Purpose & Approach
We are an entirely independent multi academy trust creating schools that re-imagine where and how learning happens. Our purpose is to enable children to learn the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Fundamental to achieving this purpose is our approach to wellbeing. We believe that wellbeing, resilience and the ability to think with clarity in any circumstance are vital to a successful learning environment, and to happy, caring and fulfilling lives for our students, staff, and communities. We also believe that these strengths are innate in every single person and can be enhanced and developed in an educational setting through learning and exploration. Drawing on successful precedents from other schools and organisations, and combined with our own research and innovation, our schools will always allow time to explore and understand how our mind affects everything we do, and everything we experience in life. We believe that with this strength based approach, everyone experiencing our schools will feel empowered to make the most of their educational experience, and navigate life with greater agency, ease, creativity, freedom, and humanity. This is our theory of change.
PLACE SCHOOL'S DESIGN
Our design principles connect purpose and approach with practice to guide the creation of each school.
Learning
Experiential and project based practice, supported by discrete teaching of core subjects. There is a culture of ongoing learning throughout the school for students, staff and the community.
Infrastructure
A hub for our students, staff and the wider community with flexible spaces open all year round.
People
Trust, autonomy and relationships will be key drivers of how the school operates.
Wider System
Part of a wider eco-system of learning that cannot succeed in its purpose without all parts collaborating together.
We are applying to open our first school as part of the UK Free School process. We anticipate this process will be open to receiving bids again early in 2021. Our first bid is in response to the substantial need that will be created by the St Cuthbert's Garden Village development in Carlisle, Cumbria. The village will be the largest of its kind in the UK, bringing 10,000+ new homes to the area. You can read more about this school here.
Our schools are being designed specifically for the communities that they will serve, as well as being part of a movement to bring innovation and change to the wider education system. We would like to hear from potential partner organisations, businesses, professionals, parents, and community members who share our vision and want to us on the journey. Get in touch here.