Blog

The Future of Academies

16/06/2009

The Academy system has been the centre of attention in the educational world since it was created in 2004. Rod Aldridge delivered his a presentation at the Campaign for Learning centre in London talking about the Darwen Aldridge Community Academy and the new Falmer Academy (to be open in 2010).

Darwen students learn from London fashion stylist

05/06/2009

On Tuesday, friend of the Foundation, Anne Look, became a teacher for a day. She wrote...

Reach Out prototyping

05/05/2009

With the appointment of the principal designate of Falmer Academy - Philomena Hogg – last week and the decision concerning the design of the building being made soon it is an exciting time for all those involved in the academy. It is also an exciting time for another project the foundation is funding which has close links with Falmer Academy, called Reach Out.

Interning at The Aldridge Foundation

27/04/2009

My experience working with Rod and the team has been.. well.. awesome. Over the course of three weeks I have worked on a number of different research projects including developing a programme model that would raise the aspirations of the young people at the DACA and Falmer academies (watch this space for future developments).

Young underachievers meet with ministers

20/04/2009

User Voice recently invited a group of ten young people who find it difficult to engage with formal education and who have experience of abuse, neglect, educational underachievement and drugs and alcohol to London. Some have come into contact with youth justice and the others are at risk of doing so.

The best party in town

14/04/2009

The students from our Academy in Darwen had two fantastic days before the end of term. Every year group took part in different activities. Brendan Loughran, our Principal, summed the two days up saying “the staff and students have had a great time and lived up to the ideal that school should be the best party in town.”

Year Two of Young Speakers

07/04/2009

Last week in a regular catch-up meeting it was great to hear that We Are What We Do's second year of the Young Speakers Programme is set to be so exciting. The project, funded by The Aldridge Foundation and by v, will see another 200 young people selected from schools around the country.

NESTA Lab launch

10/03/2009

Today saw the launch of the NESTA Lab, within their Public Services Innovation Summit. The aim was to build a national debate about the need for bold, radical innovation within public services in the context of severely constrained public finances. The summit opened with a good dose of seventies funk, what better way to facilitate innovation! The summit took the form a collaborative 'DesignSession' format. In practice this meant discussion groups, which fed back to the main group.

Two launches

23/02/2009

Welcome to our brand new website! Today we are all working hard on the launch of Essentially Dance.

XTmotion London: Website Design, Website Development & Website Support