Ten parents and volunteers share the responsibility of cleaning Lowick School, shaving 6,000 off annual expenditure.
As Britain's first co-operative school, the tiny primary in Cumbria is blazing a trail that others may soon follow and the school's cleaning rota is just one example of how local people have rallied round to ensure its survival.
As Rose Bugler, the school's chair of governors, explains, a co-operative way of working is all about maximising the expertise, skills and resources available and capitalising on the sense of ownership that it brings.
It has been an arduous journey since the local education authority announced its intention to close the school in 2001. It has been all the more difficult because Lowick was leading the way, but this term the school re-opened as a co-operative independent.
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