This is our learning place.
My heart got bigger when I saw the pictures of our new place, now ready for your learners.
The Creative Workshop at Beyond Creative Education, Ashburton.
I’m thrilled with how much we’ve achieved at the end of only four weeks at BCE!
Privileged to be meeting, talking and sharing thoughts with amazing people in places and situations new to me - I’m noticing from a broad perspective the scale of need for the young people with SEND, EBSNA and health issues we set out to help in our original doodles.
Feeling joy in the simplicity of saying “This is our learning place. It’s made for children who until now haven’t been able to learn somewhere consistently. Here is our place for your children to belong in.”
This has been such a long time coming. I struggle to explain the scale of the pride felt from this place I sit today. Here I am, sitting on the floor of our new communication studio with a hot cuppa tea and the fairy lights on, because we had a cool idea and some big… courage.
I’d found myself in a corner, stuffed with noisy and immobile distractions, which nobody else could help me out of. I’m not embarrassed to share this achievement, in fact I’m glad to celebrate it. Mostly because it might activate a similar light flickering for another leader who is wondering what more they can do to help too, from where they’re sitting today.
The shift from twenty years of working in schools to Alternative Provision self-employment in the space of a month, is something I suspected would be a bit different but underestimated how much of a shift it would require in mindset! Being in that system was rarely comfortable but at least it was predictable.
When leaders are safe in the knowledge of what is expected - timescales, targets, budgets, it can be straightforward for them to coach their teams through all kinds of external uncertainty. Uncertainty can be a foggy, muddy, unsteadying thing if handled clumsily. I’m in a fortunate position of experiencing uncertainty in a new way: trying, exploring, networking and finding out, with a clear view from here. When a leader is grounded because they know that they belong, their colleagues and stakeholders can be steadied too. They can then make the places where learners are also grounded, knowing they belong and are ready to learn. This is our place.
I’ve still no crystal ball but after asking for one for ages it turns out I don’t want it anymore. Just a finger held high in the air, quite confident that I can look at what’s coming our way and use my heart as well as my head to make a decision as to what the best thing to do next is, with the children we work for at the heart of every decision made. It’s a special position to be in, to be able to assess what’s the best way to proceed, and do just that.
Let us know if you’d like to receive a copy of our brand new BCE Prospectus.
For a visit and tour simply email office@beyondcreativeeducation.org and I’ll be glad to show you around.
For leadership coaching book a free discovery call through our Appointments page.
Some new pictures here which reflect our values of creativity, courage, curiosity and care, and celebrate the efforts of a small and mightily determined team. Big big thanks Will Scammell Photography.
