tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37235102183210597852024-03-13T16:04:31.486-07:00Change The Future blogOfficial blog for our major project letting young people shape UK educationChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-26729938168344844482012-09-11T06:08:00.006-07:002012-09-11T12:42:15.006-07:00Campus Party Berlin!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: center;">Luke, Alex and Charlie travelled to Berlin to take part in the O2 App Workshop, as part of the Campus Party Europe festival. It was an awesome experience and we have breathed new life into our vision for Change The Future!</span>
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ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-70145015907866124622011-12-16T14:15:00.000-08:002011-12-16T15:15:44.228-08:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28MI4gANDLEmpccY0ox_UgJxJJFo9bpqy0HBYNfXlTYcYfOr9rDbBlOfqbqUFhcCr-XsqOL2zMrCvC7HuHlcwP9KmbqrIOLsa-Ni5lKN6EcBld-cMAzn1f-u422y34HLDfuseW546JQU/s1600/CTF+pitch+site+design+page+9+SUPPORTERS.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28MI4gANDLEmpccY0ox_UgJxJJFo9bpqy0HBYNfXlTYcYfOr9rDbBlOfqbqUFhcCr-XsqOL2zMrCvC7HuHlcwP9KmbqrIOLsa-Ni5lKN6EcBld-cMAzn1f-u422y34HLDfuseW546JQU/s320/CTF+pitch+site+design+page+9+SUPPORTERS.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686868784844515810" /></a><br /><br />We have created the brief for the Change The Future pitch website.<br /><br />this details what we want our web builders to do.<br /><br />This image shows the page that lists our Supporters. Most are who we want, but some of them are real now, such as David Gribble, Derry Hannam, ESSA and O2Charlie Shreadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15015424922150874442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-62046042914172374562011-12-16T14:10:00.001-08:002011-12-16T14:12:30.347-08:00Luke at TEDx LondonWhen Luke went to TEDx London, he met some great people and was inspired by some great talks.<div>Here's a short sneaky video to give you a sense of the place:<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/koT8sQM_sL8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div>Charlie Shreadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15015424922150874442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-61407030995763939592011-10-03T18:16:00.000-07:002011-10-03T18:16:22.202-07:00Meeting the education Guru<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Today was an exciting day because I met with Derry Hannam.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He's a really important person to me because he is</div><ul style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><li>an ex-Ofsted inspector</li>
<li>ex-Headteacher/Deputy head</li>
<li>Occasional government advisor on Education policy</li>
<li>Author and researcher</li>
<li>lovely</li>
</ul><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He's also a real advocate of alternative approaches to education although he works and focuses on the mainstream as opposed to residing in a bubble of hippy schools.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I arrived he was just finishing an email essentially advising the dutch government on how to inspect Sudbury Valley schools. (In many ways, more radical that my democratic school) </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Asides from a random bird watching excursion he took me on at the mouth of Southampton, we were pretty thick in ChangeTheFuture for 2 days.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilzSVbsG5nH5XvcSQYbGr8baGKEt80CAraRxy-f0LER0cQGToZRibFva7ZncaZD8zqBB4cmqD37doUBfQ1U5ys_mQS4kswoWCwhLyP17nJYi8_k5d3mM2l8otfFL7LwyXiNHfN3QNCgNM/s1600/derry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilzSVbsG5nH5XvcSQYbGr8baGKEt80CAraRxy-f0LER0cQGToZRibFva7ZncaZD8zqBB4cmqD37doUBfQ1U5ys_mQS4kswoWCwhLyP17nJYi8_k5d3mM2l8otfFL7LwyXiNHfN3QNCgNM/s640/derry.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He was completely amazing and gave me many exciting leads we're following now.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I feel like it's coming together. Charlie and I just need to put in the time.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's largely about finding a lead web developer now. All the other tasks feel within arms reach, largely thanks to Derry.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Derry convinced us to definitely include primary school.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"You can't just not listen to what a 10 year old has to offer just cause they're a year too young to be in secondary school. The problems reach beyond secondary education."</div></div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-13326109915052947452011-10-03T18:05:00.000-07:002011-10-03T18:05:21.116-07:00IDEC, Grib, MY MOTHER and moving to Brighton<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So I spent a couple of weeks at IDEC - the International Democratic Education Conference, this year held in England, by my old school Sands.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These are the Sands student volunteers!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4V1bw35z3WjJYCWd5xfXFTRIDbTXtQUP9bYlXL3FGXgJGgxCivQl-8pZaWKQl2JCOPvkiIg6AY5-4M9dahMh9EovBJK2wItuEmCrC13bv4_0KX2pAnHz5n1ic4AKQdcif8Ct91iVZwic/s1600/idec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4V1bw35z3WjJYCWd5xfXFTRIDbTXtQUP9bYlXL3FGXgJGgxCivQl-8pZaWKQl2JCOPvkiIg6AY5-4M9dahMh9EovBJK2wItuEmCrC13bv4_0KX2pAnHz5n1ic4AKQdcif8Ct91iVZwic/s400/idec.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've been to 2 before (India and Berlin) and they were pretty great with an awesome bunch of people, though I've always found it a tiny bit like preaching to the choir/people slapping each other on the back or at least just being in a bit of a bubble... It's such a fundamental need of mine for beautiful education to be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford to pay for it privately, which is what all these democratic schools (in England at least) have to be, cause the government can't get their head round them.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>I held a workshop on ChangeTheFuture</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">where I invited people to critique the idea.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKox2qwA1Y4Yl4TnJg-VnEEhEmE9sgedi7xuQnbHUeNkyra2dQ6ooxXl3LdiSCBcC0DXZTI5XoEyS4IlJtIbnZnm2I8oI8REYev3XrS8mDBYGBLkKvkt-eLoU88pDXHbt_BLAezBJJ9k/s1600/agenda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKox2qwA1Y4Yl4TnJg-VnEEhEmE9sgedi7xuQnbHUeNkyra2dQ6ooxXl3LdiSCBcC0DXZTI5XoEyS4IlJtIbnZnm2I8oI8REYev3XrS8mDBYGBLkKvkt-eLoU88pDXHbt_BLAezBJJ9k/s320/agenda.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was cool getting different peoples' ideas and particularly hearing the things they thought were the biggest risks...</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There were some amazing speakers including Yaacov Hecht who is like mr Democratic Education of Israel and in particular a guy called Derry Hannam, who I was really impressed by.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
