All-Age Schooling

• Introduction
• A Guide to All-Age Schooling
• Case Studies of All-Age Institutions
• Darlington Education Village - An All-Age School Federation
• Serlby Park - An All-Age School
• School Federation Information Exchange

Introduction

How do we know 'all-age' or 'all-through' schooling is increasing across the country?

The Innovation Unit brought together heads, managers and federation co-ordinators interested in looking at collaborating with schools of other age groups, to overcome difficulties around transition. We quickly realised that collaborating into all-age school federations or amalgamating into all-age schools brought a whole range of benefits.

After exploring their own successes and challenges in face-to-face workshops, we began to share our findings with other schools. It soon became apparent that many more of our colleagues were interested in all-age schooling and eager to learn from our experiences.

The All-Age Collaborative is now known as the Consortium of All-Through Schools (CATS). To join this group and contribute towards innovation within all-age federations and schools, e-mail Barry Bainbridge, Co-ordinator of CATS at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The terms 'all-age' and 'all-through' are used interchangeably, but mean the same.

A Guide to All-Age Schooling

This practitioner-written guide gives you the background to all-age schooling with some examples of the challenges you may face, with possible solutions.

Download the booklet - All-Age Schooling: A Resource (PDF - 619 Kb).

Case Studies of All-Age Institutions

Many colleagues have found working across phases challenging, exciting, crucial. Below are some practical examples of this. We hope these may help you reflect on your own plans and aspirations.

Darlington Education Village - An All-Age School Federation

Darlington Education Village is a 'hard governance' school federation, bringing together three schools - a primary, secondary and special - under one roof, one management structure and a single curriculum entitlement. The scheme has been part-PFI (Private Finance Initiative) funded and boasts a brand new build, with a single Governing Body. The Federation has developed a strategic committee for each school or 'phase' for overseeing individual school issues, reporting directly to the single Governing Body.

Here's their leadership structure diagram and link to their web portal:

DEV Leadership Structure Diagram (PDF - 14 Kb).

Darlington Education Village Tours

Serlby Park - An All-Age School

Dave Harris, Principal of Serlby Park, a '3-18 Business & Enterprise Learning Community', explains how he overcame adversity to create an all-age school on three separate sites, from former infant, junior and secondary schools. Dave lays out his vision for a 'can do' culture in education, which can help this process.

The Journey to 'All-Through' Education by David Harris (PDF - 33 Kb).

Also check out Serlby Park web portal.

School Federation Information Exchange

The Innovation Unit's School Federation Information Exchange contains more information on all types of federation, including our federation contact database, where you can get in touch with Serlby Park and Darlington Education Village amongst others.

The resources in this web area are intended only for general information and use. They are not intended to address particular requirements or considered to be a recommendation by The Innovation Unit.

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