Two more weeks have flown by and the season is over. I’m going to keep this brief and talk about the first day and the last day of the previous fortnight, a museum visit and some young person to young person feedback.
Trip to the M Shed
We had a few families on holidays, a few young people ill and one who didn’t sleep well on the first day of the week and so we turned up and there was only three young people and two mentors. An opportunity to go on a trip! So we did. The great thing about learning communities is the dynamic nature of what we do. No family consent forms, no getting out of the high-vis jackets, no month long planning process, just a quick democratic meeting to decide where and off we go. The children really are empowered to take control of what they want to do here.
Our bus didn’t turn up so we had to walk into town instead, but that gave us the opportunity to pick up this lovely cat basket on the way, that became the coat basket for the day.
The M Shed is located in the middle of Bristol by the harbourside, where the old docks used to be. Here we are right in front of the museum, with the old train tracks that were used to move goods around the docks in front of the bay and the Cathedral can be seen in the background.
The river Avon flows through Bristol and then cuts through a gorge before emptying into the Severn Channel. According to legend the gorge was created by two giants Vincent and Goram competing for the love of the goddess of the river, Avona. Hare and tortoise meets giants on love quest, Avona challenged them to drain a lake. Goram worked tirelessly on his channel but working too hard became thirsty and in need of ale. Too many ales later he fell asleep and Vincent dug the Avon gorge whilst Goram slept, drained the lake and won fair lady. Always lovely to learn some local history and legend.
The young people mostly liked the transport section.Some nice vintage cars, motorbikes and bicycles to look at. In front of the bus is a large map of Bristol, which we enjoyed finding our houses on. The small bike below is a Victorian toddler’s trick bike. Apparently he wowed crowds at the age of just two.
Honest Feedback
We had some conflict bubbling in the last week between two young people, one of whom chaired our meeting on the last day. During the meeting the chair was frustrated with the person they had been in conflict with repeatedly interrupting the meeting by talking with a friend and requested they both stayed behind with them and a mentor afterwards to discuss.
It was true that they had been disruptive, however, the chair, who had admitted to being tired, had struggled to pay attention themselves. Slow meetings often lead to an increase in interruptions.
These are seven and eight year olds trying to control their desires to talk, which is difficult. But these are also seven and eight year olds who can reflect back, with kindness, to the chair that their tiredness was as much a factor in the distractions continuing.
When I am a chair and I am tired I often find that the meetings I chair are more frustrating and have more distractions in.
This was heard and acknowledged and we all moved on with our day. It’s powerful to see children who are in tune with the processes and workings of a democratic meeting enough to recognise the factors that are influencing how and when they are working or not working, and confident and compassionate enough to reflect that back in a way that can be heard by the other.
Thanks and till next time,
Tim