He was a great speaker, kinda like Ken Robinson; enjoyed himself, but full of information and interesting and challenging ideas. I decided I needed to meet up with him to discuss ChangeTheFuture.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Before this, I would meet up with David Gribble; essentially the founder of Sands to talk about how CTF is shaping up. He's like my grandad, and always fun and inspiring to chat to about education (or anything) and learn about what books and things he's working on.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPNeGFluJZWBDI-wDVPh9qT-62chq4bDPh0t9EXbsmQTbunet534Z85bOjUFMVUff-cwGL6yR_unmew_DWqByyf91WYUQ-6TcCzvR02gRpEE6A1obQzqc8R6Ex5nasLg8Ox4Ye6ks-B8/s1600/grib.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPNeGFluJZWBDI-wDVPh9qT-62chq4bDPh0t9EXbsmQTbunet534Z85bOjUFMVUff-cwGL6yR_unmew_DWqByyf91WYUQ-6TcCzvR02gRpEE6A1obQzqc8R6Ex5nasLg8Ox4Ye6ks-B8/s320/grib.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">My mum's on the left.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">She's realised her dream of horses suddenly a few years ago- something she was unable to do as a little girl in Rhodesia. Now she's swapped her last bits of money for a field of Rocky mountain horses.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNaDqqu944F3y9wBf9pCvBcrUmCRIrHl8XJKmVbd0sS6COFdKjSl7DPZ7I_1fq3ZhyphenhypheneWPeoSpjpKgie2NAntqMXPD2oUpG1mOPL8FP0GkZ9QTqHvRaW2C1JihK4s4YBBGy3F4MoWOx3_Y/s1600/mumhorse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNaDqqu944F3y9wBf9pCvBcrUmCRIrHl8XJKmVbd0sS6COFdKjSl7DPZ7I_1fq3ZhyphenhypheneWPeoSpjpKgie2NAntqMXPD2oUpG1mOPL8FP0GkZ9QTqHvRaW2C1JihK4s4YBBGy3F4MoWOx3_Y/s320/mumhorse.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">She's always been really straight with me when I've not done things as well as I could have.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">As a kid, I'd come to her showing off a drawing I did, and she'd usually say "Hm. Yeah it's alright I suppose" and she was right. And I'd do it again, better. She's a harsh critic, but also one of the most overwhelming knowledgable people; like an bottomless pit of information about politics and history and has a strong history of activism.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LAC1pDMizJaqa3rBs-h3BAO6hDSxwi3Dfe9GYEAvvX250Eq6ibh3pd5WWVbD7iGtWvaz7QCa9tvsy10RkRglBbdmCsnrhKyVbwK9tkG4vQn1GH2pm4ob7Rc6RXynf81G-SIv-zmNFvs/s1600/mum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LAC1pDMizJaqa3rBs-h3BAO6hDSxwi3Dfe9GYEAvvX250Eq6ibh3pd5WWVbD7iGtWvaz7QCa9tvsy10RkRglBbdmCsnrhKyVbwK9tkG4vQn1GH2pm4ob7Rc6RXynf81G-SIv-zmNFvs/s320/mum.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">My brother works as a teacher, and my half brother (on my dad's side works in film)..my dad (who I only met when I was 12) is a bit more technical/computer savvy, doing graphic design. They're all people who enjoy a good debate in politics and have strong ideas about things. It's just mad that I am so much like all of them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>Moving to Brighton</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">I now live in a house of 10. Boys & Girls, half students and half not.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">We had a housewarming BBQ with the neighbours who've just moved in :]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWBAxmQksxZty9CO7Fy7K4Ui36Z33ZKUHcFUC0SmsOZse-uNm7NLVdO4VGdhF2XP_4syNQKeWdK_KYNQLtbgmJiWiuJv_sFRW1XNZQwReTRLEfN0YiWIz2ZyvvhxtLvMLiRHgedvE3ZQ/s1600/brtn+bbq1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWBAxmQksxZty9CO7Fy7K4Ui36Z33ZKUHcFUC0SmsOZse-uNm7NLVdO4VGdhF2XP_4syNQKeWdK_KYNQLtbgmJiWiuJv_sFRW1XNZQwReTRLEfN0YiWIz2ZyvvhxtLvMLiRHgedvE3ZQ/s320/brtn+bbq1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div></div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-49197451186587841522011-09-17T17:07:00.000-07:002011-09-17T17:07:38.213-07:00TEDx London brief excitement from Charlie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hello.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luke has managed to get into the <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">TED</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">x</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">London</span> event today. The theme was Education Revolution!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.tedxlondon.com/first">TEDx London website</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He has let people know about us and our plans to create a system that will bring all people together, particularly students, in reshaping secondary education.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are at a very exciting moment right now. It feels like we are tip-toeing on the edge of a spring board, just gathering the last bits of courage before diving deep.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Very shortly, we will be needing lots of help from people - searching for super talented web designers/system developers, helping us spread the word, getting funding, getting artists involved, creating pitch videos, figuring out how to become an official organisation, etc</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-58709351018669854532011-05-08T06:27:00.000-07:002011-05-08T06:28:22.773-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">How closely <a href="http://www.sands-school.co.uk/">my school</a> (not that i'm there any more but it will always be my school) matches the</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/03/school-i-would-like-childrens-manifesto">The Children's Manifesto</a></b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">the Guardian are doing</span></span></div><br />
<div style="color: cyan; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">plus some photos i took at sands : ]</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Active</b> 9/10– students built climbing wall in school + do quite a lot of trips out swimming, climbing, etc. 2 treehouses, allotments, not massive grounds cause it’s a smallish school which receives no state funding and has many students from poor backgrounds, but it works!<br />
occasional martial arts lessons etc – just ask for them in the meeting and they’ll happen if enough people want</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsxnIvcrvo1tGNMPyYMFMYcuG5jNiS0bs6BnNEiyMfpGn6GAaqttlN4dCexZZv6rAwCPZ0qY62OKdauCGb8cSD5sDm9j-oyW9GnUlbUhd9rXBMccI8Teacr0pmWSmy92Oe0jKfvD5gFys/s1600/196579_4724934125_517954125_59429_3891_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsxnIvcrvo1tGNMPyYMFMYcuG5jNiS0bs6BnNEiyMfpGn6GAaqttlN4dCexZZv6rAwCPZ0qY62OKdauCGb8cSD5sDm9j-oyW9GnUlbUhd9rXBMccI8Teacr0pmWSmy92Oe0jKfvD5gFys/s320/196579_4724934125_517954125_59429_3891_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0kHgHUIovyMsb8Tv6C5Dfr6SlG275b6JqoWpNxJxuXyaIzl4WnjEkoSfva344CHuve_WoZzKbYSO9tA7iDZ2F-vgZGKUAucBIsDMeMqq10u96PjvO3q497H7wXiv4QWo2lRTFFjTzQk/s1600/blue5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Calm</b> 9/10 – lots of zones for socialising or reading a book on a sofa (and put some music on the cd player/watch a film anytime) all rooms like music room are always open, summerhouse the students made. No bells – you have to be on top of your schedule; no one will come get you</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX81erSY1xX29lw6q9wB8wY4ROvecILN0x8lXYgcK6Gufg-G4ZY2TLiQb0SF3kcU-bZiha8joSbrnZpBOqRBKFv57bIrSfq15frglbzckMZV5jO-SDH6Hq3UIABqlovX22gAyQ1V0_W_o/s1600/n530580300_7124104_474541.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX81erSY1xX29lw6q9wB8wY4ROvecILN0x8lXYgcK6Gufg-G4ZY2TLiQb0SF3kcU-bZiha8joSbrnZpBOqRBKFv57bIrSfq15frglbzckMZV5jO-SDH6Hq3UIABqlovX22gAyQ1V0_W_o/s320/n530580300_7124104_474541.