Case study: The Ferns Primary Academy, Bolton

Case study: The Ferns Primary Academy, Bolton (NW)
Principal: Debra Murphy
http://thefernsacademy.org/
About The Ferns Primary Academy
The Ferns Primary Academy opened on 1 September 2012,
and is sponsored by Northern Education Trust. It is larger
than the average-sized primary academy, with 340 pupils
on roll.
Around half of the pupils are known to be eligible for the
pupil premium. Around one quarter of the pupils are from
minority ethnic groups, of which the largest is Pakistani.
The school has above average numbers of pupils who speak
English as an additional language (one fifth) and who have
special educational needs (SEN).
The academy initially responded to parents’ requests for a breakfast club, and then decided to
extend their provision to operate full-year wraparound childcare on the school site. Family Action
agreed to help the academy to develop its provision.
Setting up wraparound provision: the journey so far
Step 1: Choosing a model
The school expressed an interest in using existing school staff to run the school-based childcare
provision, either as part of their contracted hours or by being paid to work additional hours.
The headteacher was also keen to work closely with other schools in the cluster, and to jointly offer
childcare provision for families in the locality:

each school to carry on offering their existing provision during the term time
in
of
-
the holidays, especially the summer, the cluster to share the childcare, each hosting one week
childcare in order to:
make the provision more accessible in the community
give families a chance to see the provision on their school site
attract more numbers in the wider community.
Colleen Feast, Project Leader at Family Action, pointed out some of the benefits and challenges of
offering childcare provision as part of a cluster:
‘Although the cluster is a positive model for smaller schools to consider
in an area where there are several schools all wanting to offer childcare,
the fact that a school has to wait for a cluster meeting to discuss plans
can mean time delays in the start-up process – as at The Ferns.
A joint steering group will hopefully enable us to contact/meet in
between cluster meetings in order to get the process moving forward.’
Step 2: Involving the wider school community
Regular meetings were scheduled between the principal, school business manager and Family Action
staff (eg to set targets, monitor progress). The principal also spoke to other schools in the cluster
(eg to engage key members from partner schools onto the steering group).
Family Action assisted the school to develop and distribute three paper-based and electronic
questionnaires to ensure that teachers, parents and children were able to give their opinions on the
proposed plans to offer childcare on the school site 50 weeks a year.
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Amanda Hamer, Project Worker at Family Action, explains:
‘We used the free version of the online tool Survey Gizmo to
gather information from the different stakeholders and to run
reports. The responses revealed that parents, staff and children
were keen for the Ferns to offer wraparound childcare on their
own site. Around two-thirds of parents said they would use an
after-school club, for instance. Most of the parents that
completed the survey were obviously looking for childcare that is
both affordable and flexible.’
Family Action mapped existing childcare provision in the local area, particularly in partner schools.
This enabled the school to:

minimise any duplication of provision in the Ferns area
avoid choosing activities that were unsuccessful in the past (eg for social and economic reasons).
Step 3: Setting up a steering group
Invitations were sent out to potential steering group members to invite them to a meeting. The
response was enthusiastic and a steering group was established consisting of school staff, parents,
Family Action staff, key staff from partner schools, and other members of the local community.
Regular monthly meetings were held, which focused on issues as varied as:

developing an action plan and monitoring progress
costing the childcare provision
marketing the provision
sharing plans with other schools in the cluster.
The steering group also decided to formally approach Kearsley Academy about working in
partnership to offer childcare provision. Amanda Hamer adds:
‘Following a decision to allow Kearsley Academy to join the programme, staff from the Academy
were invited to January’s steering group meeting at the Ferns. At the meeting, the group discussed
partnership working and the possibility of the high school hosting holiday care at their school. A
meeting was also arranged for the heads of both schools to meet in January.’
A meeting of representatives from the steering group was held on 5 March to monitor progress so
far and to decide on future actions. This meeting involved Patricia Morgan (Family Action’s
Programme Manager), Colleen Feast (Family Action’s Project, Leader), Debra Murphy (Principal) and
Alison Dale (Business Manager). Amanda Hamer says:
‘The school was about to begin a major building phase, so it was decided to
stagger the introduction of its childcare offer, to ensure that the new provision was meeting the
needs of both the school and its families.’
Step 4: Developing the provision
The school decided to offer the following provision from
April 2014 onwards:

a breakfast club, open to all pupils from the Ferns
Academy (7.45–8.45am)

an after-school ‘tea-time club’, also open to all
pupils and providing a range of engaging youth club
style activities (3.15–6pm).
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Step 5: Identifying challenges
The school identified a number of key challenges to offering childcare provision on the school site, in
particular: transport costs; providing the specialist staff needed one to one with children who have
complex needs; and offering holiday provision on its site.
In addition, the school felt the number of participants might be hampered due to: the Academy
being in an area of deprivation; a lack of job opportunities; having a large number of ethnic
minorities who, due to their culture, had a different view on childcare and provision.
Below are some ways in which the school overcame barriers to establishing successful childcare
provision:

Staffing: In order for existing staff to deliver the childcare provision, the headteacher reviewed
staff hours to see whether they could be changed to fit the needs of the provision, especially
before and after the school day.

Practical issues: With building work planned during the school holidays, it would be difficult for
the Ferns Academy to offer a full programme of childcare activities. Colleen Feast says:
‘With all the building work going on, it would be difficult for the Ferns to offer any childcare provision
in the Easter holidays this year. So, they’re going to approach Kearsley Academy to see whether it
will host a holiday camp on their school site.’

Partnership working: In order to establish links, share good practice and
offer a full-year childcare offer, the principal was keen for the school to link
with Kearsley Academy (see above). Amanda Hamer adds:
‘The Ferns is a small school and for the provision to offer competitive childcare,
the partnership with Kearsley Academy is an important development.’

Funding: Family Action identified several potential sources of funding (eg
Kellogg’s support for breakfast club).

Marketing: Family Action assisted the school to develop some publicity to
market their provision (eg poster).
Note
At the time of writing (March 2014), the Ferns Academy is in the process of developing and
marketing its before- and after-school provision and developing links with Kearsley Academy to try
and offer holiday provision on their site.
‘We work closely with the high school and look forward to developing links with them to
ensure our Year 5 and 6 pupils get the opportunity to access holiday camps with
pupils from Years 7 and 8 of the high school – and possibly the wider community.
We feel this will encourage a positive attitude to transition from children.’
(Alison Dale, Business Manager)
This case study will be updated in Autumn 2014, and will:

describe the timetable of provision offered to pupils before and after school

outline plans to make the childcare offer sustainable in the future.
plans for the school’s holiday provision
highlight the results of an evaluation to be carried out with parents/carers, teachers and pupils
to assess ongoing demand for childcare, satisfaction with the provision so far, etc
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