Cawood Manor: an all-through school

Case study

Summary

Shared concern for education in this ex-mining community meant three heads jumped at the chance of amalgamation. The resulting 3-18 through school inspires innovation through flexible leadership

Key learning/outcomes

The principal has a clear concept of the need for structural flexibility and refuses to find permanent answers. In this way traditional practice is questioned and unprecedented approaches are attempted.
Each leadership post has a core responsibility but each post-holder must constantly reshape his or her area of influence as the model requires.
Teachers outside the leadership teams seem to respond positively to this lack of rigidity in structures by looking for their own connections. They speak of a sense of belonging to a 3-18 community, sharing ideas and benefiting from other perspectives and practices.
The new management structure gave opportunities to staff who grasped the vision but who had not previously held managerial posts. The principal is sure that the approach helps “incredible stars” to emerge.
The innovative timetabling has enabled depth of study and student motivation. In the two years since opening, the Key stage 2, Key stage 3 and GCSE results were the highest they had ever been.

Background

Cawood Manor is a 3-18 ‘business and enterprise learning community’ which opened in September 2005. An amalgamation of a junior, secondary and infant school, it operates on secondary and primary-phase sites a kilometre apart. Around 60% of the Year 7 intake is from the primary phase. It serves a small village community which is “rural, isolated and deprived”. The preceding secondary and junior school had improving performance trends.

The newly appointed heads of the predecessor secondary and infant schools and the established junior head, who would later retire, were keen to pursue amalgamation. This was seen as essential to securing effective educational provision for the community. Supported and funded by the local authority, only six months separated the decision and the opening of the new school. The former secondary headteacher became the principal and the infant and junior heads became vice-principals. A third vice-principle would lead the secondary phase.

Key challenges and issues

There were no definitive models to follow for the new structures and the leaders were keen to avoid secondary dominance.
New structures needed to maintain what had worked in the former schools.
The isolated setting presents a barrier for 14-19 pathways. For some families it is not possible to travel to larger towns to pursue vocational courses.

Solution or approach

The new school has invested much of its hope in the innovative TLR1 (teaching and learning responsibility) team. Six new posts were designed and offered to all staff; they would carry responsibility for “massive concepts” in 3-18 and beyond. The concepts include citizenship, key skills, independent and life-long learning.
The TLR2 structure is more subject based. Nine of the 19 posts are all-through and the remaining 10 work in five pairs covering reception to Year 7 and Years 7-13. The senior leadership team (SLT) mirrors the TLR2 structure in that it represents 3-18 but maintains what already worked in the separate phases.
Two vice-principals lead the TLR1 team and recognise the need for support and direction in a team whose responsibilities often overlap. A project management model allows the TLR1 and vice-principle to scope out an issue together and the TLR1 then identifies good practice and develops an action plan.
Years 9, 10 and 11 are timetabled together in blocks enabling, in a small secondary school-phase, economy and flexible setting arrangements. In addition to Year 9 options, early options are offered in Year 8.
Year 7 students spend two periods per day together with form teachers pursuing a competencies-based curriculum. Much of the timetable works in whole or half-day blocks.

Next steps

The school is designated as the local centre for the delivery of a 14-19 construction diploma and it is hoped that a business diploma will follow.
More capacity for cross-phase teacher deployment will be released by Years 7 and 8 being vertically blocked together. The introduction of some Year 6, 7 and 8 blocking is likely in the near future.
Cawood is scheduled for a purpose-designed new building; shared spaces between the two phases will assist the transfer of ideas and practice.