Case Studies: Schools Working with Edison

These case studies help give an impression of what it's like for a school to work with Edison, and how the Design for School Improvement can be adapted to meet the different approaches and priorities of individual schools. If after reading a case study, you would like to talk to any of the people featured in it, please email us and we will put you in touch.

The case studies are available as downloadable .pdf files. You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed on your computer to read them. If you don't, it is available free here.

NEW! Integrated Learning

Edison's Primary Curriculum - an integrated approach to core learning skills

NEW! Salisbury School

School improvement is demanding but rewarding at Salisbury

NEW! Primary Perspective

What do our primary school partners have to say about their experiences?

Group Dynamics

The story of a thriving network  of schools in Thurrock

Propects are good for new vocational school at Thorpe Bay

Thorpe Bay School in Southend is something of a cause célèbre: with the longest period in Special Measures of any school in the UK now behind it, the school has survived two attempted closures to bounce back with strongly improved performance and a bold new strategy.

Lyons Hall - from Crisis to Confidence

When Andrew Smith took over as Headteacher at Lyons Hall Primary School in Braintree, he had a crisis to deal with. The school had suffered a train of demoralising problems in the wake of rapid expansion in pupil numbers, culminating in the simultaneous loss of its previous Headteacher and deputy.

With a background in crisis management, he’d done it before, but this time saw a partnership with Edison as a way of making it happen more quickly.

Personalised Learning in Practice

Introducing personalised learning is a challenge for schools but a good implementation has the potential to improve the effectiveness of teaching and raise pupils’ achievement levels. The PLiP programme tested and developed in this trial project is designed to provide methods, resources and technological aids in an adaptable package that will enable schools to make personalisation a relatively easy issue to address effectively.

Innovation Pays Off for St Teresa's

‘You sometimes feel a minister hasan idea in the shower in the morning,and it’s a green paper by the afternoon’, jokes Nikki Stevens, Headteacher of St. Teresa’s Catholic Primary School in Rochford, Essex. ‘So part of the attraction of working with Edison was that it was a way of rationalising the demands that are made on us. Edison appealed to us as a way of managing continual improvement in a framework that helped deliver continuity.’

Making it happen - step by step

Cultivating a greater sense of involvement and responsibility for their own progress has been key to raising the performance of students at Alec Hunter Humanities College, say Headteacher Stephen Wyatt and Deputy Ann Davis.

Crash Course:
Imagining A Better Future for Public Education

In these extracts, Edison founder and CEO Chris Whittle looks at the attitudes toward systemic failures in the US education system and the lessons to be learned, outlines the concept of school design, and discusses possible future developments

Colbayns High: two years of progress

As the first school to embark on a partnership with Edison in the UK, Colbayns High School in Clacton, Essex, cast itself in a pioneering role. In an earlier case study, Headteacher Nick Pavitt, Deputy Sally McAteer and staff members talked about their experiences in the first months of the partnership. Now, more that two years into the programme, how does the school reflect on its experience with Edison, and on the progress made?

Three Primaries in Essex: A Group of Individuals

These three primary schools are located in fairly close proximity, and saw working with Edison as a framework for linking together in pursuit of improvement. But each school had different priorities and this case study shows how working together doesn't prevent the schools each achieving their own aims within the Edison Design.

Colbayns High School: Onward and Upward

Colbayns is a large secondary school in Clacton raising itself under dynamic leadership of the Headteacher and senior staff. This case study was produced after Colbayns had been working with Edison for around nine months and had just received an OFSTED report that praised the school for its progress.