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Comfortable</b> 10/10 – carpeted and loads of sofas! But no slippers – you wear socks upstairs</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSQcXLbWuGnltqVDcLoVL0ell_gUQ9so49ytGQBjGI-nk4fMhd3q4iHrVddb2h6GVl1RTFVi5POVgjnedn8A5mDObZLd14-nWKqz1SGOetu5y_N4oydAYlVti-1wYW-EKRfzhFlAlfzg/s1600/189093_4724909125_517954125_59424_2674_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSQcXLbWuGnltqVDcLoVL0ell_gUQ9so49ytGQBjGI-nk4fMhd3q4iHrVddb2h6GVl1RTFVi5POVgjnedn8A5mDObZLd14-nWKqz1SGOetu5y_N4oydAYlVti-1wYW-EKRfzhFlAlfzg/s320/189093_4724909125_517954125_59424_2674_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Creative and colourful 9/10 </b>– art room is always open – lots of things to do; crazy hobbit-like hive of creative stuff; students art in most rooms of school and sculptures all over the place!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0GgvuO_XU-k7iw_UlA2SpKGaetRfr75DSjGupXC5sE8-pStDYTksUfuifpb6D8dZj_qsCHykNzh-kcK3onebLhiC9pLN4JfBXD5uCjf8vm2-yd8udHocxv9HvMrgPuGT_5FHjgaVess/s1600/magician+n+kez.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0GgvuO_XU-k7iw_UlA2SpKGaetRfr75DSjGupXC5sE8-pStDYTksUfuifpb6D8dZj_qsCHykNzh-kcK3onebLhiC9pLN4JfBXD5uCjf8vm2-yd8udHocxv9HvMrgPuGT_5FHjgaVess/s320/magician+n+kez.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Expert</b> 9/10 – teachers truly passionate; listen as much as speak – allowing lessons to digress if students are fascinated with something and go off on a tangent. Fun/silly/hands on most of the time. No celebs though!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDf-pEpUPogmZp-uDHns88JptmeOabPZartO56j0Yyl-fNbQnTDNKwmByMJh74k85gM5pQ375vhDANngGc6NCnJHKdmnubwP4thkpIueuLeW3TCbi9BNyZRV2AL2z9HkuzJxxrXRkuxA/s1600/science.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDf-pEpUPogmZp-uDHns88JptmeOabPZartO56j0Yyl-fNbQnTDNKwmByMJh74k85gM5pQ375vhDANngGc6NCnJHKdmnubwP4thkpIueuLeW3TCbi9BNyZRV2AL2z9HkuzJxxrXRkuxA/s320/science.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Flexible</b> 9/10 – lessons aren’t cumpulsory at sands (though no one really misses the key subjects because they’re well taught, and any reasons for not attending are heard and solved)<br />
it’s probably most often art that people continue with after the lesson’s ended, as they’re really wrapped up in what they’re doing and really want to finish it while inspired</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8SA5jtC03UsTdCqrYkPdI9Qv0oqSv8ruFjFeIUlJYD5osrgbVEYnmkRlaW5gi_8mq3EK3sXK9xp8SXElB98peubkGcmhyphenhyphenyzYPLcpaswf8LvIlj-YuMoZ15n0EdPZMOMJj1A_U0Tw2QW0/s1600/sands+garden.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8SA5jtC03UsTdCqrYkPdI9Qv0oqSv8ruFjFeIUlJYD5osrgbVEYnmkRlaW5gi_8mq3EK3sXK9xp8SXElB98peubkGcmhyphenhyphenyzYPLcpaswf8LvIlj-YuMoZ15n0EdPZMOMJj1A_U0Tw2QW0/s320/sands+garden.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Friendly 10/10</b> – no assemblies – we have school meetings where we make all the decisions a head teacher would (including things like hiring/sacking staff) – students and staff get one vote each. Everyone called by 1<sup>st</sup> name. staff are more like uncles and aunts that you look up to and think are amazing and wise and clever and funny</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWa3WcOw48-D7W4cApkofOQqgl80z3RwXpORX2jQc4h2_dNilk3_ENYBirc84k0lJBvPp2yES9Glt2FjOHXg78LLctDl_w-1Prz8JI8EJZbbgNzq0mowRcUDrfGjcwRQsYEfAe76AI48I/s1600/Timeless+by+fireandfeathers+-LukeFlegg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWa3WcOw48-D7W4cApkofOQqgl80z3RwXpORX2jQc4h2_dNilk3_ENYBirc84k0lJBvPp2yES9Glt2FjOHXg78LLctDl_w-1Prz8JI8EJZbbgNzq0mowRcUDrfGjcwRQsYEfAe76AI48I/s320/Timeless+by+fireandfeathers+-LukeFlegg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Listening 10/10</b> – after being in a school that’s run by the students and seeing how well it works and ultimately how much everyone who went there loved it and is doing such amazing things now as adults; I see school councils as a weak second best (but can still be loads better than most current schools)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Inclusive 10/10</b> –this is easier for sands because it’s less than 100 people; but the det fri gymnasium in Copenhagen is basically sands with a thousand students, so clearly this personalised approach and democratic operation is scalable</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>International</b> 8/10 – students help make lunch and they’re a mix of mostly local produce and things from the school allotments! Could probably be more world dishes though.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Outside 8/10</b> – yeah, quite a lot of out of school things happen, particularly when it’s sunny, like heading to spitchwick where everyone leaps of the cliffs into the stream, or going for georgraphy walk-picnics on Dartmoor and studying funguses</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZyfDNe-bp1DS0lf4mmdtxZm7Sha9_IOeb3k53yix8BP1paKmKmJ0PoCRXsbJHKIFSzc4nJdL4UUwydv7BRAhpsH78V9ADGDkT4RNP5dCO1ZrZgJCCk0meAARIFv-pCXGqJx6dLxutmWY/s1600/200023_4724924125_517954125_59427_3387_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZyfDNe-bp1DS0lf4mmdtxZm7Sha9_IOeb3k53yix8BP1paKmKmJ0PoCRXsbJHKIFSzc4nJdL4UUwydv7BRAhpsH78V9ADGDkT4RNP5dCO1ZrZgJCCk0meAARIFv-pCXGqJx6dLxutmWY/s320/200023_4724924125_517954125_59427_3387_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Technological 5/10</b> – definitely no budget for anything like this. People are very welcome to use their own kit though.. and don’t abuse mp3 players and stuff</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What the perfect school would have</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> No homework – yes. home work isn’t compulsory but it is allowed</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> A flexible timetable – yes? there’s still a timetable but it isn’t compulsory, there’s CHOICE sessions and the timetable’s obviously up for debate if you have an issue with it</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> An hour-long lunchbreak – yep. School finishes at 4:30 though (includes 15 mins of everyone cleaning their allocated area of the school – no cleaners to clean up after us!)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Pets – yess Huw the welsh science teacher usually has his dog running around!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhchLa5dHDiz7elpSMwhrFSfm-lpoDysukdDYjJ5drKxsQomR0Ql_Kye2J7yCUjDD1zqVc6rg-IT6ZaSK5Fq5tdVrBzNNAvE-Ja-djS3clOHsM3IYmUO8zpgqPrhyNDsujDeQAJtA8M0mc/s1600/charlie+pant.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhchLa5dHDiz7elpSMwhrFSfm-lpoDysukdDYjJ5drKxsQomR0Ql_Kye2J7yCUjDD1zqVc6rg-IT6ZaSK5Fq5tdVrBzNNAvE-Ja-djS3clOHsM3IYmUO8zpgqPrhyNDsujDeQAJtA8M0mc/s320/charlie+pant.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> First-aid lessons – yes ish.. we used to do these, haven’t seen them for a while</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> A choice of uniform – yes? no uniform unsurprisingly ; )<br />
