An article in Red Pepper magazine exploring the co-operative movement as an alternative to marketisation notes that adopting the co-operative model is a way for schools to avoid being ‘forced into an academy’.

The article’s author, Hilary Wainwright, discusses ‘alternatives that enable them to realise their public services values’, with input from Mervyn Wilson, Chief Executive of the Co-operative College, and John Chowcat, Prospect Union.

The article, entitled ‘Co-operatise the state?’ goes on to discuss the growing ‘co-op councils’ movement.

Read the full article online at www.redpepper.org.uk/co-operatise-the-state.

Children, staff and parent volunteers travelled from Western Springs Primary School, Rugeley, to Moorhill Primary School, Cannock, to celebrate becoming The Chase Co-operative Learning Trust. Students took part in Science, D&T, Art, PE and Maths activities, presented in stimulating and exciting ways. They also had the opportunity to take time out to meet and greet each other socially and to share lunchtime. Moorhill’s Year 6 students calculated quantities and costs of ice cream treats as part of their Maths SATS preparations!

The inaugural meeting of The Chase Co-operative Learning Trust took place at the same time, giving Trust members the opportunity to be included.

The Trust comprises very strong partners and both Headteachers, Shirley Wellings and Sandra Peck, are delighted with Trust plans for the future. Partners include South Staffordshire College, which will be providing courses for parents, especially those to help them support their children; Wolverhampton University, which will continue to work with both schools to develop mathematical skills; and The Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, which will continue to support the schools’ environmental projects.

Staff from Pye Green Valley Primary will join with both schools to work on curriculum matters, including the National Revised Curriculum. Wednesbury Learning Community Trust schools are also networking with Moorhill and Western Springs, and as this is an established Trust, it brings with it much experience and expertise.

Cannock Chase District Council is most supportive of the Trust and works with both schools to develop projects in the localities to benefit both children and families, which in turn enables the children to focus on their educational studies.

The Co-operative College has extensive experience in helping to found and organise the network of co-operative schools, of which the schools are now members. The co-operative movement will help bring a global dimension to the school and assist in extending existing national and international links.

The students will all become members of the co-operative society and will have the opportunity to contribute to decision making and planning for their futures.

See photos of the celebrations here.

The film tells the story of animation through a shimmering fishbowl of delicately glittering fish, which are menaced by a bigger fish until the small fish come up with an idea – working together to take on the big fish!

The animation was made by five Rochdale primary schools in collaboration with Accrington-based Huckleberry Films. Film-making was just one activity on offer to hundreds of Rochdale students who spent the day learning about their town’s history as the birthplace of modern co-operation, and famous ancestors the Rochdale Pioneers.

Watch ‘Working Together’ online at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxOZmEy3v5k

Victorian weavers and factory workers greeted students from 12 Rochdale primary schools as they arrived and the brass band from the Co-operative Academy of Manchester got the ‘Meet the Pioneers’ day, which was organised by the Co-operative College, The Co-operative Group and Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, off to a swing

Paul Flowers, Chair, Co-operative Financial Services, set the scene for students in his opening address, describing “a time that was a long, long, long time ago, but not that long ago”. He said: “Times were tough in the 1800s. A lot of children your ages were forced to work in mills.”

In 1844, 28 ordinary working men, mainly weavers working in the town’s textiles trade, got together to take a stand against the poor working conditions and unfair trading that was leaving consumers with substandard food products. These ‘Rochdale Pioneers’ set up their own co-operative grocery store in Toad Lane, Rochdale selling unadulterated food for a fair price and rewarded customers for their business with dividend.

Flowers explained why the Pioneers decided to set up a co-operative and what it meant: He said: ‘They called it a co-operative because every person who shopped there could become a member of the co-operative. They had an equal share and every member was the same. At the end of the year, the members of the co-operative had a share in the profits.”

