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The Schools Co-operative Society co-ordinates a network of educational organisations and provides advice and support to its members. It gives a voice to the rapidly growing co-operative sector within the UK educational system.

Co-operative Business & Enterprise Schools

In the late 1990s the idea of schools becoming specialist schools started to expand beyond the original  specialist technology school model. Business and Enterprise was one of the new specialisms offered.

At the time, the co-operative alternative to running a business hardly appeared in the school curriculum. Dave Boston, SCS' Chief Executive was Head at Sir Thomas Boughey High School at the time.

"We had been using Co-operative Values and Principles since the late 90s as our core values but we saw the idea of Business and Enterprise as offering a new way forward. Other specialisms had the danger of only really improving a couple of areas of the school's curriculum - Business and Enterprise could work across the curriculum. Significantly it also gave us the opportunity to use a co-operative dimension to Business and Enterprise. Although this was being done abroad few, were looking at it here"

Dave Boston, reflecting upon his time as Head at Sir Thomas Boughey Co-operative College.

In 2004 a pioneering project by the Co-operative Group and the Co-operative College created a network of eight Co-operative Business and Enterprise Colleges. This was soon expanded to include a wide range of school types from 11-16 and 11-18 high schools to special schools. In 2008 the first school outside England, Hunterhouse College in Belfast, joined the group.

Support for the project came from across the co-operative movement and included Co-operative Action, a co-operative grant charity who provided additional funds.

The project was highly successful and was recognised in many of the Ofsted reports for member schools as having a significant effect on a number of aspects of these school but particularly on school improvement.

Co-operative Business and Enterprise Schools were amongst the founders of SCS and are still very active members of the society.

For further infomation about Co-operative Business and Enterprise Schools and the project:-