also pretty much no bullying. I think people only want others to suffer when they’re suffering</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0kHgHUIovyMsb8Tv6C5Dfr6SlG275b6JqoWpNxJxuXyaIzl4WnjEkoSfva344CHuve_WoZzKbYSO9tA7iDZ2F-vgZGKUAucBIsDMeMqq10u96PjvO3q497H7wXiv4QWo2lRTFFjTzQk/s1600/blue5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0kHgHUIovyMsb8Tv6C5Dfr6SlG275b6JqoWpNxJxuXyaIzl4WnjEkoSfva344CHuve_WoZzKbYSO9tA7iDZ2F-vgZGKUAucBIsDMeMqq10u96PjvO3q497H7wXiv4QWo2lRTFFjTzQk/s320/blue5.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX81erSY1xX29lw6q9wB8wY4ROvecILN0x8lXYgcK6Gufg-G4ZY2TLiQb0SF3kcU-bZiha8joSbrnZpBOqRBKFv57bIrSfq15frglbzckMZV5jO-SDH6Hq3UIABqlovX22gAyQ1V0_W_o/s1600/n530580300_7124104_474541.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> After-school clubs in all sorts of subjects<br />
not really. Could happen if a few people asked for it but we have long days and everyone’s ready to go home I think</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Hot dinners- yes hot lunches 90% of time</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8ss21NqKKMUdTkXmdes7MbfqWhu619W6L5bg4JZ5nuCKULGc7QOYzkq4hjb7nOPJlyaKUvV4iDLZr9O9L7PC6z3Vj3uUUJE0LX6m6QNR0OWzAhNqVik4gtSlv0rO_UYDr36w88lMrcs/s1600/lunch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8ss21NqKKMUdTkXmdes7MbfqWhu619W6L5bg4JZ5nuCKULGc7QOYzkq4hjb7nOPJlyaKUvV4iDLZr9O9L7PC6z3Vj3uUUJE0LX6m6QNR0OWzAhNqVik4gtSlv0rO_UYDr36w88lMrcs/s320/lunch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> An iPad for each pupil. No! kinda silly though? That’d be about 30 billion pounds for every student</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> A football field - yep</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">★</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Fewer tests – it still does GCSEs (unlike Acorn in Gloucestershire whichis worth looking at)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div></div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-6781942583368174532011-02-21T06:11:00.000-08:002011-03-21T05:06:23.017-07:00Some thoughts about why we need the school system REVOLUTIONised (from Charlie)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><img alt="Home" src="http://www.southdartmoor.devon.sch.uk/sites/all/themes/tnt_papaya_6/logo.png" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">I was lying in bed this morning just thinking about my days at school, which for the most part I tell myself I was happy; I must have been; I had a couple of best friends who were really great and I got on with most of my teachers; my school was a pretty decent as far as schools go; but then I started replaying some memories. One particular memory is my drama teacher shouting at me so much that it brought me to tears, all just because of some coursework that he’d been told I hadn’t done. If he had stopped to let me speak for any point before his explosion of disappointment and anger, I could have saved him the trouble of shouting at me, as I’d done the work anyway; he just hadn’t got the news yet. So there I was walking away shaking and upset and emotionally punished for something that just wasn’t a problem anyway. This sort of authoritative disrespectful behaviour is pretty much encouraged by our education system. To be fair, this rarely happened to me: I usually got on with my work quietly and non-disruptively like the perfect little school boy. Too many kids are too quiet in school; it rewards non-collaboration, silence, obedience, uniformity.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><div><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576157898394488770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPC1oM4qoDLFr7oCTAOfxRY59J8uA3x-Hc1Dox0ioXBJDFBpNA1U_GCzE8sqUOQfPEMxAk3gxd50ZpVwvEEBchXzA4Sk1t5_eAP7f6gWhtUaVML3Y_VvhznI50dDACsIroZeJ7dKBIzr8/s400/mussolini.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 144px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 230px;" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576158216146561458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvpHxBRdoDn6PeAvJvsRpd7Pjra587RcYQLEDmPmt7sIf8ISJPtgpi9xIFAnveCEnhrK0KSHjcLyKoEv57QnszXjT92JEgeW3PrZ8U4Nudk7TS2f7G9VKSv23CV4hymSeSFflTaJA0Oo/s200/scared+girl.jpg" style="float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 151px;" /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was then playing back a moment soon after that in a lesson with the same drama teacher; his problem is that he thinks he’s helping us - kind of like Nurse Ratched perhaps (<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_Ratched"><span style="line-height: 115%;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_Ratched</span></a></span>) But he's not really a horrible person at all, he's generally a nice bloke and rather friendly to me; he just takes the current educational system too seriously.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div><span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">In the lesson:</span></span></div> So there are about 10 of us sat in a drama room, yearning to have something creative happening in it, but instead we’re being put through one of our intensive 2-hour essay training sessions; we talk about exams for a bit, then we have to get on with the task and complete three 30 minute essays in the remaining hour and a half (with absolutely no break in between). Doesn’t sound so bad, but just step back and think about what’s happening: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> there are 10 brilliantly creative people here, not because they want to write essays, but because they love to perform. But remember this was not a one off; instead of being allowed to practice what we want to try in life: acting and performing and being creative; we are being <b>forced </b>to spend all of our dedicated 3 hours of drama in the whole school week to train in efficient bullshitting of the third kind. These essays aren’t helping us think about anything interesting or useful – they’re just pure Ducking bullshaft, only created because drama had to be seen as an “academic” subject and not “just acting,” which of course is not good enough for the government, I mean training to jump through the hoops to becoming a teacher so you can teach how to become a teacher in teaching this ever spiralling loop of continuous useless vacuous bollocks is obviously more of a fulfilling use of time than actually acting and doing something DUCKING CREATIVE for a change, surely?!</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Then I imagined myself in that scene again just thinking about the usefulness of the task, but instead of blindly following orders, like I did too often in that school, I would decide, after about 30 minutes in, to stand up, put my pen down and just rip up the first essay that I had written, nice and loudly so everyone could hear what I was doing. Looking at my highly bemused teacher, I would say, “I don’t want to take part in this.”<br />He gets angry (his only available response) and tells me in a hush voice, “Charlie, continue.”<br />But I won’t continue today. “No. Look at us. What the DUCK are we doing? It’s weird, it’s not natural, I want to be creative, why are you stopping me be creative? I don’t want to waste my precious time on this beautiful planet taking part in this STUPID roundabout anti-educational game. I’m leaving. I’ll come back when you stop subjecting us to this ridiculous bollocks.” Then I would grab my things, go to a sign printing service and pay them all my (pre-Tory) EMA pocket money to make the biggest banner I can afford with this quote on it:</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">“</span></span><span class="body" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” – Albert Einstein. