Another day, another TVCA funded Enterprise Day. Always fun…..but wait. I know you lot! Today I had the pleasure of working with St Paulinus Y6 in Guisborough. Many people reading this will know that I have worked with schools in this area for many, many years on many, many projects. I first met this particular class in Reception when we went hunting for Dragons in the woods and working out where they had laid their eggs:(https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?mid=1vaqcCerNdFR-2-twAxiyCYGn0FE&usp=sharing if you want to use it)

I then had the pleasure of hosting them several times at the Centre I ran for raising aspirations in the Tees Valley. We used to inspire over 10 000 pupils per year and this class had clearly come to several events through their school life: Setting up a Bakery Day (Enterprise), STEM days, World of Work Days, Locomaths….what was absolutely amazing was that they remembered all of it….better than I did in fact.

And that is absolutely the reason why I do what I do.

Those events had had an impact on those children. Meaningful moments in their lives. Was it because they met an employer? No, not every time. Was it because I was such an amazing host? Yes of course….er…well, no, probably not.

They remembered those events because all of them were innovative, focussed on their own development and created as age appropriate activities. Everything we do at Spark is underpinned by an awareness of social theories relating to developing capital, developing a sense of agency in the world. Without that it is just careers work and awareness raising, it has little bearing on what the children think relates to them. Their ‘habitus’ is largely unchanged.

So with such a glow in my heart about the previous impact I’d had, I had a great day developing their ideas even further. Pictures below show them at work with various tasks. The children in this class have their own iPads (1:1) provided through a school scheme that I helped set up years ago and that has been very successfully maintained by the brilliant staff there over the years. The children use them as a tool, seamlessly and effectively, great to see. Their work is at the bottom for you to download and view.

Click on the link below to access their work. Best to use Open in’ Notes:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CV6F1_kgjoxb0uK4GLnjLkmiOoP8PC3o?usp=sharing