At the chalkface
News
Inna Babylon
“Sir! WigWam!” rends the Babylon is “bad” in my sense
air. i’m getting the fruit and veg of the word. Babylon is not good.
down the Portobello market. an LK seems to be question-
unholy racket thunders under the ing the body politic. LK is like a
Spreading the word
Westway. Boom! Boom! Thump! Pentecostal preacher.
go big speakers. a figure holds a i can only catch bits.
microphone. it hails me. “Bald ‘eads inna Babylon.
“Sir! Wigwam!” Bankers inna Babylon! Bald ‘ead
by Chris Parr
assemblies and filmed a DVD to
promote their ideas to the rest of
Who am i? Tourists are puz- politicians an’ ting!” Boom! Boom! the school. in a bid to broaden their
zled. Deference seems to be flour- “West Eleven used to be ‘eaven moving to a new building, gaining knowledge still further, they will
ishing in these parts. and who is – now it Babylon an’ ’ting!” Eco Schools status, and organising head out to Saltsjobaden in Sweden
he? Kevin. Little Kevin. Chums zoom up a visit to a foreign country are all to investigate the impact of climate
“LK”. Thus designated walls. “Know what i’m processes that can place a lot of change on the Scandinavian coun-
because he’s about seven sayin’?” extra strain on a school’s staff. try – with particular reference to
feet high and five feet The crowd gets However, mortimer Community rising sea levels.
wide with whopping bigger and cheers him College in North East England is in When their research is complete,
great muscles. LK is in on. He freezes. Boom! the process of pursuing all three a number of the students have been
my 10th year. LK is rap- Boom! another item of these goals at the same time – invited by Fiona Hall – the North
ping. He looks splendid. begins. We leave Babylon thanks to some innovative thinking, East’s European mP – to present
Huge dreads. Huge boots. for Eros. and a team of dedicated students. their findings to the European
Brazil shirt. Pirate loons. “i’m the man!” says he The Eco Schools project is part Parliament.
an urban exclamation in his pirate loon pants. “i of the Department for Children, mr Heath continued: “We are
mark! is a sex machine!” No he’s Schools and Families’ bid to make hoping that the students will gain
He roars on. He not. He’s 15. He’s working every school sustainable by 2020. a deeper understanding of environ-
flails limbs. Two chums towards level 4. This is daft. mortimer College is hoping the mental issues at a local and an inter-
spin on their heads and “i is a lover man!” he assures students’ plans to run poster cam- national level, including European
run up walls. Then he stops us. girls would do well to get paigns, produce pro-environment policy-making.”
and goes all Zen and freezes to know him. Their lives would films, and take their message to To push the project further, the
and there is utter silence. The improve considerably. schools in Sweden – and then the nearby Thomas Hepburn School
crowd is mesmerised. So am “i is sweet as a nut.” European Parliament in Strasbourg in gateshead – a specialist science
i. Fantastic! This is pure street i preferred the political. – will earn the school the project’s college – is carrying out its own
theatre. and probably illegal. Not The crowd thickens. He freezes top award, the green Flag. research by looking at the condition
a proviso that’s ever bothered him. and his chums pass round the hat. assistant headteacher Jonathan of the river Tyne.
Boom! Boom! He unfreezes and i put in some silver. “alright then, Heath told SecEd: “We are moving Students from the two schools
starts again. The base now seems sir! Laters!” into a brand new school building will pool their research, and it is
set on bone conduction. Pigeons i leave the laureate of Ladbroke from September, and we want to hoped that they will come together
fall off their perches grove “spreading the love”. i’m have a pro-active approach to envi- to co-present their findings at the
“i’s straight outta grove and i’s mightily impressed. Perhaps we ronmental issues from day one. official opening of mortimer’s new
comin’ right atcha.” could submit it for Speaking and “We have around 20 students on building in November.
Little K doesn’t do diffidence. Listening. Perhaps not. it prob- our Eco action Team, from across For more on Eco Schools, visit
Or definite articles. ably falls outside the assessment the year groups. They have been www.eco-schools.org.uk
But what do i know? parameters – and the law. What developing environmental priori-
i’m straight outta the Home with the absence of definite articles ties for the school, putting together Greenthinking:Year10and
Counties and rather keen on both. – an’ ‘ting! an animation and a poster campaign 11studentsdiscusstheir
He talks in tongues. to promote the new approach, and campaign(left).Theideas
“i inna Babylon! me inna uva • Ian Whitwham is a former also completed an environmental aretobebroughttolife
literacies.” i try to keep up. secondary school teacher. audit of the school.” byanimationssuchasthe
The team has also conducted ‘thinkgreen’globe(above)
20 SecEd • June 11 2009
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