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span class="body" style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"> <img src="http://israelity.com/wp-content//2010/03/einstein.jpg" /></span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span class="body" style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 115%;">I then hang it up at the school entrance the next morning...<br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 115%;">I wish I did this.</span></span></span><br /><div><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br /><div><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">A small aside: thanks to Michael Gove, I wouldn't even have the power to do this now, even if I wanted to. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"><img src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/comedy/gove.jpg" /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Yeah well done, Michael. </span></div></div></div></div>Charlie Shreadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15015424922150874442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-72270922999268158422011-01-19T19:11:00.000-08:002011-02-21T05:38:35.317-08:00Politics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimFGsPkjPOEgC6Sf6Wzj2pHN_44099Wu-kbWT9WfP-rOjpkaMQPvqugSC2T-8XbW2eqBVSUVSIcxhVl18MuxHFqB4p5Sc2nirkDl9BwgsdWxedMeIEN5GdHU9r06iybS4ksZPr4rS0MS4/s1600/100408not_my_fault+-+Copy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimFGsPkjPOEgC6Sf6Wzj2pHN_44099Wu-kbWT9WfP-rOjpkaMQPvqugSC2T-8XbW2eqBVSUVSIcxhVl18MuxHFqB4p5Sc2nirkDl9BwgsdWxedMeIEN5GdHU9r06iybS4ksZPr4rS0MS4/s1600/100408not_my_fault+-+Copy.gif" /></a></div><br />
One trait I love in clever people is Not getting used to something just cause it's been that way for ages.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If it's ducked up it's ducked up and it needs to change.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One ducked up thing in my opinion is the way our political parties talk about each other.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Almost without exception it reminds me of immature children bickering about each other, spending all of their time and effort thinking about what failures they can highlight.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWKvPWiUK9h0P4Z4kn6Rhyphenhyphenmo_tFWtcw9siHu8e8Rk8WDDQ6p2bg3Ufi5N8_r83PyMBlcyfgjq9HS8C6dJjfIQqKGR5D5ih8jClQC9L0eDNYl72NWNGTXr9aZkPPYOR4iMjMVpFj9NfaA/s1600/scapegoat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWKvPWiUK9h0P4Z4kn6Rhyphenhyphenmo_tFWtcw9siHu8e8Rk8WDDQ6p2bg3Ufi5N8_r83PyMBlcyfgjq9HS8C6dJjfIQqKGR5D5ih8jClQC9L0eDNYl72NWNGTXr9aZkPPYOR4iMjMVpFj9NfaA/s1600/scapegoat.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Wouldn't it just be really refreshing if the current government looked back on the previous office and just said "Yeah, i'd have probably done some things differently but hey, there's been some big challenges and tricky calls to make. So let's learn from these experiences and do our best to improve."</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I just think it's a rubbish example to set for the public.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Blame isn't going to help anyone. Compassion and empathy will.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Working together, sharing ideas, sharing wisdom..</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwR6FNO_qHZIJRC0Q5RhvZa2a04UGMX-8ODGJ6z1DBZfDV_V-iGyWtw_Uc3z9sTnNaELVWB1jfyjY4HkxxCMhQkjJbEMvtGmN3P7gU8rtFF3XaiROD68_2CRXKbNwXEma-4_GCI0E46No/s1600/blame-demotivational-poster-1212306184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwR6FNO_qHZIJRC0Q5RhvZa2a04UGMX-8ODGJ6z1DBZfDV_V-iGyWtw_Uc3z9sTnNaELVWB1jfyjY4HkxxCMhQkjJbEMvtGmN3P7gU8rtFF3XaiROD68_2CRXKbNwXEma-4_GCI0E46No/s1600/blame-demotivational-poster-1212306184.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSLoc8qtn3inbRPwvnmVXO6ahRDLn4fc5dA8yOIpv5Dr7cqPbE-A7BR7bve-N9k-NWwuLqL-uCeYSspAwIURxTZWikb9bWr2vIvBK9dld9o4FFKseSGqrZrxxyrttW4NMQrDhyLs9ats/s1600/mban1535l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSLoc8qtn3inbRPwvnmVXO6ahRDLn4fc5dA8yOIpv5Dr7cqPbE-A7BR7bve-N9k-NWwuLqL-uCeYSspAwIURxTZWikb9bWr2vIvBK9dld9o4FFKseSGqrZrxxyrttW4NMQrDhyLs9ats/s1600/mban1535l.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div></div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-7101696933347433922011-01-04T20:16:00.000-08:002011-01-05T12:47:51.407-08:00o2 funding, Website plans, Project outlines, etc<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's been a while since the last post, and only partly because every facet of my life has been stuck in snow.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>a lot of STUFF has transpired:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><ol style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a>
<li> Spoke again to o2 Think Big and they definitely sound interested; I think it's going to happen - Come on guys! We want you in on this!<br />
<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>It's 4:10am and I've just cracked it... After countless days with Charlie brainstorming how we can create a website that provides all of the features that are needed to address the key problems in today's dysfunctional education system (particularly secondary school) it's happened.<br />
It literally just clicked and I could see it. It feels like every important button has a place now and I can finally imagine using the site. Either I am suffering sleep deprivation or I feel a bit like Mark Zuckerberg probably did when he invented Facebook (except that I'm sober)<br />
<br />
Here's the main layout which will soon be in a presentable form:<br />
<a href="http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb7/fireandfeathers2/IMAG0986-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb7/fireandfeathers2/IMAG0986-1.jpg" width="640" /><br />
</a></li>
<li>Outlines for the project have been drafted in many forms. Understandably (I hope) a massive and pretty original idea like this is fairly hard to summarise briefly in a nice shiny paragraph; something we've been griping with for a good while.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
I'd love your thoughts on these Google Docs as we pull them together:<br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AbQg4P9DuX_VZGd6NnF4dDVfODlkMmhodHJjcQ&hl=en_GB&authkey=CJCtx9UI">What exactly is CTF?</a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AbQg4P9DuX_VZGd6NnF4dDVfODhobWJqcmtqeg&hl=en_GB&authkey=CMyQ4O0E">Problems in education</a><a href="https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AbQg4P9DuX_VZGd6NnF4dDVfODhobWJqcmtqeg&hl=en_GB&authkey=CMyQ4O0E"><br />
<br />
</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AbQg4P9DuX_VZGd6NnF4dDVfODhobWJqcmtqeg&hl=en_GB&authkey=CMyQ4O0E"><br />
</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s200/IMAG0951.jpg" width="158" /></a> Also while visiting my mum in Devon over Christmas, I met up with <a href="http://davidgribble.co.uk/">David Gribble</a>, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>who is a bit of a legend; a kind of mentor for me and was heavily behind <a href="http://sandsschool.co.uk/">Sands School</a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>which I went to, and also the notorious <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr6k_oAUy94">Dartington Hall School</a>...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
