bishop creighton academy

7/30/2019 Bishop Creighton Academy

1/8

Bhop Cghon Aca an

Pboogh CahaPeterborough CurriCulum


2/8

Learning about, by and for Peterboroughii

AreA BAsedCurriCulum

Bhop CghonAca an

PbooghCahaPeterborough CurriCulum CAse study

inocon wha an Aa Ba Cc Pojc?

RSA Area Based Curriculum projects are designed by schools in collabo-

ration with a local community partner; supported by local expertise and

context; and taught using the local area as a classroom.

In 2010 we recruited ve schools in Peterborough to pilot this approach

to curriculum development with the aims o:

Creating learning experiences that were engaging or childrenrom all backgrounds Increasing childrens understanding o and attachment to theplace where they live Embedding schools more deeply within their communities andlocalities

th choo

Bishop Creighton Academy has around 200 pupils aged between our

and eleven, and is situated within walking distance o Peterborough

Cathedral. Students are drawn rom a range o aith backgrounds

and many o the amilies served by the school are newly arrived in

Peterborough.

The school is rated as outstanding by Osted. The school works had tobuild condence in its students through student voice initiatives. Bishop

Creighton has engaged with a number o initiatives such as Building

Learning Power and employ a growth mind set approach to learning.

The school works hard to develop a sense o agency in its students,

and sta were keen to build on this to develop a project that explored the

role o the school and the Cathedral in the community o Peterborough.

The school is physically very close to the Cathedral but in the past has

made little use o it other than or RE visits.

th pan

Peterborough Cathedral is going through its own process o exploring its

role as a aith institution in an increasingly diverse city, and sta viewed


3/8

iii

the engagement with schools through the Peterborough Curriculum as an

opportunity to engage young people in this process.

How does the Cathedral interact with the rest o the community? and

thats something important or the Cathedral because the Anglican church

is there or everyone as a resource: or anyone to use as regards aith or

belie and thereore our outward acing department works in conjunctionwith education.

mak ton, schoo an Con Ofc, Pboogh Caha

Peterborough Cathedral are developing a strong outreach programme

with schools and the wider community and are keen to work closely with

other aiths in the city as well. The vision is or the Cathedral to be a

resource or learning across the curriculum, and to get beyond pointing

out the obvious arteacts.

th panhp

Having met at a networking event organised by the RSA, sta rom theschool and the Cathedral started planning straight away. The Cannon

Missioner, responsible or community relations was very keen that the

Cathedral be used or more than just Tudors and RE and had sugges-

tions about using the aade and construction o the building to teach

maths among other ideas.

Ater an initial scoping session, Mark Tomlins, Schools and

Communities Ocer at the Cathedral, took responsibility or engaging

with the inter-aith council on behal o the project, while John Laud,

lead teacher at the school, started to plan in the time to the school year.

The school had always had a link with the Cathedral it is named ater

a ormer Bishop o Peterborough, ater all, and the chair o governors

is a clergy member. However, through the Peterborough Curriculum the

Cathedral and school embarked on a range o things together, including

being involved in a promotional video or the Cathedral, and the school

taking reuge in the Cathedral precinct on the occasion o a food at the

school.

For the lead teacher the relationship with Mark was particularly valuable

to the school community because hes been so open and the other people

as well but him especially. Yeah, hes hes hes made it approachable,

whereas I think they thought it wasnt beore..John la

Mark also elt that the relationship was open enough to be fexible,

despite having concrete plans or a project.

And thats what I like about the openness o it that weve done it one

way, i it doesnt work we can change bits and pieces, we can keep whats

good, we can add new bits in, we can look again at using it in dierent

ways, doing it with dierent people, and that to me that is always the

way anything should be, any kind o learning is open-ended.

mak ton

Appendix


4/8

Learning about, by and for Peterboroughiv

th pojc

sa

The project revolved around the production o a Question Time style

event in which members o the inter-aith council, and the school council,

sat on a panel and answered questions rom the audience o Year 4 and 5

students. In preparation or this event, all students visited the Cathedralto learn about its historic place in the community. Cathedral sta visited

the school and developed the debating, and question and answer skills o

students in preparation or the event. Through the visits and engagement

the students learned science and numeracy as well as the obvious his-

tory and RE, and using it as a very, very close by acility really a giant

classroom.

th goa

The primary aim o the project was To develop the childrens under-

standing o the role o the Cathedral and the school in Peterboroughs

wider community.However, this was given additional ocus because during the early

months o the partnership development the English Deence League, an

ultra-right wing anti-Islam group, held a march in Peterborough which

deeply aected some students at the school. Some o them were really

scared reported a teacher. This event strengthened the resolve o the

Cathedral and the school to develop a project that allowed children o

multiple aiths to explore their relationship with the wider community

o Peterborough alongside the Cathedral and the inter-aith council.

It has to be about children getting out and seeing their community their

worlds can be so small. The great thing will be or the children to meet

people that they have never met beore.

The project was also intended to develop the writing and speaking

skills o the students.

