Building Something Different
A Lumiar Secondary Update
It’s been a big term for the Lumiar UK secondary programme—and a good moment to pause and share an update on how things are unfolding here on the farm.
Independent Schools Inspection
First up: we passed our ISI Material Change Inspection 🎉🎉🎉
Preparing for this process as a tiny team meant late nights mapping curriculum to standards, building evidence portfolios, and tightening up our systems—all while holding on to the bigger vision of why this programme exists. According to our inspector—an experienced headteacher who currently oversees a network of specialist SEND schools—we were "one of the best prepared and most organised schools [he] has ever inspected." A huge amount of credit goes to our incredible Head of School, Claire Walker (Bows And Arrows), whose clarity, leadership, and deep commitment to young people made that outcome possible.
If you're working toward an inspection like this and need a sounding board, feel free to reach out—we’re happy to share our ISI handbook-aligned checklists and other tools that helped us prepare.
Meeting a Local Need
We’ve also just wrapped up a series of community events, open houses, and taster days, including a hands-on school design project where young people imagined what their dream learning environment would look like. Every time we invite young people through the doors, we’re reminded why this matters. Our next Open House is on April 23rd.
The local need has become increasingly clear. We're hearing regularly from families whose children have dropped out—or are on the verge of dropping out—of mainstream secondary school. The reasons are varied: bullying, anxiety, sensory overwhelm, the absence of adequate SEND support, or a simple but devastating sense that school is joyless, pointless, and disconnected from real life. Some families tell us that their child is masking all day and melting down every evening. Others say they’ve made the difficult decision to deregister because the suffering is just too much. Others who recognize that school that is just “fine” is not good enough (see article below for more.)
And it’s not just mainstream schools. We’re also welcoming families from traditional private schools, who are seeing the same dynamics play out behind polished façades.
A striking pattern is emerging: we are especially hearing from families with children in Years 8, 9, and 10. These seem to be real pressure points—moments where the cracks in the system widen, and families realise that staying the course may mean sacrificing their child’s mental health and sense of self. At the moment, we’re not yet set up to serve these year groups, but we’re listening, and we’re taking this seriously as we consider how the programme might evolve.
These are not just children who “don’t fit.” We would argue that no one truly fits in a system that was never designed around children's developmental, emotional, or human needs. We’re trying to build something different—not just a refuge from harm, but a living, breathing example of what education could be if we centred children, curiosity, connection, and community.
As part of this, we’ve developed a progressive, inclusive approach to SEND and neurodiversity, shaped by our belief that inclusion isn’t about fitting into a pre-made model—it’s about rethinking the model altogether. We’ve put together a statement outlining this approach, which we hope will be helpful to others navigating similar questions. 👉 Lumiar Secondary: Approach to Inclusion
Collaboration & Partnership
And while we’re proud of what we’re building here on the Wiltshire/Somerset border, we know we’re not doing this alone. We’re excited to be entering a new phase of collaboration:
We’ve been connecting with our Lumiar counterparts in Brazil, and plan to collaborate on bilingual experiences, shared projects, and knowledge exchange across continents.
We're working closely with ThriveNow Education, who are developing a progressive secondary programme in Kingston. They’re also creating an open-source hub of resources to support other changemakers.
And we’re beginning a partnership with Da Vinci Lifeskills (davincilifeskills.com), whose project-based curriculum we’re excited to implement at the secondary level.
We don’t believe Lumiar is the way to transform education—we believe it’s part of a wider movement. That’s why collaboration is central to our work. We’re here to share, support, and build bridges with anyone trying to create something better.
If you're trying to imagine or build something similar, feel free to get in touch. And keep an eye out—more resources, updates, and reflections to come.