Tag: community

Support Local – Updated!

The lockdown continues and so does the resilience and ingenuity of the local people here in Hastings and St. Leonards.

Rather than updating my previous post, I thought I would offer a fresh take on the businesses that are continuing to serve the community; as well as provide some info on a truly ‘Hastings’ approach to helping people stay active and creative during the lockdown.

  • Judges Bakery is still going strong. Pop in for sourdough bread; a sweet treat; or buy flour and yeast to bake something fresh at home. 🍞
  • Penbuckles Deli closed briefly but Richard and Ellie have regrouped and they are now open during the week. You can call them to place an order for collection; arrange a time to pop in and shop; or have food delivered to your home. 🧀
  • Trinity Whole Foods‘ main shop is open for business. They have plenty of fresh produce, dry goods and my favourite: Montezuma’s chocolate.1 🍫
  • Queen’s Deli has also started a home delivery service. They have a range of groceries; wine; and fresh deli meats; including the finest salt beef to cook at home. 🥩
  • The Marina Fountain drive-thru is still open. See their website for details of the food and wine that is available.🍷
  • Tommy’s Pizzeria is still open for delivery; keeping a pizza-wide smile on everyone’s faces. Check out their Instagram for updates and limited time offers. 🍕
  • St Leonards’ favourite Half Man, Half Burger have also regrouped and they are open for delivery too. Treat yourself to a cheeseburger. 🍔
  • Finally, the Cake Room updated their Instagram and it looks like Baxter may have something in the pipeline. 🍰

And, if you have not come across it yet, a number of locals have pulled together to run Isolation Station Hastings. They are live-streaming a daily schedule of events on Facebook during the lockdown, including:

  • Educational Classes (Pottery, Life Drawing, Sea Creature Feature)
  • Exercise Classes (Yoga, Family Fitness)
  • Music (Solo gigs and Sing-a-longs)
  • Local News and Quizzes
  • And a daily reading of ‘The Time Machine’, by H.G. Wells, which was this year’s selection for ‘A Town Explores a Book’.

So go ahead, stay home, order some food from one of our local businesses and tune in to the Isolation Station. 🌞

  1. Not exactly a necessity but ‘The Dark Side’ is too delicious![↩]

Support Local

[Update: On Monday 23rd March, the UK Government has placed the country under far tighter restrictions. As such, nearly all the businesses below are now closed. We hope to see all of you on the other side of this. #StaySafeSaveLives!

[Update: On Friday 20th March, cafes, pubs and restaurants have been directed by the Government to close and only offer take away. See the updates below for individual businesses.]

Today was, without a doubt, one of the strangest in my teaching career. Standing in assembly with Year 11, the unprecedented nature of what is happening truly hit home, as we worked to reassure them about the situation and their futures. I was exceptionally proud of how resilient they all were as they come to terms with such high levels of uncertainty – not only about their GCSEs but also what might happen to their friends and family over the coming months.

East Sussex has not seen high numbers of cases yet (eight at the time of writing), but the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are being felt across Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea. Not least by the local, coastal, community that is built around small local businesses.

If I’ve learned anything since Jennifer and I moved here, it is this: Hastings is an amazing place, filled with wonderfully eclectic, kind people. Many of them work in the local businesses, relying on the daily custom of those of us who live and work here, as well as tourists during the summer season. With genuine uncertainty over how long the pandemic will last, it is up to those of us who live here to help keep these businesses alive.

To their credit, many of them are adapting to the situation and doing their part to not only keep themselves afloat but to support the community in which they belong. Here is a list of some of the businesses that we will be supporting over the coming weeks. If you are local, we would love it if you did too.

  • Fika @ 44 – A fantastic café ran by two of the loveliest ladies. Great coffee; great food. Try the ‘dirty chai’ for an extra sweet caffeinated boost. [Update: Closed for the time being.]
  • Stooge Coffee – Fantastic coffee in a cute tiny shop. At the time of writing, they have taken the decision to do take away only, in support of social distancing. [Update: Closed for the time being.]
  • Trinity Wholefoods – Next door to Stooge: local organic, fresh produce and a genuine lack of people panic buying! [Update: Open with changed hours and some restrictions – see Instagram.]
  • Half Man! Half Burger! – They are open, having taken a range of steps to protect customers and staff. If you haven’t tried the ‘Bean Caught Stealing’ vegan burger you are genuinely missing out! [Update: Closed for the time being.]
  • Tommy’s Pizzeria – Fantastic Neapolitan style pizza. They are now offering take away, and have also taken steps to protect customers and staff. [Update: Delivery only; here’s the menu.]
  • The Marina Fountain – Great pub in St Leonards – good beer and awesome DJ nights! [Update: Closed but they have opened a drive-thru; they have fresh bread, dairy products, dry goods and of course alcohol that you can click and collect.]
  • Cake Room – Currently closed for renovations, they are hoping to reopen shortly. Good coffee and outstanding cakes – and Baxter! The cutest dog in Hastings.
  • Penbuckles Deli – Ellie and Richard were the first two people to make us welcome when we moved to Hastings. They are salt of the earth folks – Hastings through and through. Very much open. Check them out for coffee, wine, crackers and cheese, and deli meats. [Update: Closed for the time being.]
  • Judges Bakery – The best bread in town! And cinnamon rolls with lashings of icing on Saturdays! Open and they have started to sell a kit to make bread at home. [Update: Open but with reduced hours and some restrictions.]
  • The Crown – One of the best pubs I have ever had the pleasure to drink in. The range of beers is excellent and always changing. They have turned half of the pub into a shop to help locals get hold of essential items, including locally grown eggs, bread, fruit and veg. They are also offering take away beer and food. [Update: Pub and shop closed for the time being.]
  • The Albion – A great local pub with many traditional British ales and great pies. Like the Crown, they are also offering home delivery of food and alcohol. [Update: Closed for the time being.]
  • Porters Wine Bar – Good wine, food and music. Open and also offering a take away menu. [Update: Closed for the time being.]
  • Queens Deli – A great deli, with freshly made salt-beef. They have, sadly, but understandably taken the decision to shut in the short term; a two man team, we hope they will be able to reopen soon.