With 2012 designated the International Year of Co-operatives, and Rochdale declared World Co-operative Capital, he reiterated the significance of the Rochdale Pioneers: “The history you have got in this town is important the whole world over. The idea that ordinary folk could take on the people who wanted to screw them into the ground, and take control of their own affairs, spread all over the country and then over the world.”

Flowers also stated the importance of co-operation today. He said: “Co-operation is very much an active thing going on today. It means not being told by lots of other people what we should buy and what we should do.”

Actors from the Shed Theatre Company and Touchstones Rochdale brought the tale of the Rochdale Pioneers to life and gave youngsters a taste of Victorian life – including the stern discipline of the nineteenth century classroom! Students found it hard to visualise how hard life would have been in the 1840s. Leah from St Patrick’s RC Primary School said: “Kids our age and younger were working – I can’t imagine it!”

Other activities included setting up a replica of the Pioneers’ Toad Lane store, taking part in a Pioneers’ treasure hunt, felt-making, banner making, co-operative drawing and visiting the site of the Pioneers’ original shop, now a museum which is reopening this summer after a major refurbishment. The story of co-operation did not stop with the Rochdale Pioneers, and students also took part in activities on Fairtrade, reflecting the co-operative movement’s ongoing support for Fairtrade and ethical trading conditions.

Students pushed a wheelbarrow around the great hall, cheered on by their classmates, in a relay covering the 12 miles between Manchester and Rochdale – the distance the Pioneers had to transport their goods by wheelbarrow from the market in Manchester to Rochdale to be sold in their Toad Lane shop.

In the grand finale to the day, the wheelbarrow finally ‘arrived at the shop’ to three cheers for the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers’ Society as students dramatised the Pioneers’ story with a performance and taught everyone the tune to a song about the Pioneers! Musician Will Mace, who worked with students throughout the day, said the co-operative movement inspired by the Pioneers had “become so much bigger than they ever anticipated”!

Students said finding out about the Rochdale Pioneers made them proud to be from Rochdale. Emma from St Patrick’s said: “I didn’t know how the co-op was actually started so it was good to learn what it was at the start. I thought it was just a shop and when I went to the Co-op I thought it was just another supermarket but now I know there’s loads to it. When I found out how brave they were it made me really proud.”

Leah from St Patrick’s added: “Knowing they did all this for fairer trade made me feel proud. I didn’t really care about the co-op before but I do now. I didn’t know why they called the shop ‘co-op’ and I thought they just made it up but now I know it was for a reason.”

Julie Thorpe, Head of School and Youth Programmes at the Co-operative College, said: “One thing I’ve learned today is all of us have got a lot to learn from those people back in 1844. We’ve got a few problems to solve still in the world and we can learn from working in co-operatives to improve our communities.”

She told students: “I hope you’ve all learned how you can make your schools more co-operative places.”

The Meet the Pioneers day was visited by the BBC Radion Manchester show Beswick at Breakfast. Listen again at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00rbc2b (feature appears ten minutes before the end).

Activities will be led by staff from the Co-operative College in Manchester and Outreach Officers from the Rochdale Pioneers Museum, which is due to reopen in summer following a major refurbishment. The day is being hosted by Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and supported by The Co-operative Group.

The Rochdale Pioneers were 28 ordinary working men, mainly weavers working in the town’s textiles trade, who got together in 1844 to improve their lives by setting up a co-operative grocery store. Their shop, on Toad Lane in Rochdale, is now widely regarded as the birthplace of the modern co-operative movement, which today has over 1 billion members in more than 100 different countries. 2012 is the United Nations’ first International Year of Co-operatives and, with Rochdale designated World Capital of Co-operatives, what better time to look again at the story of the 28 ordinary working people who started it all, and who continue to inspire co-operatives to form across the globe.

Actors from the Shed Theatre Company and Touchstones Rochdale will bring the tale of the Pioneers to life and give students a taste of Victorian life – including the stern discipline of the nineteenth century classroom! Students will also take part in a range of interactive games and activities, from felt-making, singing and drama to banner making and co-operative drawing. In the most energetic part of the day, students will push a wheelbarrow around Rochdale Town Hall in a relay covering 12.4 miles – the distance the Pioneers had to transport their goods by wheelbarrow from the market in Manchester to Rochdale to be sold in their Toad Lane shop!

