Life in a rural school – twice over – as head reveals how she leads two Lancaster primaries

Fiona Ip is headteacher of both Tatham Fells CE (VC) Primary and Melling St Wilfrid CE Primary, and here she gives her own view of what it’s like to be overseeing two rural Lancaster schools.

“I am the headteacher of two small rural schools in the Lune Valley. They are vibrant, rich and happy places where children thrive and gain confidence but I imagine most readers may never have visited one or know of the unique experiences they offer, so hopefully this is a little insight.

Lancaster has a large number of rural schools many of which are part of the supportive network called the Lune Valley Cluster. The headteachers meet regularly and plan collaborative activities between the schools.

The two schools I lead are Tatham Fells CE Primary – which nestles at the far edge of Lancaster, bordering North Yorkshire in an unbelievably beautiful setting – and Melling St Wilfrid CE Primary in the heart of Melling village.

With fantastic, well used community grounds, both are two teacher schools at the heart of their community.

The 2 classes are: Reception, Year1 and 2 pupils together and Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 pupils. At Tatham Fells Nursery pupils are also in the infant class while at Melling there is a separate pre-school on site called Busybodies.

Although this may seem a disadvantage in terms of meeting everyone’s needs it can also work to our advantage. Older children provide role models for the younger children in the class and by showing how to do things enhance their own learning.

The bonds between children are like siblings and each child’s contribution is truly valued.

Children who find some areas of the curriculum more challenging get to hear content again and revision of concepts helps everyone’s learning. Children who have picked up all the concepts quickly work independently through higher level work with support from the teachers when needed so developing their study skills. In some subjects eg maths, English and science the children are split into smaller groups.

Both classes have a teacher and teaching assistant and often a second teaching assistant and part-time teacher.

The curriculum is just the same as in a large school and we have to timetable and plan it carefully to ensure everything is covered on a rolling programme. We use our unique settings to full advantage to enhance learning.

Our pupils move onto a wide range of secondary schools – QES, both grammar schools, Ripley, Settle and Central Lancaster all received pupils from Melling and Tatham last year, reflecting the wide range of places

children travel from to the schools.

Fortunately, we are extremely well resourced with Chromebooks for all junior children and iPads for all infant children in both schools. We have interactive screens in all classrooms, study rooms and the hall and a huge range of outdoor provision.

Melling secured funding from the diocese two years ago for a full decarbonisation project featuring air source heat pump heating system, solar panels, new roof, windows and doors, ensuring its sustainability for many years to come.

Due to our high staff:pupil ratios we can provide 1:1 tuition for those that need extra help with reading fluency. We also have extensive book supplies for our advanced readers with children being able to complete online quizzes on books they have read at home and at school on accelerated reader.

English lessons are carefully planned to ensure children are extended and develop the full range of skills required. We follow White Rose Maths and staff from both schools meet to ensure the curriculum is thoroughly covered in all aspects.

As we are in rural settings we ensure children still have opportunities to go out and see the wider world. In Year 5 and 6 all children are given the opportunity to go for an educational visit to Edinburgh one year and to the Venture Centre in the Isle of Man another.

Years 3 and 4 take part in a residential visit nearer to home at Borwick Hall. A portion of the rurality budgets the schools receive is earmarked for providing educational visits linked to units they are studying so for example last year our infants were learning about the seaside and so they went to Morecambe for the day with a beach school session in the afternoon.

They also visited the zoo as part of their work on living things in science.

In some ways we have a more traditional curriculum. We have harvest festivals, Christingle services, nativities, Easter celebrations, Maypole dancing, summer shows and Christmas fairs.

The local community is highly involved at both schools and our vicar is a key member of all our celebrations. The schools are the focal point for their communities.

As well as traditional celebrations our children have many sporting adventures with the Lancaster and Heysham school sports network and the Lune Valley small schools.

All children have the opportunity to represent the school in sporting fixtures although they do have to attend practices. Tatham Fells currently hold the annual trophies for rounders, rugby, hockey, netball and football. An excellent PE teacher, two lessons a week and an outdoor lifestyle means all our children enjoy a wide range of sports.

Many children attend sports clubs outside of school as we notice their strengths in school and signpost them to clubs where they can further develop. We have children in hockey, rugby, gymnastics, football, climbing and running teams.

We make full use of our outdoors in both schools with our forest school lessons. The children have a weekly forest session with a forest school leader. At Tatham we also have Little Explorers sessions on a Friday afternoon with a forest school teacher for toddlers and their parents.

Wellies and waterproofs are an essential part of the school uniform and children love the freedom of the great outdoors. It is never a problem getting them to go outside in the extensive grounds! We ensure they have the

freedom to explore and enjoy their childhood.

We have school dinners cooked in the kitchens on site. Melling has a large kitchen and provides other local schools with dinners.

Having two schools to look after means that good practice can be shared between the schools. New ideas can be trialled in one school and transferred to the other when necessary. The two schools can share and pool resources for example most online subscriptions are across both schools, transport is often shared and staff expertise is shared across the two schools.

I share my working week between the schools. The amount of paperwork and accountability is the same as any primary but doing two lots of it is quicker as I can use the same format and just adapt them to each school. Our

school bursar is also shared and this helps with budgeting,administration and Mrs Mason does an amazing job of organising us all.

Despite having a shared head and bursar the schools definitely have their own identities which reflect their different settings. Each has retained its unique characteristics and customs which have been built over their many years of history.

The atmosphere in each school is like a family with everyone being an important and essential part of that family. Whenever we have had an Ofsted inspection (and I have had 10 during my time as a teacher!) the sentence ‘the children here do not realise how lucky they are, what a great childhood’ has always featured.

The difficulties in a small school are that it takes a lot of skilled planning to ensure that every child’s needs are met in a mixed age class. It requires a high degree of skill from the classroom practitioners so we do not want to lose them.

Luckily staff enjoy their job and the children are well behaved, thoughtful and parents are highly supportive which ensures everyone feels valued and we have stable teams.

Some people may think that in a small school their child will not have enough friends or will get a shock when they get to secondary school but in practice I have found the opposite to be true.

They are used to working things out for themselves and not hiding behind others, they have to learn to get on with everyone – adults and older children, not just a small group of selected people their own age and gender, and this means they are more confident when it comes to transition to secondary school as they have strong, secure foundations on which to build.

Despite living in the city myself I have spent most of my career in rural school and ensured my own children attended them. I believe they provide the perfect nurturing and safe space for children to develop in a fast paced world and would love others to see what they have to offer.

If you would like to visit us to see what a rural education is like today, please email for a tour [email protected]. Our children would love to explain what they do to you and we would love to give people an insight into modern rural education.”