Flookburgh C of E Primary School is a small rural village school set in the South Lakes Peninsula of The Lake District. Our children are at the heart of what we do and over the past few years we have been working on our curriculum to reflect where we are as a school now. We have a fantastic team of teachers and support staff as well as a Head Teacher who is invested in not just the school but wider community and driving it forward.

We applied for the Rethinking the Curriculum project as we felt we were at the right stage with our own curriculum to allow us to enhance what we already had and develop it further, bringing into our vison the families and community we serve. Being tucked away on a Peninsula has it’s benefits of beautiful views, idyllic landscapes and sheep that bleet as we come into work but it also has it’s drawbacks with limited access to cities, museums and theatres. We wanted to re-think how we opened up the world and broaden horizons whilst also capitalizing on the fantastic location and community around us.

There was also the opportunity to collaborate with The Chartered College of Teaching, with other schools nationally and form relationships with others in education.

The curriculum as it stands on its own is not enough to meet the needs of our children, or any child, in the current world. It isn’t preparing them for the wider world or how to venture into the world with the skills needed to make a difference, a positive impact, harness their passions or to thrive. That is what makes this project exciting! It gives us a voice, a united voice to make a difference. A real impact for change where it is so desperately needed. We are putting children right back at the heart of the curriculum.
We are so often driven by the outside voices of those in politics or national leaders. This project is all about giving us our voice back. With support from people in the industry and backed up by research.

Through this project, we are focusing on our community by giving it the space it deserves within our curriculum and looking at the ways to achieve this. We have only just begun our journey but have already learnt so much. We have seen the power of the pupils and their voices, to work together with them to shape their curriculum as well as reflecting on our current practices to shape change in the future.

We are delighted to have been selected to take part in the project and to be working with The Chartered College to help and support us in making our vision a reality, which many other schools will relate to. We want our curriculum to reflect our children, our community, our locality. We want the curriculum to evolve, adapt and grow alongside them. It is what they deserve; what every child deserves.