeland in search of work and prosperity, whether these be Italian or Pakistani communities or, more recently, communities from across Eastern Europe. At one point in the 1970s, for example, Peterborough was one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe.
This permanent flux of people in Peterborough has meant that children present teachers at Fulbridge with a particular challenge which revolves around their literacy and communication skills, knowledge of the local area and parental expectations of what school has to offer. It is not without its difficulties, either: in the local community in recent years clashes between the European and Asian communities have been reported in the local press and further afield.
A Starting-Point: Potential Organisational Meltdown
Back in the early 2000s, Fulbridge Junior School was in trouble. The management of the school and children’s behaviour and attainment levels were deemed unacceptable by Ofsted and the school consequently went into special measures. At the time, I was head of the attached Infant School, and when the Ofsted crunch came I was asked to take on the leadership of the Junior School. This eventually involved the closure of the two separate schools and the formation of a new school: Fulbridge Primary School. Part of my challenge involved following the necessary school inspector’s guidance to take the Junior School out of special measures, but I was conscious that the heavily directive nature of this process was not necessarily the way I wanted to continue to run the new school.
I took two key decisions about developing a creative approach to our curriculum: the first, to develop a curriculum that was personalised to Fulbridge, its environment, staff and children; and the second, to design a curriculum which did not follow any particular commercial packages.
I know this was a risky strategy, but I am something of a rebel and feel that risk-taking will, more than likely, lead to success in the long run. It was important not to feel pressured to achieve short-term results but to look to the long term – to follow a four- or five-year strategy which might have been at odds with local pressures to achieve here and now.
Cast of Characters/Actors
Iain Erskine | Head teacher |
Charlotte Krzanicki | Deputy head teacher |
Roger Cole | Independent national adviser: consultant, writer and speaker |
Mathilda Joubert | External independent consultant, partner in innovation at Synectics Europe, research associate in psychology, Open University. |
Di Goldsmith | Former acting director of Arts Council East, advanced skills teacher, manager of the Oasis network of schools, Peterborough |
Matt Reeve | Animator/film maker |
Rosie Ward | Sound installation/artist |
Gizella Warburton | Textiles/artist |
VIEW 5 | Artist company based in Peterborough |
Anton Mirto | Performance artist |
Chris Teasdale, Jan Williams | Installation artists |
Timeline
Phase 1
May 2001 | Fulbridge Junior School enters special measures |
November 2001 | Iain Erskine appointed head of Junior School |
November 2001 | Meeting with Roger Cole |
May 2003 | School comes out of special measures |
September 2004 | Iain Erskine appointed as head teacher of Fulbridge Primary School |
September 2004 | Fulbridge changes to become an all through primary |
Phase 2
2006–7 | CARA project1 |
2006–9 | Di Goldsmith leads the Oasis initiative.2 Mathilda worked with schools in the network and with staff, supporting in classrooms and staff meetings, including a professional day with other schools. |
September 2009 | Fulbridge becomes Creative Partnerships School of Creativity |
January 2010 | Enquiry project planning begins |
May 2010 | Start of enquiry project delivery |
May 2010 | School trips |
June 2010 | Mid-point evaluation |
30 June 2010 | Celebration of project |
July 2010 | Completion of project |
The Time to Turn the Ship Around
Iain was clear from the start of this process that the change he sought would need a long time to see it through, and that it could not be achieved over the period of a few terms. Thinking about changes you would like to make in your school, do you see your school as something of an oil tanker, requiring several years to bring about the necessary change?
Or is it a faster, sleeker type of vessel which can adapt to change quickly?
On the other hand, is rapid change necessarily a good thing? Might there be advantages to taking a long period of time to institute a process of change?
Are there steps you would want to take to accelerate the process of repositioning your pupils at the centre of creative learning?
Early Inspirations: Do You Know a Place that Makes You Long for Childhood?
At the start of this process, I heard from educational adviser Roger Cole about a school in similar circumstances in Aylesbury which had developed a creative curriculum to lift itself out of its predicament. Roger’s approach to developing our curriculum was based upon a question he asked of us as we showed him around our school: ‘what place makes you long for childhood?’ This provided the spur for me to develop a vision of how I wanted to lead Fulbridge Junior School in the future.
Roger suggested that children’s learning schematas were not developed enough because of their lack of life experiences, whether these be things like going to the park, to the local woods or visiting the River Nene or other local sites such as Ferry Meadows.
Fulbridge’s View of Schemata...
