A career in caring

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If you or a loved one benefit from care whether on a daily or occasional basis you’ll value the importance of the carer in your life

Rewarding is the word most often used to describe what it means to be a carer, whether it’s just playing cards, a trip to the shops or attending to medical needs, what you do as a carer can make a real difference to someone’s life.

As the population grows and we live to a greater age – there are now more over 65s than under 5s – there is an increasing need for carers in all sectors. Whether you are enabling someone to continue living in their own home or supporting an older person with greater care needs in a nursing home, as one carer puts it “you’re not just a care professional, you become part of a family”.

No two days are the same and while it may sound like a cliché, the constantly changing needs of those you care for make each day one of discovery as you learn more about them and make connections. You’ll soon find many have interesting stories to tell.

Caring is more of a vocation than a job, which is why Dianne Downard has developed a keen instinct when it comes to interviewing potential new recruits at Goring Care. She has worked with the family care business, owned and directed by the Northeys, for more than 25 years, covering caring, cooking and leading the specialist team.

“You are called to this work and have to care about it and be committed, otherwise it won’t work,” says Dianne. “We offer personal care for those who need it, whether that’s help with bathing, showering, managing continence, food or mobility. We also offer palliative care, so we can meet clients’ needs right to the end.”

Families make contact with the Goring Care team to see whether they can meet the needs of an older person, who is assessed to find out whether dementia is a factor and plan the earliest possible support. “I love working with residents with dementia,” adds Dianne, who lives in Didcot. “It’s about making them feel they’re still important and valued as human beings. Whether they remember your name or to say thank you doesn’t matter. You’ve done something to improve their quality of life. We call them ‘butterfly moments’. Everyone deserves to feel safe and loved all the way through their life, as you’d want for your parents or grandparents.”

Having worked in reablement, learning disabilities, end-of-life care, and dementia specialist roles, Susie Long chose to join BelleVie Care which operates across Oxfordshire, bringing two decades of experience to a rewarding role. She was drawn to BelleVie’s person-centric approach and commitment to exceptional care.

The team, carefully selected for their passion and alignment with BelleVie’s values, reflects a diverse range of interests, from studying environmental studies to participating in local drama groups, singing, dancing, cooking, personal development, and travel.

Susie emphasises the importance of recruiting caregivers exclusively from the communities served, fostering a strong local connection.

She envisions BelleVie Care as a beacon of hope, not only for those they support but for those aspiring to work in the care sector and aims to transform the perception of care roles by advocating for excellent working conditions, providing support and training, and ensuring fair wages.

For Susie, BelleVie is not just a care provider; it’s a community where caregivers go the extra mile to ensure the well-being and happiness of those they serve. The emphasis on quality mentoring, coaching, and training reflects the commitment to delivering first-class support and enabling caregivers to thrive.

This month sees You Can Care Week, an annual event dedicated to raising awareness about careers in social care and inspiring others to consider getting involved in the social care sector and embarking on a fulfilling and rewarding role.

The week-long campaign shines a light on the essential work carers do day in, day out and the immense influence they have on not just the lives of those they care for but on their families and communities too. There is a growing demand for care workers and the week aims to attract more to the profession and explore the career opportunities it presents not just as a care assistant but also as support workers and social workers.

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Marika Hackman releases Big Sigh

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A welcome return from Marika Hackman sees her release her first album in nearly four years and it promises to be one of the most intriguing releases of 2024. Already.

Marika Hackman likens her creative process to hacking into a block of ice. “It’s about chipping away at whatever that golden thing is in the centre. The more you do it, the more visible and easy to access it becomes.” The problem, Marika says, is if you leave the block for too long it freezes over. The glow gets duller, the fear of finding it intensifies. “Not the most relaxed metaphor for a musician who’s trying to reduce their stress levels, admittedly.”

Such was the case with Big Sigh – the “hardest record” Marika has ever made. As its title suggests, it is a release of sorts – of sadness, of stress and lust, but mostly relief.

