Lilian Baylis Technology School Careers Fair

Lilian Baylis Technology School are holding a careers fair on 2 December.  Their headteacher, Gary Phillips wishes to disseminate the email below to local people:

My name is Gary Phillips and I am Head of Lilian Baylis Technology School. I am writing to invite you and/or your organisation to host a stall at our Careers Fair on Thursday 2 December from 17:00 - 19.30.

Most of our students do not come from graduate and/or professional families so events such as our Careers Fair are vital in inspiring and nourishing ambition. We run the event in the gym with each organisation hosting a stall where they engage with the students and families about the opportunities their organisation offers and/or what is required to work with the organisation.

If you are able to attend or need any further details please let Gina Mensah know on 0207 091 9500 or gina.mensah@lilianbaylis.com

I'm sure the school would appreciate a positive response from local businesses and organisations, as there is a growing commercial community throughout Kennington and Vauxhall, so do feel free to spread the request far and wide.

Whatever happened to the Lilian Baylis lot?

I'm still struggling through the Princes/Oval hustings write-up and will soon have photos from Madeira Day to upload, which I hope to publish ASAP.

In the meantime, I'm always interested in ways that communities might develop positive links with all of their citizens, including local young people.  For many years in the SE11 area (and beyond), the name "Lilian Baylis School" has been synonymous with "trouble", and it takes a long time for that kind of reputation to shift.  It appears, however, that recent(ish) investment in new school buildings and a new head teacher (Gary Phillips) have wrought rapid change at Lilian Baylis.  Yet, unless you have children at local schools, it can seem impossible to know what takes place in educational establishments at all.  Obviously, that's partly as a result of the draconian legislation, put in place with the aim of protecting children (aka CRB checks), which make it harder to volunteer with young people.  But perhaps sometimes Londoners scurry around so quickly, keeping ourselves busy, that we fail to notice the institutions that are shaping the next generation and we forget that we /are/ the village that could be raising the children.  If that kind of forgetfulness becomes a habit, the risk is that we stop knowing young people as our neighbours, and start seeing them as "a threat".  I don't want SE11 to be the kind of place that is afraid of youth, and I'd be intrigued to know whether readers have ideas for how to link residents with schools in a way that could be fruitful for both.

In the meantime, to demystify Lilian Baylis, and the hard work that goes on behind classroom doors, I've discovered a TV series (recorded at the end of 2009) which demonstrates the kind of pressure that the staff and Head Teacher are under to deliver improved exam results and an environment in which all children might thrive and prosper.  The series was originally shown on Teachers TV, which isn't available on all networks, so I'm pleased they're viewable on YouTube.  Whilst the episodes are quite long, I've found them to be a fantastic window into an entirely different world and well worth watching:











I'm not the only one interested in this vastly improved school. The Guardian have run a story this morning on recruiting staff for challenging schools, with a quote from Gary Phillips (the Lilian Baylis head) who noted, "What you want is people who are motivated by the challenge and by the moral purpose – and by that I mean we are here to transform the life chances of all our students. We have teachers from a real range of backgrounds, but it's about what they believe in and what they're prepared to do for the students."

I suppose I'm asking the same question about our community. How do communities transform the lives of /all/ of their citizens? Are people interested in that kind of enterprise any more, or is it a hopelessly old-fashioned way of looking at community development?

Cycling in Kennington and people on bikes

I can't believe I didn't spot this before, but somebody has started a new local cycling blog, Kennington People On Bikes. It details a recently won bid to set up a cycle hub project for Lilian Baylis (and other local) schools.  I note with interest the fact that the bike project was initially unable (see entry on 1st March) to obtain meeting space in the Sports Action Zone on the former Lilian Baylis site.  However, it appears that a meeting with the Director of SAZ resolved that... 

More recently, KPOB have turned their attention to corresponding with Princes ward councillors and candidates re. their views on cycling in the area.  If you are passionate about being on two wheels (or three!), it's a good time to be quzzing candidates on their cycle-friendly policies.  I note with interest the suggestion of bringing down speed limits to 20mph, in some areas. That would be one consideration re. reducing casualities on some of our trunk routes, and would be good for pedestrians too (although I can't see drivers being keen).  I'm often struck by the fact that Kennington (and undeniably, Vauxhall) can feel rather like a "through-route" for heavy goods vehicles accessing the rest of London.  Since we're soon to have our "bike hire" scheme bikes installed all over SE11, now is probably the time to increase the focus on road safety.  (Visions of untrained tourists hopping on to hired cycles and heading down Kennington Park Road to the Elephant roundabout fill me with dread).

The Cycling hub project may well be looking for volunteers, or have meeting times to publicise in the near future.  I'll post it as soon as I've obtained further info.

In the meantime, I telephoned TFL (8th April) to see when our new CS7 route cycle "superhighway" would be completed in SE11.  The person I contacted said it would be finished in "the next month or so".  I've no details on whether TFL have started painting the roads blue (is that the opposite of painting the town red?) and moving street furniture in deepest south London (other than a short trial stretch), so would be grateful for more info.

Lilian Baylis surfing ahead

I just caught this news item in publictechnology.net today about Lilian Baylis Technology School (on Kennington Lane) winning 10k funding in order to promote computer use in the homes of some of their students.

The e-learning foundation (who have handed over the cash) consider that low income families often do not have computers at home, and so children from the low income families have less access to the opportunities that technology provides. Also, apparently providing households with computers allows members of the wider family to use the same computer for job searching, so providing a computer gives benefit to the entire household.

It all sounds rather good, but I do wonder how they know that the computer will be used mainly? primarily? sometimes? for educational purposes (which is why they think the enterprise is worthwhile). Maybe they consider that the sheer existence of computer technology in the home, is, of itself of educational value, whatever the use the computer is put to.

Anyhow, I'm all for Lilian Baylis receiving grants (they don't exactly charge fees), so good for them!