Short animation The Story of the Rochdale Pioneers, created by Lancashire-based Huckleberry Films, will be shown along with other co-operative films, and the filmmakers will be on hand to show students how to make co-operative films of their own.

Other activities include setting up a replica of the Pioneers’ Toad Lane store, taking part in a Pioneers’ treasure hunt and visiting the site of the Pioneers’ original shop.

The activity day follows the launch in Rochdale of a new teaching pack, produced by the Co-operative College, called Meet the Pioneers. The resource introduces the men behind the famous story and explores what they were like as individuals. All different types of people, of all different ages, with different interests, occupations and personalities, came together to form the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society, from James Smithies the joke teller to William Cooper the avid letter writer. The resource draws on material held in the National Co-operative Archive in Manchester and contextualises the story of the Rochdale Pioneers with background information about life in the nineteenth century, from housing and living conditions to education, food and political movements.

The story of co-operation did not stop with the Rochdale Pioneers, and students will take part in activities on Fairtrade, reflecting the co-operative movement’s ongoing support for Fairtrade and ethical trading conditions.

Julie Thorpe, Head of School and Youth Programmes at the Co-operative College, said: “We are really excited about meeting all the young people from across Rochdale. We will be taking them back in time to explore what life was like in the town in the nineteenth century. But we hope they will go away inspired with a vision of how co-operatives can improve people’s lives today and in the future.”

Paul Flowers, Chair of the Co-operative Banking Group, who will open the day, said: “I am delighted to be involved in the launch of this event and especially to be meeting all the young people who will be gathering together on the day. It is really important that the co-operative movement as a whole helps young people to be fully aware of what co-operatives have done and could do in the future of our society and therefore I am delighted to be involved on the day.”

Students from eight schools across the borough had their faces painted and buzzed around St Mary in the Baum Church – just across the road from the Toad Lane Museum – dressed as bees. The young bee-fects learned how to behave like bees by co-operating with students from other schools to solve puzzles and complete activities such as bee-themed word searches and giant jigsaws. Honey-tasting went down a treat, and students were also shown blueberries, apples, lettuce, onions and broccoli to demonstrate the types of food that rely in some way on bees for their production.

Matthew Rowbotham, who is in his third year of keeping bees, was on hand to talk to students about beekeeping and the type of apparatus used. He said: “As a beekeeper I’m amazed at how well bees co-operate. For such small animals, they seem to do so much. That’s such a good lesson for humanity, and business.”

The Rochdale Pioneers Museum is based in the building where the Rochdale Pioneers set up the first successful co-operative shop in 1844, laying the foundations for the modern-day co-operative movement. Father Mark Haworth, vicar at St Mary’s described co-operatives as “putting together a plan for how business and people could work together for mutual benefit”.

The Museum will be reopening during 2012 International Year of Co-operatives, and Father Mark explained to students: “This is a very special year for Rochdale because this is where it all began, a worldwide movement. People will be coming to Rochdale throughout the year.” Eve Broadhurst, Arts Development Officer for the ROCHDALE Project, reminded students: “The town you all live in is such a special town.”

Students watched short animation The Story of the Rochdale Pioneers, which tells the story of how 28 Rochdale men got together to improve the lives of working people. One student, from Brimrod Primary School, enjoyed finding out more about the links between his town and co-operatives. He said: “I buy a lot from the Co-op – I think it’s good. They started from food and now they’re up to travel, funerals and pharmacies. You can’t go anywhere without seeing a co-op.”

Eve also explained the link between bees and co-operatives, and reminded students of the co-operative values and principles. She said: “Bees live in co-operative colonies and have been giving us honey for thousands of years. Bees are responsible for themselves and are co-operators.”