We watched a great documentary called <a href="http://www.racetonowhere.com/">Race To Nowhere</a> about the american school system which I'd definitely recommend. Will check out Schooled and <a href="http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/">Waiting For Superman</a> next. <a href="http://www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/">WeAreThePeopleWe'veBeenWaitingFor</a> also pretty cool.<br />
<br />
<br />
</li>
<li style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Finally I'm planning some more shooting:</li>
</ol><ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa-fRYWIpRssGfs68M7dZmbOBaexmnRtIdaP9pv7Y5Lo4ER9dBCCMz2O8ate50zdAd7l5YAMFHP9S2NQ2-AdNnsUBo_Etu_mLB-ZmkEWK6r1RZSaJK_UFqnnyoW0hSBn8yvjNc_FLOaU/s1600/IMAG0951.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a>
<li style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ask a handful of headteachers what they point of school is</li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Find some kids skipping school during lesson time and talk to them about why they're doing it<br />
<br />
</span></li>
</ul>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-55345034808531986682010-11-25T17:30:00.000-08:002010-11-25T20:40:45.846-08:00Logo + DfE videos + New Tory anti-modular<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So we need a logo for CTF, and these were some of the ideas I had,</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">tell me what you think ;] </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9JP9-lvPw6ginhRTzRhBKPwErfuaV3ogxdnnnIFwrXhanFX9__-fdHyAaTWOp8VBkweHctesbi4QafAN-YbpVX9yiv07n4NOIMZxnumMDFoYU4kcfQt7glbNYlf5m54HiN2o55dmgYYc/s1600/2+part+spanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9JP9-lvPw6ginhRTzRhBKPwErfuaV3ogxdnnnIFwrXhanFX9__-fdHyAaTWOp8VBkweHctesbi4QafAN-YbpVX9yiv07n4NOIMZxnumMDFoYU4kcfQt7glbNYlf5m54HiN2o55dmgYYc/s320/2+part+spanner.jpg" width="185" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlDuVD3zgeuAVX4tSqVUp3m9PsotA8hFsRJ_MYg_E_1sZAJu6Guzdt_lIg4Yl7Pg9hxre_tfbqeY_EK6VX2TEf6OKEAZoDTLXkLZWUzQlk7cHG9qpgJMlt5qHIHLQpgg7lw9SH4L-7HpU/s1600/big+fist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlDuVD3zgeuAVX4tSqVUp3m9PsotA8hFsRJ_MYg_E_1sZAJu6Guzdt_lIg4Yl7Pg9hxre_tfbqeY_EK6VX2TEf6OKEAZoDTLXkLZWUzQlk7cHG9qpgJMlt5qHIHLQpgg7lw9SH4L-7HpU/s320/big+fist.jpg" width="144" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHckfQil9ECIhZCFMlYGlusNajCRhLpSE6BonjwHY-d1-pK07AgEWIwZvtyVO2vqSNUTBH1-GpaASXsoQPEef5BudnUpKXdi84w6U0VoU-W3DUdMchUVEAqJq4n2Wum7L0gHndekd-aQA/s1600/old+and+young.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHckfQil9ECIhZCFMlYGlusNajCRhLpSE6BonjwHY-d1-pK07AgEWIwZvtyVO2vqSNUTBH1-GpaASXsoQPEef5BudnUpKXdi84w6U0VoU-W3DUdMchUVEAqJq4n2Wum7L0gHndekd-aQA/s1600/old+and+young.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFKFDJEQsuSbPYn9TrZj4Uun1Kpzd8WltNKEGkeMq31CM50MUuhickLWUGex0lkf5MHHIeXvu_CHv46_REZ3Chl6PPXl_KZaDw8aXRqIrt6riCw8akmGdGj1QxMx90Yd66gLt_nAeIkK0/s1600/shared+thoguht.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFKFDJEQsuSbPYn9TrZj4Uun1Kpzd8WltNKEGkeMq31CM50MUuhickLWUGex0lkf5MHHIeXvu_CHv46_REZ3Chl6PPXl_KZaDw8aXRqIrt6riCw8akmGdGj1QxMx90Yd66gLt_nAeIkK0/s1600/shared+thoguht.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQtWYAgccPxXk0enk5TOMSfKHyb06VG7Hm80vvOwLqy_zcilLlnvVzZSTQlzZffE4vhfIILD9rv3E3npqY5pLoGwcXiP1726aadXL2654X3fxA8MprgX4iyilkCZsewA9FGpWc8IEFCI/s1600/spanner1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQtWYAgccPxXk0enk5TOMSfKHyb06VG7Hm80vvOwLqy_zcilLlnvVzZSTQlzZffE4vhfIILD9rv3E3npqY5pLoGwcXiP1726aadXL2654X3fxA8MprgX4iyilkCZsewA9FGpWc8IEFCI/s200/spanner1.jpg" width="134" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqK1BdJNQOB5br7NmYvS7goQBP-D130xrvftNjParonKWp_hNxt4a3EWyAGd0J6fqMuHWG7t6xJ-B1mGiw4s26Qv4NeRpc_5M29_ke9N9vvQQLA3N_RhvkdwJ57ND-KTJJRwnTYFZlhsE/s1600/Untitled-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqK1BdJNQOB5br7NmYvS7goQBP-D130xrvftNjParonKWp_hNxt4a3EWyAGd0J6fqMuHWG7t6xJ-B1mGiw4s26Qv4NeRpc_5M29_ke9N9vvQQLA3N_RhvkdwJ57ND-KTJJRwnTYFZlhsE/s1600/Untitled-3.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><object height="480" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vt01Et60-Uo?hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vt01Et60-Uo?hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="480"></embed></object></div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-86291556806974547672010-11-18T07:15:00.000-08:002010-11-20T07:29:12.404-08:00Luke's personal rants<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My opinions on education can be split into 2:</div><ol style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><li>The basic <b>foundation </b>it's based on (its core philosophy)</li>
<li>The countless individual <b>techniques </b>and practices I think are great (e.g. more extensive work experience) </li>
</ol><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's important that Change The Future is not about me personally trying to indoctrinate the general public so that everyone agrees with me and makes schools like I think they should be.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(for a start, I am still naive to lots about how education is actually managed, beyond the walls of the school)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My fight is simply about actively involving young people in their education, not just being passengers in it.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVsKpAdGj8ZxQiq8kzxok0j4qTkPBcty_hyBuCvpbkw0aiYRDP87AhsVz5JxZ9YZLOcQ9yT7PXwhPMUqlbBQ8RfjnvHkTpQdG_VjMJ2omXF4hqoqWG8dRNN5lYFwwKPeCQVE0mOPUQHYA/s1600/very+bored+passnegers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVsKpAdGj8ZxQiq8kzxok0j4qTkPBcty_hyBuCvpbkw0aiYRDP87AhsVz5JxZ9YZLOcQ9yT7PXwhPMUqlbBQ8RfjnvHkTpQdG_VjMJ2omXF4hqoqWG8dRNN5lYFwwKPeCQVE0mOPUQHYA/s320/very+bored+passnegers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I don't just mean choosing a module of shakespeare. Unfortunately the life they need to be prepared for will demand bigger choices of them.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC0QFvtRIhzyU2Dp1kb6f7hKr8MqxAXggs94U9s3s5igy1CwRP5pyTbIectcsQUsGBFmRnO5qYVhxGNPRFCCOyPdmRyLXhDzch5bpnSCUT8-Yd79FLcuDi8VPeoYsDZD-DlPWiWdcGqs4/s1600/precursor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC0QFvtRIhzyU2Dp1kb6f7hKr8MqxAXggs94U9s3s5igy1CwRP5pyTbIectcsQUsGBFmRnO5qYVhxGNPRFCCOyPdmRyLXhDzch5bpnSCUT8-Yd79FLcuDi8VPeoYsDZD-DlPWiWdcGqs4/s1600/precursor.jpg" /></a></div><br />
They need to be allowed to really take control of their path, thinking about the directions they can go; trying to guess what the options are at the end of each road<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRAhS8WonfepCISS2pWaFiZEymyDQeuhrf8LDFqshEECdrL0ku_yXY-3REyvmYUwRmWLrF9Wy-GKspDJSfpfHLBsrjX-TdA18MwpADHCOlq-1KGdtVjgtaNlk2w3DYdMpM9i71SeyPyg/s1600/girl+keys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRAhS8WonfepCISS2pWaFiZEymyDQeuhrf8LDFqshEECdrL0ku_yXY-3REyvmYUwRmWLrF9Wy-GKspDJSfpfHLBsrjX-TdA18MwpADHCOlq-1KGdtVjgtaNlk2w3DYdMpM9i71SeyPyg/s200/girl+keys.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf1qb8Cbe3o_S8bnBqNUIhllgSr21SkuHcTPp-XDFruxbhB0UMPv3otaTuX5AqPB2Ch-8AgnHg3vVFcOofA7_gZGUcfMz3_z2KFeoXMdATuebW-QVK2SMCmr1-zSf2JIvJRpB0f94guWQ/s1600/exciting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf1qb8Cbe3o_S8bnBqNUIhllgSr21SkuHcTPp-XDFruxbhB0UMPv3otaTuX5AqPB2Ch-8AgnHg3vVFcOofA7_gZGUcfMz3_z2KFeoXMdATuebW-QVK2SMCmr1-zSf2JIvJRpB0f94guWQ/s200/exciting.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
