Dimensions Curriculum: Preston's education gurus helping teach the world

The founder of Dimensions Curriculum, a company which specialises in creating curricula and PSHE programmes for primary schools across the globe, Elaine has over 25 years’ experience working across Early Years, Key Stage 1, and Key Stage 2 and is now looking to facilitate the education of children around the world.

“My career before Dimensions really gave me the big picture and good grounding for going on to do something more strategic as I am now,” explains Elaine, 52, who founded the company in 2007. “I was a practicing teacher for 16 years in Blackburn, Ashton-in-Ribble, and St. Anne’s and taught Reception, Year 6, and everything in between.

“After that, I became an advanced school teacher in music and behaviour management, which involved outreach days at other schools and which I really enjoyed,” adds Elaine, from Preston. “Then I got a job as an advisor for Blackburn with Darwen local authority focused on creativity and arts, which is where I got involved in creating curricula.

“During my last Ofsted inspection as a teacher in 2005, the lead inspector said I could be having a bigger impact than I was, and a lot of other headteachers had been encouraging me to get more involved in developing new ways of working, so starting the business wasn’t even really my idea! To get that feedback from was something I really took to heart and inspired me, which is something you don’t often say about Ofsted!

“In the end, I just thought ‘I’ll give it a whirl’,” says Elaine. “I didn’t leave teaching because I didn’t enjoy it, I wanted a new challenge. And here we are 13 years later!”

Dimensions produces curricula by teachers for teachers. Built on a passion for education, their 10-strong team of staff is made up of former headteachers, teachers, learning consultants, and early years specialists as well as a graphic designer and animator. Fundamentally, the company aims to offer answers to the problems Elaine and her staff faced themselves during their own teaching careers.

And, this summer, they’ve set their sights even higher.

“We’ve enjoyed very organic growth, but this summer it was very much the case of go big or go home and I’d not put in 13 years for nothing, so I decided to give it an extra push and go for broke,” says Elaine. “It’s a bit of a gamble, but we had to have a bash because I really believe we’ve got something for any school and, because we’re quite small, we can be flexible and move quickly.

“Luckily, we haven’t been badly affected by Covid and we’re quite fortunate that schools are still running during the pandemic and are still looking to fulfill Ofsted criteria,” she continues. “We can help schools improve and develop the curriculum, which is massively on the agenda at the minute, and it’s just a really nice place to work.”

As well as formulating dynamic new learning frameworks which are used in 29 countries internationally, the Knowle Green-based company has also developed a popular post-Covid, back-to-school curriculum focused on well-being and an adapted home-learning curriculum which is itself being tweaked and trialled for home-schooled children.

“It’s all about being able to react quickly and that variety keeps everything fresh and interesting,” says Elaine, with Dimensions also offering a bespoke consultancy service for those looking for first-hand assistance in developing a more broad and profound curriculum for their school. “Anyone can cover the national curriculum; we want to make things relevant and current.

“It’s sometimes disappointing not to be able to teach what you’ve come up with in the curriculum, especially when you design a learning experience and think ‘I’d love to teach this!’,” she adds. “That can be frustrating, but we also do training days, so I get my teaching fix that way and we’ve still got the core concept of passing on knowledge.

“I absolutely love it.”