The afternoon was part of an ongoing bee-themed project which aims to make Rochdale a bee-friendly town. Each school received its own Bee-Have pack containing games, workshops, information and bee-friendly wildflower seeds provided by the Co-operative for planting in a plot back at school.

Any Rochdale schools that produce bee-themed work are invited to send it to the Rochdale Pioneers Museum for display when it reopens this summer.

For more information about the Bee-Have project contact outreach@co-op.ac.uk.

Further photos:

[Show as slideshow]

Tavistock College in Devon is consulting to become a co-operative Trust school, in a move that its Principal says is “genuinely about involving the community”.

The school plans to team up with the Tavistock Chamber of Commerce, UCP Marjon and the co-operative movement to form the Trust, aiming to build partnerships to help drive forward improvement.

Principal Helen Salmon said the co-operative values fit the local community “like a glove”.

The school says the Trust would give a “real sense of ownership by students, staff and the wider community of Tavistock”.

For more information please see press cutting from the Tavistock Times below.

Tavistock Times

On 1 April, East Tilbury Infant School and East Tilbury Junior School became Academies, joining St Clere’s School as equal partners in a co-operative Academy Trust: the first multi-academy co-operative Trust in the country. The Department for Education agreed that all three schools are high-performing and therefore meet the strict criteria which allow them to convert to academy status, a move that was supported by Thurrock Council.

The aim of the co-operative multi-academy Trust is to raise pupil standards, provide community access and engagement and operate within the co-operative values. It is the culmination of 10 years of collaboration and joint working, which has seen the schools develop consistent approaches to many areas, including behaviour, uniform, pupil voice and transition. The schools also make joint staff appointments. A commitment to the co-operative values and a desire to continue to work in collaboration binds the schools together.

The Academy Trust is also a member of the Schools Co-operative Society, the apex body of hundreds of co-operative schools and educational co-operatives across England, which provides advice, guidance and support to members.

Shelagh Cosgrow, Headteacher, East Tilbury Infant School, said: “This is a ground breaking development which demonstrates our commitment to ensuring the best possible future for the children in our schools. Through consolidating our collaborative work in this way, we are opening opportunities to all members of our local communities. Governors and staff embrace this landmark in education for the 21st century. All credit is due to our chairs of governors. They have demonstrated commitment to our vision of a co-operative multi-academy Trust.”

Paul Griffiths, Headteacher of East Tilbury Junior School and St Clere’s School, agreed: “The chair of governors of East Tilbury Junior School, Mr Ray Osborne, initiated our joint working over 10 years ago. It is a fantastic achievement that the three schools are operating in such a strong partnership for the benefit of all our pupils.”

Jo Olsson, Director of People Services for Thurrock, who has supported this development from the outset, said: “This is a great example of the kind of radical and creative thinking that is a quietly understated reality in Thurrock; independent and community led, carefully nurtured over time by highly effective leaders to grow and flourish, and fully involving all stakeholders…a truly remarkable achievement”.

Thurrock Council’s Head of Learning and Universal Outcomes, Carmel Littleton, also commented: “The kind of partnership within this group of schools and between the schools and the wider system of schools and the Local Authority can absolutely be held up as an example of excellence nationally.”

Whole Education is a not-for-profit organisation that brings together leading education projects which demonstrate a commitment to a more rounded education for young people. The conference will bring together leading educationalists, school leaders and over 20 Whole Education partner projects from across the country, including the Co-operative College.

Speakers:

Alan Yellup, Executive Head, Wakefield City Academy, will share the key transferable lessons from the Academy’s development to become an outstanding school.

Angela Armytage, Headteacher, Yewlands Technology College, Sheffield, will describe the change journey of Yewlands and its ‘Family of (Primary) Schools’.

The conference will take place at Leeds United Football Club, East Stand, Elland Road, Leeds, LS11 0ES, on Thursday 24 May. It costs £175 for schools, £225 for Local Authorities, charities and universities and £295 Full Price. Book before 27 April to receive early bird discount using the code EAR33.

For more details visit www.wholeeducation.org or call 020 7250 8054.