(and will they have to perservere through a boring journey to get there? are the roads rough, rocky and dangerous?) they need to learn to lead themselves as well as recognise dysfunctional systems; not just automatically become a cog in them!</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Life is full of difficult decisions</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and loads of people are RUBBISH at making decisions; pretty much always 'cause of the same reason; they were Not allowed to (or encouraged to) make important decisions when they were younger.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(Also growing up with people who are rubbish at making decisions doesn't help... also being involved in other peoples' difficult decisions does help)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Parenting</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Is obviously a massive part of how we are shaped (or mis shapen) as we grow up.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This is why schools need to drop the 'one size fits all' approach and realise that not all kids come from the same place. It IS the role of the school to help provide where parents fall short. <b>It's not that hard!</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For me, it was just getting a hug (and the odd wrestle) from my teachers (mostly the male ones probably, as I grew up without a dad and never realised how that probably affected me)</div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-83276571670356652812010-11-11T16:31:00.000-08:002010-11-19T09:24:47.824-08:00Me stuff's all over the telly!<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So that's good. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
I've just finished my own cut of the Millbank student protest. I would've finished it earlier, but I was frantically uploading stuff to Ch4, just a few minutes before the story aired on telly. Madness. Really need to get our own broadband soon and stop nicking the open Wifi from the house opposite :/</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>BROADCASTERS AND PAPERS: this footage is not available as News Access</b><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I don't really feel like I've had time to reflect on the event... Didn't even have enough time for a shower last night (getting back home about 1am and working on the footage til about 6).</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What's gonna change?</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Obviously tuition fees will MASSIVELY rise; double or triple depending on where you study.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So that's really bad for students, but then as I understand, the paying back has been significantly improved for the student: only when you're on a decent wage - unless perhaps you live in London - 21k if I recall, do you then pay anything back.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm really struggling to get a clear before & after on the policy; can anyone help?</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I feel a bit detached having just returned to UK politics from my 6 week documentary shoot..</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<i>Taken from <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/fury-mounts-over-9000ayear-tuition-fees-2123847.html">here</a>:</i></div><div class="font-null" style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Under the proposals, students will start repaying their loans at 9% of their income at a real rate of interest when they earn £21,000, up to inflation plus 3% for those earning £41,000 or more, with outstanding loans written off after 30 years. </i></span></div><div class="font-null" style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> Students who pay off their loans early could be hit with a financial penalty. </i></span></div><div class="font-null" style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> A UCU analysis concludes that a graduate earning the national average salary of £31,916 would have a 19.3% higher tax bill than colleagues who had not been to university, for the duration of their student loan repayments. </i></span></div><div class="font-null" style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> Teachers, police inspectors and doctors could see their bills rise by around a quarter, it claimed. </i></span></div><div class="font-null" style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> The British Medical Association said medical students would be left with debts of nearly £70,000. </i></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">o2 Think Big got back to me during the protest saying they're very interested in supporting us. If that happens I will SMILE.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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</div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-60119285034821434452010-11-06T21:44:00.000-07:002010-11-06T21:44:35.585-07:00Charlie checks out the new Department for Education website<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Applied to <a href="http://www.o2thinkbig.co.uk/">o2's think big</a> jobby today. Hope something comes of that. It looks really cool.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I also filmed charlie having a play (as a young person) on the DoE website; THE official website for education in the UK. You would have thought it'd be a bit more about young people...</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><object height="480" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6FrupYoqFkU?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6FrupYoqFkU?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="480"></embed></object></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Here's an example of a website that's not even specifically about young people (like education SHOULD be) and it's still 74 times more exciting.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">www.wearewhatwedo.com</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">---</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I've been thinking a lot about <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/">The social network</a>, how in a way, this is the most exciting part of this whole project, because it's kinda all in our heads, and there's every reason we'll create the next big thing and massively improve our education system forever. It's like being pregnant. I feel like...a pregnant man. Course it might all go tits up and be a £35 grand website that's only used by me and a couple of my mates who feel sorry for me.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Latest ideas </b></div><ol style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><li><u>Facebook app</u><br />
Or is it even an app? Something that can save you having to log in, it just pulls all your details out your FB profile (verifying your age and stuff). Also recognises your school - "<i>would you like to review your school</i> (or raise problems with it/suggest improvements/view what other people have put)?<br />
