First International 'School in the Cloud' opens in North Tyneside

An inspirational professor’s wish to inspire children and teachers across the globe is taking shape in a North Tyneside classroom.

Winner of the international one million dollar TED Prize, Newcastle University’s Professor Sugata Mitra has designed a ‘School in the Cloud’ – a learning lab where children can explore and learn from each other by tapping into online resources.

Now the first of these is opening at George Stephenson High School in Killingworth on Friday. It is one of only seven Self Organised Learning Environments (SOLEs), two in England and five in India.

‘Schools in the Cloud’ is the culmination of more than a decade of research and observations from all over the world. From his earliest experiments while working in Delhi with the Hole in the Wall project, which inspired the film Slumdog Millionaire, through to setting up the original SOLEs in India, Professor Mitra discovered that children’s innate sense of learning is magnified when they are given the freedom to explore the internet in small groups.

Professor Mitra explained: “From research we’ve already seen that reading comprehension is likely to improve in the children taking part in these activities but we do not know what else might happen in the process.”

On Friday he will be joined at the school by teachers, pupils and, from India via Skype, a research director for the ‘School in the Cloud’ project.

The children who helped to design the SOLE will be conducting tours of the new facility, and also hope to chat live with India.

The project has been welcomed by the Elected Mayor of North Tyneside, Norma Redfearn who said: “It’s wonderful that George Stephenson High School is the first school in the country to benefit from this high profile project. Professor Mitra is internationally acclaimed for his work which is enthusing and inspiring our children and young people to explore and learn so much.”

Amy-Leigh Dickinson, head of Design at George Stephenson High School, was inspired by Professor Mitra’s approach two years ago and after discovering that his self-organised learning methods had not really been tried in secondary schools before, she set about testing them with Year 7 with help and support from Professor Mitra, finally extending this up to Year 13.

She said: “From the outset, the children’s love of learning came through and there was a fantastic buzz in the classroom. The idea of thinking about your subject in ‘big questions’ and letting children take ownership of the lesson really gets them engaged.

“When they work in groups of four there’s less chance to opt out and they naturally self correct each other, helping to develop not only their literacy and understanding but also good social skills.”

Headteacher Ian Wilkinson adds: “We’re really excited to be working with Professor Mitra on this project and delighted that he has chosen to work with us, as one of only two schools in the country. It’s a really exciting and innovative project to be involved in and the early signs are that it is helping our student become more independent and resilient learners.”

The SOLE will also be open for the local community and nearby primary schools to use, and there has already been interest from a parent who home-schools her children.

Visitors to the new SOLE in North Tyneside are likely to have a far more comfortable journey than those in India, who have to travel firstly by boat and then endure an hour and a half on an uncomfortable van rickshaw to reach remotest the site in West Bengal.

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