Many of the children at Morecambe Bay Community Primary do not arrive at the school with the best of starts. In their last report of 2016, Ofsted acknowledged that many of the pupils have complex social and emotional needs and that the school has more than double the national average of pupils supported by Pupil Premium funding.
Perhaps because of this, rather than in spite of it, the school has made creativity a priority: “We need to provide a language-rich environment,” explained headteacher Siobhan Collingwood. “Many of our children come into the school without having had this. We need to engage them and help them see the relevance in what they do.”
Many of the children also arrive at the school mid-year. Although the level of inward mobility is diminishing, there are still a significant number who join the school at different times. This places additional pressure on the staff to put provision in place quickly to meet their needs.
Creative School of the Year
In 2017 Morecambe Bay won the TES Creative School of the Year award. “We were surprised to be shortlisted,” said Ms Collingwood. “We were up against some tough competition so we really didn’t expect to win.” It was their different approach to learning that Ms Collingwood credits with their success: “We have to make learning seem relevant to our pupils,” she explained. “We use meaningful contexts to create our three annual topics. For example we start with events that are happening such as the Christmas and Summer Fairs and weave creative approaches throughout.”
Ms Collingwood describes this as creating a piece of material: “We see the curriculum as consisting of the national curriculum and programmes of study as the warp and we weave creativity throughout this.” For example, their topic “The World of Work” was based in the preparation for the Summer Fair.
The children from Reception upwards began by finding out more about the kind of work they would like to do. This included trying out a psychometric test to discover which routes might suit them best. Different areas in various parts of the school were established for pupils to create their work communities.
For example, a group of artists were based in one classroom. They worked on their own project which included setting up an art gallery for parents and other pupils to come and see. A group of architects could be found in another part of the school and gardeners were busy using their particular talents both inside and outside the school building.
International fame
What took Morecambe Bay by surprise was when one of their projects not only gained national but also international interest. As part of a science project the children at the school launched a toy dog, Sam, into space. They used a giant helium balloon to do this with the aid of a British company who specialise in these projects.
Sam was equipped with a GPS tracker and GoPro camera to record his journey. The mission was a success in that Sam reached a height of 15 miles above the earth. Unfortunately, however, problems started on his way down as the balloon popped and the spacecraft fell to earth, landing in a field near Burnley. Sam was nowhere to be found.
The following campaign to find him, including the #FindSam Twitter search, gained attention from all over the world. It provided the school with a huge wealth of learning opportunities that they had never expected and they made use of them. Sadly, Sam has not yet been found.
A building opportunity
In some respects, Morecambe Bay does not have the odds in their favour. Although they have a catchment that includes many disadvantaged pupils, their region does not qualify for the government’s Opportunity Area initiatives. Ms Collingwood explains that Morecambe is a very mixed area with pockets of deprivation but also pockets of affluence.
However, they were lucky enough six years ago to benefit from a rebuild. This provided them with the opportunity to design how they would like their school to be. The facilities they asked for very much reflect their priorities.
A performing arts studio was one of their specifications. Now children can experiment with a sound system and backdrop that allow them to project images and enhance their performances. “We are currently purchasing a number of costumes for the children to experiment with,” Ms Collingwood added.
A multi-media recording studio is another of the luxuries that they were able to request. In here the children can experiment with music and make their own recordings and podcasts. A fully equipped food technology room, meanwhile, enables them to cook and prepare meals as part of a timetabled slot throughout the week.
Student welfare is also critical. The school has its own purpose-built nurture room and an outreach room which they can use to promote and support the wellbeing of their students. In their latest Ofsted report, personal development, behaviour and welfare were found to be outstanding.
A plea
There may have been some good fortune for the school when it comes to their building, but Ms Collingwood is acutely aware of the difficulties that they, along with other schools, are facing. Her concerns centre around the poverty that she sees within the local community and the impact this is having on her pupils and their families.
In a recent letter to the TES she wrote: “Parents come to us with out-of-control debt, unaffordable rent and sanctions that see them with no source of income for weeks. The vast majority struggling to cope are not those on benefits, but those in low-paid, insecure jobs who are facing ever-mounting expenses.”
Alongside the increase in the number of children and families they consider to be “at risk” is the dwindling sources of available support. Their Ofsted report noted the high level of multi-agency work the school engages with and their commitment to pupil welfare.
In her letter, Ms Collingwood notes how this multi-agency work is currently under threat as a result of the pressure on school nurses, the police, educational psychologists, CAMHS and social services. Schools can prioritise their work with these services but they cannot fill all the absent seats themselves.
The curriculum is alive
In the meantime, Morecambe Bay continues to provide what they can, in-house. A vibrant, rich curriculum is seen as one method of addressing the paucity of support elsewhere.
They approach their planning much in the same way as many schools. They begin by all pooling their ideas to create three whole-school topics every year. The detail of these is then filled in by the year teams with support from the subject specialists.
A particular feature of the school is their emphasis upon trips, visits and visitors. Again, they are keen to build experiences into the curriculum that many of their children do not encounter as a matter of course. This requires careful planning, and, of course, finance.
“Our school business manager is involved at an early stage in our planning,” explained Ms Collingwood.
“This is important as she will see what topics we are pursuing that year and looks for grants and ways of supporting them. She also helps to ensure that we have the finance available to fund the visits and visitors we are planning.”
What Ms Collingwood is keen to emphasise is that they do not see the process of constructing the curriculum as a finite one: “The curriculum is a living thing. It needs to change and be responsive. It’s not painting by numbers but is a work of art in its own right.”
- Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and a former primary school headteacher.
Further information
- Morecambe Bay Community Primary School: www.morecambebay.lancs.sch.uk
- To find out more about Sam the Dog’s epic journey, visitwww.morecambebay.lancs.sch.uk/mb/missing-sam