“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough, we must apply.”
Leonardo Da Vinci
blends all the traditional school subjects, the UK national curriculum and more, into expanded, contextual, transdisciplinary projects, that can be delivered alongside traditional subject-based learning.
The PERSONAL EXPLORATION pathway (PEP) involves individual passion projects and group projects designed by the students with support from their mentors. We ask learners, what is something: that I am curious about; that I want to getter better at; that I’d like to make or that is problematic in my community or the world that I’d like to tackle.
The PRODUCTION pathway supports learners to create content for live events, such as an alien stop-frame animation film showing, a cultural identity fashion show or a documentary on global ceremonies & celebrations. Learners research the topic, make all the content and then plan, budget and manage an event for parents and the local community.
The ENTERPRISE pathway fosters entrepreneurial and design thinking. Learners design their own sustainable products, exploring industrial and civic design, architecture, engineering, robotics and coding. We provide the opportunity for students to build their own social enterprise, learning about company structures, finance, branding and sales.
The FOOD pathway investigates the journey of food from the ground to the plate and sustainable waste management. We grow and cook food, find out about the history of global food trade, nutrition and health. Projects include: designing a nutritious, ethical and sustainable menu; planting a permaculture garden; experimenting with fermentation and preservation and exploring the future of farming.
In the MULTIVERSE GAMES pathway learners design board games and tabletop RPG adventures in historical settings, such as Ancient China, the Indian Spice trade and the Spanish arrival in Mesoamerica. They design characters, compose backstories and build authentic worlds. We review the motivations behind different types of games, learning about game mechanics, strategies and collaboration.
We support home ed parents to set up small community hubs or schools.
At our own BE Hub in Arrington, Cambridge, we offer three projects over three days each week.
Our students study with specialised tutors on home days to prepare for exams which are usually staggered over two or three years.
The DVLS Curriculum uses project & skills-based learning, which improves student engagement by placing applied learning at the heart of the school, connecting all the traditional subjects and bringing academic learning to life in real world projects.
We encourage schools and teachers to introduce an equal blend of different skills throughout the day, so that the majority of learning is not sitting at a desk receiving knowledge.
"...what artistic and scientific imagination have in common is the commitment to imagine/give shape to what is not yet perceived. In the work of Leonardo, we note the perduring effort to bring together multiple observations of a phenomenon within a single drawing..."
"...a new “Way” of schooling is required. Young people are ‘natural learners’ needing time and space to develop their interests and passions, in schools where teachers and students collaborate respecting democracy and human rights. They do not need exam factories."
"Isn't this the purpose of education, to learn the nature of your own gifts and how to use them for good in the world?" "The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others."
"The role-playing game learning space holds so much opportunity and wonder... As social media, global internet access, and education are colliding, we need a practical solution in schools that helps youth gain perspective, in real time, to their rapidly changing and evolving lives... We need places for students to fail and succeed, but not where their grade point averages (GPAs) and social status are on the line."
"Creativity as play, adventure and self-expression... Point Zero is the place under the conditioning, authentic, real, present."
"A person high in desire for dominance may assert control over a passive bystander and briefly feel potent. But attaining such dominance is unlikely to yield any basic need satisfaction and thus is unlikely to foster any durable sense of wellbeing... By contrast, gaining love, gaining new skills, or acting in accord with an abiding value are more likely to fulfil basic needs, and thus quite directly enhance wellness."
"The aim of the LPA is to develop all students as confident and capable learners - ready, willing, and able to choose, design, research, pursue, troubleshoot, and evaluate learning for themselves, alone and with others, in school and out."
"All these studies show that innovations that include strengthening the practice of formative assessment produce significant and often substantial learning gains... improved formative assessment helps low achievers more than other students and so reduces the range of achievement while raising achievement for all.
"The OFSTED framework expectation is a curriculum, containing 'high academic/
vocational/technical ambition for all pupils'... (however) the vocational, technical and creative subjects do not feature in the EBacc target."
"We propose a future that pairs artificial intelligence with valuing the cognitive, social and emotional skills of people."
"...it is the tendency to seek optimal challenge, to struggle and make sense of the world, to fool around with unfamiliar ideas. Human beings are inclined to push themselves to succeed at something moderately difficult... Rewards, like punishments actually undermine the intrinsic motivation that promotes optimal performance."