It could also say which of your friends also went to your school and <i>would you like to invite them to Change The Future?</i><br />
It'd also promote CTF on your wall...</li>
<li><u>Google</u><br />
One day we've got to partner with google... They also have a database of all the schools in the UK, so if Nick Gribb doesn't ever get back to me I'll give up and try google instead.<br />
My dream is that the young peoples' school reviews will have an 'overral rating' which google applies (along with the conclusion from the review) to each school, so like, on Google maps, you can click a school, and similar to when you're searching for hostels or food places, you get a review pulled from Change The Future.</li>
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The thing is, either I'm completely deluded, or we really do need CTF, because school is fairly crap for most people, and it doesn't need to be that way.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For some it's a total trauma, but for most maybe, I think it's largely enjoyable at the time, often cause of friends but also you do obviously get a few amazing teachers who make all the difference...</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">BUT you still have those problems</div><ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><li>You forget the vast majority of what you learn (almost immediately)</li>
<li>The vast majority of what you learn is not very relevant in your day to day life, or applicable to the things you want to do</li>
<li>There's so much we're passionate about and we would learn 10 times more if we were allowed to focus more on THOSE things rather than being forced to be 'well rounded' (basically be taught all the same stuff as the next person) ...Obviously it's good to have broad knowledge, but if it gets to the point where the student is switching off and doesn't relate to it at all and is forgetting it (even getting punished for distraction and restlessness) is it worth it?</li>
<li>School could be so much more fun.<b> I really thought the purpose of life is to have fun. </b>What's the best thing a good job and good income and good lifestyle can do for you, if not make you happy?? So why are we all obsessed with this idea that we have to endure loads of stuff we HATE in order to suddenly reach a place where everything's great and happy?!<br />
Does that REALLY happen, or should we just start practicing doing what makes us happy before we forget how to do it anymore and get old and boring and locked into a lifestyle of crap we hate?</li>
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<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I just hope that there is some magical way that you can get student + exstudents who really don't give a shit right now, to start thinking about how good stuff COULD be in school, in their education... and see their education as a beautiful, powerful thing that can bring them everything they need to get where they wanna be, not this chore they just have to turn up to and deliver work to so they don't get in trouble.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I think there is a way, but I need to learn more about apathetic people and how to reach them.</div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-33082954249491948352010-11-05T19:37:00.000-07:002010-11-06T13:34:04.173-07:00Change The Future goes to parliament<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of our main supporters, <a href="http://www.bigchallenge.org.uk/">Big Challenge</a>, invited us to the houses of parliament where we met lots of other prize winners for this year and last year, did a bit of mingling and wandered about a pretty swish .....apartment(?) it was a very old beautiful sort of entertainment suite but had a fairly massive bed in one room, so I'm not sure.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4iajrWCbeHfysqX1jmeJxCWFu_giWjOBpDjqlZW3EhYDaSnMmjASSS3b972PfwOVHMH4pazOfH62dlQ3mDj0hYGGjTVIAg_TkPC7JD38S6t1NWKW1GfjVEVyzI82Gyjr0uDTCXdDxlo/s1600/Change+The+Future+at+parliament%281%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4iajrWCbeHfysqX1jmeJxCWFu_giWjOBpDjqlZW3EhYDaSnMmjASSS3b972PfwOVHMH4pazOfH62dlQ3mDj0hYGGjTVIAg_TkPC7JD38S6t1NWKW1GfjVEVyzI82Gyjr0uDTCXdDxlo/s1600/Change+The+Future+at+parliament%281%29.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJrKZIFQPBu_Ax3aIshjbk8aT9CNhZkH96TD_iGB3f-fpX-NH6CoUo9tgf8lBiL1RnzZKkb9z15eA3c9drGYF2-a0Xs-LrbZL7NeFec2QMoQ6hXzH1tEvf2MXJjZkZgaNAMDRi5OZY7s/s1600/Change+The+Future+at+parliament.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ANYway, there were some pretty inspiring people there, and a heap of lords and baronesses as well as about 30 people working in goverment organisations.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Charlie and I split up so we could cover more ground and shake more hands, but in reality I spent most of my time trying to push other people out of the way of Tim Loughton, as he was pretty up our street working for the Dept for Education... Still waiting to hear back from Nick Gribb who he put us on to regarding getting hold of a database of schools across the UK...</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Need to do a heap more fundraising. Probably looking into <a href="http://www.o2thinkbig.co.uk/">o2 think big</a> next, there's some great stuff on there.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Also got a bit excited after Googling 'Fix the world' and stumbling across <a href="http://www.wearewhatwedo.org/">Wearewhatwedo</a>; talking to them at the moment too. Hopefully we'll collaborate in some way. they're pretty overwhelmingly massive though.</div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723510218321059785.post-84028625949226696042010-11-05T16:09:00.000-07:002010-11-05T18:00:52.755-07:00The beginning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRTdThlMNpaxRnSf0gw5OJWF0nYvhofaHtkFGou7c8E1YXpYHe9wWVOt7FqmlThfqfd8NvhVe1Z-3LHceaWZT7AkzyWfl5lXjoaigyxNaumAPyb3_730tcwS_EAzzGqQG1bhlPlEX8xY/s1600/welcome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRTdThlMNpaxRnSf0gw5OJWF0nYvhofaHtkFGou7c8E1YXpYHe9wWVOt7FqmlThfqfd8NvhVe1Z-3LHceaWZT7AkzyWfl5lXjoaigyxNaumAPyb3_730tcwS_EAzzGqQG1bhlPlEX8xY/s320/welcome.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;">to our blog for Change The Future.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">Check the tab at the top to learn more about who we are and what on earth we're doing.<br />
(It's still a draft outline, so share any feedback you have on it) </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">This whole project is yours. We're just your full time staff while you're fixing the education system.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">So we've got about £7.5 grand and we need about 35. If you're rich, please give us some money. Thanks.<br />
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Also any other advice is beyond welcome; particularly anything to do with finding more funding... <br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">Also we could use some extra hands, but we need the right people.<br />
If you've got some time and you're organised, please give us a shout! :)<br />
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Back to planning the CTF website. It's literally going to be like Facebook's little brother... </div>ChangeTheFuturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951453922266291587noreply@blogger.com0