Inspirations

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Aarhus Academy for Global Education (AAGE), Denmark: The School of a Thousand Hearts 

"Pupils discover their own sense of who they are and what roles they would like to play in a complex and changing world."

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Bedales

"The school aims to develop inquisitive thinkers with a love of learning who cherish independent thought. It seeks to: enable talents to develop through doing and making; foster individuality and encourage initiative, creativity and the appreciation of the beautiful. It aims to enable all to take pride in the community and feel nourished and valued by it, and to foster interest beyond the school."

Bedales was founded in 1893 as an alternative to the education regimes of the period, and moved to its Hampshire site in 1900. 

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Bradfield Diploma

"The Bradfield Diploma is an exciting programme, which aims to increase the breadth and depth of our co-curricular programme by rewarding individual pupils for their participation and application. 

All pupils in the Shell (Year 10) and Fifth Form (Year 11) pursue the Diploma. The focus of the Diploma is on pupil-led initiatives where pupils take on the additional responsibilities of recording and reflecting on their achievements. The Diploma enables the pupils to develop many of the other personal attributes that the College feels are important in our pupils’ development. The Diploma, which has the support of national exam board WJEC, culminates in elite awards of Gold, Silver and Bronze, as well as a Pass Diploma."

There are ten key components of the Diploma that each pupil needs to complete:

1. Academic

2. Research

3. Cultural

4. Physical

5. Public speaking

6. Responsibility

7. Community service/charity

8. Reading

9. Current affairs

10. Outward bound activity

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Hollinsclough Academy

We firmly believe and fully support a parent’s right to choose to home-educate their child or children.

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Elves and Fairies Woodland Nursery, Dorset

Its goal is to teach the importance of nature. Children show unusually high levels of confidence and independence as a result of them being left to enjoy the open air. Kirsteen Freer, 57, who started the nursery in 2007, said: ‘We believe that the closer to nature the children are the happier they will be and the more they will learn.'

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Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School (LAB).

The schools co-founders, Erin Mote and Eric Tucker, are constantly on a quest to innovate and welcome the opportunity to iterate as they grow. Toward the end of its first year, LAB was introduced to a draft of the MyWays Framework, developed by Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), which outlines 20 competencies that students need for future success. The competencies are grouped into four quadrants: Content Knowledge, Creative Know-How, Habits of Success and Wayfinding Abilities. The framework came at the perfect time as Mote and Tucker were investigating how to incorporate essential non academic skills that supported their shifting vision of student success.

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Ravensbourne School

We pride ourselves on our innovative & progressive approach to education. Through our continuing development of how students are educated, the School has created the Outdoor Learning Initiative & Vocational Education, or, OLIVE. OLIVE consists of 4 learning zones within the School, comprising a Farm, Allotment & Orchard, Woodland and Wildlife Pond. At the centre of the OLIVE is the Cottage, complete with a dedicated Farm-Classroom, which is the central hub of how OLIVE operates within the School. The Farm is located in the heart of the school and is home to a pair of pigs, goats, sheep, a dozen free range egg laying chickens, ducks, brahma hens and their cockerel. We have a family of rabbits and guinea pigs who enjoy their own private patch of grass.

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Big Picture Learning was established in 1995 with the sole mission of putting students directly at the center of their own learning. BPL co-founders Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor merged their thirty years of experience as teachers and principals and their distinct national reputations to launch this new innovation in education. With an intention to demonstrate that schooling and education can and should be radically changed, Big Picture Learning was born.

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4-H

A network of youth organisations, based in the USA, with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its original motto was "head, heart, hands and health" but is now "to make the best better". Originally based around farming, nowadays it focuses on  citizenship, healthy living, science, engineering, and technology programs. It is similar to the DofE programmes in the UK but it is a shame that it has no UK counterpart (I have asked!).

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Liberty Woodland School, Britain’s first fully outdoor school.

"The private primary school in southwest London teaches all its lessons in the tree-lined grounds of Morden Lodge, a Georgian property owned by the National Trust. ... Secondary classes begin lessons in September and will follow the International Baccalaureate curriculum. Once that is established, Barrett plans to convert to a free school or academy." Source: The Times. February 05 2022.

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