Member Article

Yorkshire businesswoman takes on own Middlesborough primary school as a client

A Yorkshire businesswoman who heads up a national education company has taken on her old primary school in Middlesbrough as a customer.

Melanie Moore is managing director of Cornerstones Education, which specialises in producing creative curriculum resources to help teachers plan and prepare engaging lessons for three to 11-year-olds.

The fast-growing Barnsley firm supplies more than 650 schools across England and Wales and, following a recruitment drive in the North East, has just signed up the primary school Melanie went to as a girl.

Nearly 90% of Middlesbrough’s primary schools signed up to use Cornerstones’ materials following a presentation by Mel at a schools’ network event in the town. They include The Avenue Primary in Nunthorpe which Melanie attended.

Melanie said: “I was brought up in Middlesbrough and have lots of fond memories of creative learning, painting, singing and so on, at The Avenue. It’s been fantastic to go back and start working with teachers there – and with so many others too.

“Our aim is to help today’ teachers save time and money and deliver creative and effective lessons which meet and exceed every one of the National Curriculum’s targets.”

Melanie’s former classroom teacher at The Avenue Chris Wain, who is now headteacher at Pallister Park Primary which is lead school in the Middlesbrough Schools Teaching Alliance, said: “It is always really interesting to follow the careers of children you once taught and I was thrilled to see Mel at our schools network and hear all about what she is doing now.

“Out of 40 Middlesbrough primary schools, 35 were so impressed with what she had to say that they decided the Cornerstones curriculum will work for them.”

The Avenue’s current headteacher Darren Gamble added: “It has been great to meet a former pupil of The Avenue and see her commitment to creative education come full circle.”

Cornerstones cross-curricular learning projects include titles such as Dinosaur Planet, Potions, Frozen Kingdom and Superheroes.

Mel said: “After three years of building up our creative curriculum business it feels very special to now be working with the primary school I went to and with so many other schools back in my home town.”

Melanie pursued a career as a teacher after school, studying in Leeds. She taught for five years in Stockton-on-Tees then moved to work in Yorkshire schools. After qualifying as a headteacher and working as an LEA schools advisor in Sheffield, she set up

Cornerstones Education in 2011 with co-directors Graham Bell and Simon Hickton. The Goldthorpe- based business now employs 27.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .