I see myself as a bit of a connoisseur of schools - I really love them. My parents travelled with their work, and I went with them. I have attended schools in India, Australia, America, Holland, Wales, South Africa... Altogether I have attended over 16 schools (my parents lost count).
It seems fitting that I would become an educationalist in later life (I am sure Gladwell would make some sense of that). Over the last few years I have had the good fortune to visit many schools (25 or so), some pretty standard, but others extraordinary.
I love small, unusual schools, with progressive curriculum in particular, and I believe them to be very powerful testing grounds for ideas. Some of these schools are *magical*.
Yesterday I discovered Green School.
The school is in Bali and has been open just over a year. It has one of the most progressive curriculum I have ever read about, very focused on environmental issues, creativity and emotional intelligence, in a very practical framework. The architecture is amazing and the school operates on very low carbon use. The staff to student ratio is 6:1.
What a blissful educational setting and experience!
What l have taken away from looking at Green School is how inspiring schools can be when they are built from the imagination and determination of a group of individuals. I wish more people would take the bold step to do this...
Educationalists could learn some valuable lessons from the school, regardless of the harshness (by comparison) of their own school's setting.
Good Luck to Green School! I hope they share their experiences!
This school in the Lake District might give it a run for their money on the architecture front.
Is that right -- 6 staff for every student?!
Posted by: DJ | November 02, 2009 at 09:49 AM
Um.... I think I may have that the wrong way round David :) Amusing thought though!
Posted by: Tessy | November 02, 2009 at 10:36 AM