These places and the people who own and work in them are part of the fabric of the town we now call home. They have made us both welcome and exceptionally proud to be part of the community. It is uncertain how long they will be able to remain open, so if you are local, please pop in and buy something to take away or call and place an order for delivery.

Together, as a community, we will survive this.

Independence & Community (The Purpose of Education)

purposed-badgeSince contributing to the original #500words campaign, my thoughts about the purpose of education have become less cogent. I still want to “bust a hole in the wall”; wishing to place learner independence and preparedness for life long learning at the heart of the debate. However, as I have continued teaching, researching, discussing, debating, I have found that my advocacy for student centred learning is paralleled by a growing belief that schools should be placed at the centre of the community. At times it feels as if these ideas should contradict each other, but I believe that they actually compliment each other. Here, I offer a list of connected (and disconnected) assertions, ideas and questions that are currently resonating with me. I hope that in sharing them, I can begin to form a more coherent thesis.

  • Learning needs to be student centred. Education should offer choice and provide opportunity, not limit it.
  • Schools need to offer a personalised curriculum. One that is adaptive, malleable… designed by learners themselves.
  • There should be parity between subjects. But, should learning be structured in subjects?
  • All learning needs to be encouraged – gaming, exploration, trial & error (when did we decide that getting things wrong was no longer part of learning?). Moreover, I’m concerned that the school system appears to be geared up to remove play, creativity and individuality as learners get older.
  • Schools should be able to acknowledge and accredit all learning (formal and informal). Badges?
  • We need to better prepare young people for the models of learning they will be engaged in after school. This means encouraging learner autonomy as well as co-dependence. The era of ‘sage on the stage’ is dead. It’s time to establish ‘guide on the side’ in all classrooms.
  • We need to stop labelling students; and we need to stop allowing them to label themselves. A learners ability is not genetic; it is not pre-determined by us or anyone else.
  • Education is not about grades or league tables. They are a meaningless, extrinsic motivator; and are detrimental to fostering effective learning.
  • Learning is not linear. Learning is messy!
  • School is not a bubble. Boundaries between learners and the real world need to be removed
  • Libraries should be at the heart of schools and their respective communities. Libraries should be like this one. And in the 21st century, they are about much more than books.
  • Schools need to recognise that Online is ‘now’ NOT the future. Technology should be seamlessly integrated in to the learning experience. There needs to be overlap between physical and virtual spaces – opening up further opportunities for a personalised curriculum.
  • Education needs to be wrestled out of the hands of governments. Communities need to take ownership of learning… freeing education of the fads and whims of politicians. Learning needs to be open/democratised.
  • Schools should be charged by their communities to provide education that is relevant and creative.

This post is my contribution to #500words – Take 2; the latest Purpos/ed campaign, asking the question: What is the purpose of education. Check out purposed.org.uk to see how you can join the debate.

Sir Ken Robinson: Leading a Learning Revolution

Closing LWF12, Sir Ken Robinson did much more than draw together the various themes and ideas from the conference. Instead, he used his closing talk to discuss the “revolution” he believes is needed (and is already happening) in education. Echoing the conclusions of his 2006 TED Talk and purpose of his 2010 TED Talk, he referred quickly to the struggle between “whole child” education and the propensity of governments to want to “control” and “test” education.

Robinson created a highly compelling polemic. He went on to address the disconnect between practice, theory and policy, as well as the technological and social changes that are feed into the need for a learning revolution. He outlined what he believes to be the purposes of education and then set about, under the headings: Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, and Assessment, recommending a series of changes needed to improve education. These included:

  • Emphasising personalised (independent) learning;
  • Customising education for communities;
  • A move away from “subjects” to “disciplines”;
  • Encouraging collaborative learning strategies;
  • Shifting the emphasis in assessment away from “judgement” to “description”.

What I found most gratifying about Robinson’s talk was the emphasis he put on teachers and schools. He believes that teaching is at the heart of education, reminding us (the teachers) that we are part of the system and therefore can, if we choose to, change it. He recognised that there were many of us already doing so and continued by saying: “If you’re waiting for a government to start the revolution, I think you’ll be waiting a long time”. In closing he declared that:

We need to be part of the solution for the revolution and not part of the problem

With that sentiment in mind, I invite you to join me (and a host of other educators) on Thursday, March 1, between 8pm and 9pm, for #ukedchat, where we will be addressing the following question:

Are schools (as physical spaces) necessary to facilitate learning in the 21st century

The question is (I hope) a jumping off point for a debate about what schooling should be like in the 21st century. You can read my full provocation, here.

Recommended Reading:

Ken Robinson – Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative
Ken Robinson with Lou Aronica – The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything