Canterbury Campus: building a federation with an entrepreneurial culture

Summary

As the Canterbury Campus hard federation, Canterbury High School and Beauherne Primary School have created a thriving campus with excellent facilities for pupils and the wider community.

Key learning/outcomes

In 2008 more than 90 per cent of pupils achieved at least five GCSE passes at A*-C.
The primary school has benefited from additional resources and economies of scale.
The secondary school has benefited from primary methodology and pedagogy, including insight into children’s emotional and cognitive development.
The federation has developed a wide range of professional development opportunities that span the phases.
Strong links with statutory and voluntary bodies have helped Canterbury Campus to develop excellent facilities for young people and adults in the community.

Background

Canterbury Campus is an all-through hard federation of Canterbury High School and Beauherne Primary School. The federation incorporates extensive multi-agency and extended school provision, with partners including Canterbury Adult Education, City View Pre-school and Nursery, the Appetti Tennis Centre and local youth clubs.

Key challenges and issues

Building capacity for improvement

The primary school was in challenging circumstances and one of the main aims of the federation was to develop its capacity to improve.

Extending the benefits of specialism

The secondary school was already extending the benefits of its sports specialism through a community outreach programme. The school wanted to share these benefits with the primary school.

Solution or approach

Innovation and risk-taking

The federation has a strong and confident governing body that is willing to take risks and develop innovations which support the agreed aim of raising attainment and improving outcomes in the school and the community.

Distributed leadership

Canterbury Campus takes a distributed approach to leadership, with teachers and members of the wider workforce taking on leadership responsibilities. The campus also supports professional development opportunities that span the age ranges, such as having a primary teacher leading on literacy for the whole school.

Sharing resources

The partnership has enabled the primary school to benefit from additional resources such as specialist teaching in dance, drama, music and sport. It has also given them increased administrative, site management and technical support.

Transforming curriculum delivery

The secondary school has used its enhanced understanding of primary methodology and pedagogy, including emotional and cognitive development, to transform curriculum delivery at Key Stage 3.

Effective communication

The campus has developed an effective structure for communication, with all section leaders feeding back to the leadership team.

Opportunities for development

The leadership team meets once a month to look specifically at opportunities for development and funding. A ‘can do’ culture plus strong business management supports the campus’ forward-looking and entrepreneurial approach.

Next steps

Canterbury Campus plans to develop further facilities for adults as well as broader educational partnerships that support cross-phase pedagogy and personalisation.

Further information

For further information contact Canterbury Campus.