Amazing schools do exist, education is changing

Two phrases have popped up several times recently and I don't think I've mentioned them here yet. One of them is "throw the toys out of the pram" it means something near "throw the baby out with the bath water" and "threw a fit". The other one is "faff", I have no idea how to spell it. It seems to mean "mess" or "annoying" or "fake", it's an interesting one...

I had another great meeting with Stephen Heppell (thought leader in global education reform). We met at a school he's working with, about 3 hours from London. Funny side note, my google maps app automatically picked up a British accent for literally one turn and then went back to American, wonder what caused that...

The school was absolutely amazing. They've custom built a physical space that is an absolute dream for learning. What's even better is how they built it, they collaboratively worked with many kinds of people and included all of their perspectives (engineers, architects , students, teachers, parents, professors, locals , etc). 

It's hard to describe what it looks like. You start in an open space, almost an outdoor courtyard kind of look. There are four areas linked to that courtyard, each are identical. When you walk in one of the areas, you see a room about 40' by 40' with wide open spaces for learning. All the tables and chairs are moveable and the lighting and sound is top notch professional. 

There's a separate building with more learning spaces, things like a movie studio, football, etc. There's a cool wall that's made of plywood and people tack stuff up on it. They've started posting all the post cards they receive from visitors. They got the idea from their visit to Google euro hq in London. 

It looks like we'll be doing a STEMmerday at their school, amazing!!

On the drive home I stopped to get gas (petrol). I had been to this station before and my "signature card " (credit card) works almost everywhere. I was a little shocked that the card didn't work and the guy said no signature cards - which I had only heard once or twice before in the UK. He said there's a cash machine outside, so I tried that and it also didn't work. I ended up using my business credit card which has a pin (which is what they all prefer ), but now I have to go through the expense system at work, which is a little unnecessary.

Back to the good news, it's so great to physically see schools taking chances and really demonstrating how to rethink education. Two students gave me a tour and I was blown away by their intelligence and professionalism. I could just see how great the system was. Let's do even more! :)