Help build the future: A free digital curriculum for schools
For our 50th Digital Northants Story, we hear from Phil Spokes, co-founder of Spokes Education, on the exciting UnfoldEd project that aims to bring engaging learning to children at no cost to schools - and how you can help make it happen.
UnfoldEd is about giving every primary school access to high quality, engaging lessons on important life topics completely free of charge.
We’ve created interactive lessons for primary schools focused on Personal Social Health and Economic education (PSHE).
You probably remember it from school. It covers everything from physical and mental wellbeing to relationships, personal development and emotional literacy. All the stuff that helps kids understand themselves and the people around them.
These so-called 'softer skills' are more important than ever but many schools struggle to teach them effectively, especially with overstretched budgets and packed timetables.
We wanted to make something that’s easy for teachers to use, really fun for the kids and totally free.
This project has already cost us about £150,000 in time, resources and development. It's all been self-funded over the last two years. Originally the idea was to sell it to schools but with money already stretched thinly, we decided we wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem.
So instead we're offering UnfoldEd for free with the aim of funding future development through grants and sponsorships from corporate partners.
We've got two main challenges.
Challenge 1: Getting into schools
Getting schools to engage takes time, and understandably so. Teachers are extremely busy, and they’re constantly being sold to.
The fact that we’re offering something completely free and with no strings attached actually makes it a bit harder in some ways. People often assume there’s a catch.
The good news is that now the platform is free, that makes a big difference. Schools are far more likely to give something a look when they know there’s no cost involved.
And honestly, once people see it, they tend to say, “This looks great.” There’s literally nothing to lose. We’re not asking for data, commitment or even feedback. We’re just giving something that’s ready to use.
Really, it’s just about getting the word out. That’s the task now. Once it’s on their radar, we’re confident schools will find real value in it.
Challenge 2: Funding future lessons
The second big hurdle is funding. We’re continuing to build lessons in the background when we can, but right now there’s no funding stream in place.
I’ve had to shift some focus back to client work to bring in income, which means we can’t build out the curriculum as quickly as we’d like.
That’s where corporate sponsorship comes in and it’s something we’re starting to have more conversations about.
We’re not typically plugged into the corporate world. Our work tends to be with non-profits and schools, so we’re reaching out to people who do have those connections. Whether it’s someone who can get us in front of a CSR manager or someone at a big local company who believes in what we’re doing, we’re actively looking to have those conversations.
We’ve put together a really straightforward sponsorship model that makes it easy for organisations to get involved.
Companies can sponsor the creation of a lesson - something that becomes part of our free curriculum.
Sponsorship starts at £5,000 per year. This helps to cover the costs involved in the design and building of the lesson, platform hosting, support and maintenance.
As a social enterprise, we are committed to investing profits back in to the development of more lessons or other useful resources for teachers.
Sponsors are credited and their support helps build a library of free, high-quality resources for schools worldwide.
We’ve spoken to people working in social value roles, and they’ve all said the same thing. £5,000 is next to nothing for many larger companies, and in return, they can show that they’ve helped launch an educational resource that’s free to every school in the UK and beyond.
That’s a solid CSR story, and the impact per pound is huge.
We have also included the option for additional enrichments opportunities. Again, from our conversations, some organisation have an appetite for a more involved education outreach programme.
We feel we are perfectly placed to help build connections between schools and businesses and create a more tailored offering that could incorporate enrichment opportunities such as sponsor facilitated workshops, visits, competitions and much more.
Moving this forward
We know the right companies are out there, especially around Northampton. It's just about getting in front of the right people, showing them the platform and inviting them to support it.
We also recognise that it becomes a much easier sell once more schools are actively using the platform.
So right now, we’re pushing on both fronts: growing school adoption while starting to line up sponsorship conversations.
Sometimes, it’ll work the other way around too. A sponsor might already have relationships with schools and that can help us expand our reach.
We’re excited about the potential for UnfoldEd, the teachers we’ve demonstrated it to are excited and we know there’s a huge benefit here for schools, organisations and the children who will be able to learn in new and engaging ways.
Find out more
Visit the UnfoldEd website.