Acv

The classes met with Cathedral ocers in the autumn term and have

learnt about how the Cathedral came to be there and how it was built.

Students discussed the work o the church as well as other aiths in the

community and looked at what the Cathedral hopes to do.In a skills-ocussed session, students looked at orming an idea and

arguing a point. They were encouraged to develop questioning and listen-

ing skills, and to develop their debating skills.

The event itsel was a great success, with the Bishop o Peterborough

and representatives rom Hindu and Catholic aiths answering childrens

questions about diversity, and tolerance, and why people rom dierent

religions cant live together all over the world it isnt air!.

For more detail on this event, see the RSA blog here www.rsablogs.org.

uk/2012/education/opinion/ .


5/8

v

How h n?

I think as I say or us its that understanding that this is a completely dierent

way o working with schools and it will enable us to make permanent links.

mak ton, Pboogh Caha

Both the school and the partner eel that this project was a prooundly

new way o working or them. Notable dierences rom previous ways o

working have included:

The school and the Cathedral entered into a fexible and com-mitted partnership which allowed or a range o activities and

mutual support as well as the planned project The project built on existing links between the school andCathedral to orge what both parties elt would be a permanent

partnership between the two Both parties beneted rom the project in a genuinely jointexploration o a topic o interest to both

Students were granted a real audience and opportunity to debatematters o interest to themselves and the wider communityipac

The rst time I went there I was scared. And Im really, really, really,

really glad I was going there because Ive never been there in my lie.

ya 3 n, Bhop Cghon Aca

I think theres been a real shit in their perception o the Cathedral

which is what we ocused on it was a massive change in their ideas

and understanding.

John la, Bhop Cghon Aca

Bishop Creighton Academy

students in a workshop session at

Peterborough Cathedral

Appendix


6/8

Learning about, by and for Peterboroughvi

Despite the close proximity o the school to the Cathedral, many

children had been unamiliar with the building and the institution beore

this project. Students reported enjoying visiting the Cathedral, and looked

orward to return visits.

The children have been really positive. When I do go back to visit the

schools they all say thats the guy rom the Cathedral it makes methink that maybe what were doing is obviously something they value and

that theyre enjoying.

However, the project was always about more than simply enjoyment,

and teachers elt that it achieved the goals o developing childrens sense

o their own place in relation to Peterborough and its multiple aiths.

In terms o raising the childrens awareness o themselves and where they

stand in the community thats denitely changed because theyve got a

much deeper understanding about where we come rom and where they

come rom, how they connect in to the Cathedral some o the other []

aiths that we met, and thats been really, really useul.

Wha o an an wha hav w an?

This project demonstrates how the school curriculum can become a

social project which engages with the real issues acing a community,

specic to time and place, through engagement with local institutions.

Issues that schools sometimes nd it dicult to address, perhaps

lacking condence or expertise in complex political or aith-related areas,

might be helped by partnership with relevant local agencies.

The partnership created by the school and the Cathedral has also

demonstrated that educational and other institutions in a community

oten share common agendas that go unnoticed even where a relationship

already exists.

Wha nx?

The Cathedral and the inter-aith council plan to repeat and expand the

event to include other topics and other schools in uture years:

[The Cannon Commissioner] and the other members o the interaith

council have all said, you know, that this is something that can grow this

is something that is a really good idea and is going to work very nicely but its also something that could expand

mak ton, schoo an Con Ofc, Pboogh Caha

For the school, there is still a lot more that can be done together with

the Cathedral, embedding the relationship urther within the school, and

plans are aoot or urther work.

The main thing is to continue our partnership with the Cathedral,

develop our question time aspect but also using the Cathedral or a lot

more curriculum work. And I will get more sta involved getting

Mark in to talk to us all, put it on the table what hes got, and we can get


7/8

vii

started. We need to get out there a bit more as well and see what else is out

there maybe doing the planning over there. Were going to carry on with

it, denitely.

The Cathedral are also planning to work dierently with more schools

in the uture.

Wed like to continue working with the same schools, and work with

new schools. The legacy or us is that we see this as a process that has

been really valuable, really worked or both parties. we understand the

process now and we know that its something benecial. So its not selling

it, its just saying where do we go this time, what can we do?

Foo o hogh

Does your school have natural partners that could be drawn upon to

develop learning and curriculum-related projects? Are there current social issues af fecting students that might be ad-

dressed through the curriculum?

How might partnerships with local organisations help schools to develop

a sense of identity among their students?

Appendix


8/8

Learning about, by and for Peterboroughviii

th rsA: an nghnn oganaon co

o fnng nnovav pacca oon o oa oca

chang. thogh a, ach an 27,000-ong

Fowhp k o nan an nhanc han

capab o w can co h gap bwn oa a

an pop hop o a b wo.

8 Jn Ada S

lndn WC2N 6eZ

+44 (0) 20 7930 5115

rsd as a cay

n enand and Wasn. 212424

Cpy rSA 2012

www.ha.og

bishop creighton academy

Documents