BERA Bites 15

EDUCATING FOR ALL

Schooling, innovation & community

MARY JAMES UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Recently, I discovered some chapters that I had drafted in the early 1980s. 1 These arose from a study of teachers at Bridgewater Hall, the first secondary school on Stantonbury Campus in Milton Keynes. Rereading them raised issues for me about the current state of schooling. The creation of the Campus was driven by the vision of its first director, Geoff Cooksey, whose overriding concern was that the campus schools should achieve coherence with the community they served. The buildings were designed to reflect domestic architecture, while, in order to avoid separation between education and other aspects of living, he emphasised the roles of place, time, teams, resources and relationships. At Bridgewater, a timetable based on 75-minute blocks of time was introduced, often doubled to give half-day sessions. And no bells! Bells only divide the day in prisons and convents, Cooksey said. Day 10 and Week 10 were instituted to allow extended and integrated activities outside the normal curriculum, including residential experience at an expedition centre. Courses were developed by teams of teachers who prepared their own resources. ‘Shared Time’ was an opportunity for interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Most teaching was mixed ability. Teacher-generated, 1 Original blog post, published 1 March 2022: https://www. bera.ac.uk/blog/schooling-innovation-and-community

but examination-board accredited, qualifications and a record of achievement for all students were developed. This development activity was carried out in twice weekly staff meetings. A community resource centre was the first building on the campus. All these structures were balanced by an equal emphasis on relationships. Mutual respect between adults and students was expected but first names were used and there were no uniforms. What happened to Stantonbury Campus over time is a sad story. Geoff Cooksey retired in 1984. Many of the schools’ leaders (such as Bob Moon, Mike Davies, Mervyn Flecknoe, Ivor Goodson and Michael Fielding) went on to notable careers in headships of other schools, or in universities, or both. After a string of good Ofsted reports, the Campus received a poor one in 2012. A new principal introduced fences, gates, uniform and lanyards. It became an academy within a multi-academy trust (Griffin). These ‘reforms’ did not work. In 2018, the school, now named Stantonbury International, ‘required improvement’ and in 2020 it was judged as ‘inadequate’ and put in special measures by Ofsted. The heavy workload of teachers, a badly planned and taught curriculum, and lack of leadership were all criticised. However, the safety and security of students was the major issue after violence among students resulted in a (non-fatal) stabbing. This is

BERA BITES 15 | EDUCATING FOR ALL