Tag Archives: school

Tadpole Part 7: The Before & The After

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Here are some ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots – so we can see how far we’ve come since 1st April 2014!

 

At the beginning –  a burnt out shell of a building

A burnt out roofless structure

A burnt out roofless structure

 

and suddenly ..

The tadpole building

The tadpole building

 

 

Walls go up and extend the original rondavel

Walls go up and extend the original rondavel

Looks better now

Looks better now

 

looking south

looking south

 

at sunset now

at sunset now

 

the original doorway

the original doorway

and now its an interior doorway!

and now its an interior doorway!

And again from the inside – the original door and window to its left.

that original doorway from the inside

that original doorway from the inside

 

our masonry stove - faced in soap stone

our masonry stove – faced in soap stone

Remember the saga of the stairs:

Mr Willard infront of the eventual stairs

Mr Willard infront of the eventual stairs

 

Well we got there in the end!

stairs - unfinished

stairs – unfinished

Finished stairs

Finished stairs

 

Looking down those stairs

Looking down those stairs

And finally the school room up those stairs

 

Montessori school room upstairs in Tadpole

Our Montessori school room upstairs in Tadpole

 

The Scottish play in our school library

The Scottish play in our school library

 

Moon shot from the southern hemisphere

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Dramatic pictures are emerging of a new space mission apparently targeted at the moon. At the secret high-altitude launch site our cameras have exclusive access to the new rocket system as it is being developed.

The lunch site has been chosen so that the rocket is carefully aimed at the moon from lift off onwards.
Aiming at the moon

Aiming at the moon

Here we see the all important nose cone developing against a backdrop of distant peaks and troughs
Nose cone

Nose cone

As engineering continues to work on last minute adjustments to the crew capsule …
Engineering in the Main Cabin

Engineering in the Main Cabin

… the crew takes a moment to relax on the newly built launch tower during the rigorous training and selection procedures Happy crew on the launch tower

Happy crew on the launch tower

We are told that moon juice will be collected via this retractable arm – now being re-programmed for low gravity cheese. The amount of R.AN.DEE (Ranting All Night & Day Endlessly) that has gone into this new exploration system is sure to excite fellow space-fans – it is clearly in-excess of anything seen before in such a mission.
Retractable arm

Retractable arm

The crew decide they want to see where they are going so aerodynamic potholes are added to the cabin
Portholes to aid navigation in space

Portholes to aid navigation in space

An early morning test firing of the rockets leaves no doubt as to the tremendous cheese-melting thrust the newly developed power system will generate
Cheese melting thrust

Cheese melting thrust

Now all we need to know is whose shirts they will wear….

The Montessori School

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Orphans Zimbabwe

Orphans Zimbabwe

Our goal for the Montessori school is to bring this educational approach to young Zimbabweans at primary school level to prepare them for the needs of their future life: open-mindedness, confidence, organization, process, social skills, presentation skills. We will provide our children with the skills to make them successful in life after exams and beyond “grades”. A Montessori education enables children to learn and excel without the ‘rote learning’ that is the staple in some primary schools. Furthermore, a Montessori education will equip the children with life skills and introduce a lot of advanced materials from other disciplines that are normally not introduced until secondary school/high school. Good academic grades definitely help to get you your first job, however after that what are employers looking for in order to hire you or promote you?

To achieve this goal we are going to rent / buy / build the school buildings close to the farm. Hire trained Montessori teachers, and start-up! We have the equipment necessary for Montessori learning donated by schools in the USA.

Update 10 April 2015: We are getting there – see The Troutbeck Montessori School website