At the start of 2020, Marika hurtled into lockdown; stifled and isolated, her musical brain nullified. She had been in a constant cycle of write/record/press/tour for thirteen years, since the age of nineteen, and the eerie silence of stopping was agonising. “I have pretty bad anxiety. It’s usually manageable but having a lack of control for two years during the pandemic was impossible.” Being with friends, swimming, collaborating and touring, everything Marika normally used to distract her mind from spiralling thoughts and feelings had disappeared. She stopped writing songs. The ice got thicker.


As the months progressed, she accrued scraps of melodies but never felt that spectral hit of a fully formed song arriving in her brain. Instead, she recorded and produced Covers – brilliant interpretations of some of her favourite songs. Deep down, however, Marika wondered if she’d ever write again.

Until one evening in 2021, when she struck gold in the most unlikely of places: a toilet.

Restrictions had been lifted, and Marika went to the pub. “I had written a song at home that day and recorded it onto my phone quickly as I had to leave to meet friends. When I was at the pub, I went into the loo to listen back to it and realised it was a cracker. I welled up with this huge relief. I realised I’d done it – I’d put the first crack in the ice.”

That song became Hanging, a track that processes the end of a relationship in a delicate, dissociative daze, until its engulfing ending – a crash of banshee wails and grunge guitars. Not only was it the song that freed Marika’s creative flow, but it’s one that epitomises the album’s opposing themes: the contrast of loud-quiet, the rub of industrial and pastoral, and the innocence of childhood versus the gnarly realities of adulthood.


To achieve these dualities, Marika had to summon a very specific soundscape for each song: she not only played every instrument save for the brass and strings on Big Sigh, but produced it too, along with Sam Petts-Davies [Thom Yorke, Warpaint] and long-term collaborator Charlie Andrew. “I’d always produced on my records, but I’d never backed myself enough to actually say that I had. I liked being a sponge and I saw the first two thirds of my career as a learning experience – I would sit back in a slightly deferential position to allow the dynamic to work. With this album I got to a point where I realised I’d done the learning, I knew what to do.”

Big Sigh is the latest advancement by a musician who has remained inventive with every release. Over the years her enigmatic genre-morphing sound has been compared to “the lovechild of Nico and Joanna Newsom”, Blur and Rid of Me-era PJ Harvey, while the Guardian’s five-star review of 2019’s Any Human Friend praised her “lethally sharp pop hooks”.

On Big Sigh, however, Marika ventures into fresh terrain. There is a constant tug between organic instrumentation and the harsher dynamics of synthetic distortion – like walking into an abandoned industrial wasteland covered in poison ivy. If it’s her haunting soundscapes that first lure you in, it’s her lyrical acrobatics that latch onto your brain – images of gore, yearning and off-kilter romance.

Leaving the carnal days of her 20s behind, this album is less a photo-real documentation of the moment, but more like an artist peering through a gap in a door to reassess her former life. Except for No Caffeine, however, which thrusts its listener into the eye of the storm. A To Do list sung as if in the foetal position, it rattles off the preventative tools Marika has learned to try and stop a panic attack. “Occupy your mind / Don’t stay home / Talk to all your friends, but don’t look at your phone / Scream into a bag / Try to turn your brain off.”

On Big Sigh, not only is Marika recounting her experience of anxiety, but reckoning with it. She first encountered an acute level of fear at the age of 17 when her appendix burst – a near fatal incident made worse by contracting sepsis in hospital. “It was a big body shock. I was just a kid, and then after that I had subsequent quick traumas, which I didn’t deal with. It was then I had my first panic attack and I’ve been anxious ever since.”

That confrontation with death altered Marika profoundly – it became the genesis of her musical career. Not only did she start making music soon after the incident, but it gave her one of her greatest thematic traits: a wry, disturbing preoccupation with bodily expulsions – blood, sick and beyond. These are all the physical elements of being alive that make her feel out of control, the ones she so desperately avoids in real life, but in her music confronts corporeality with brutal, deadpan humour.

Perhaps at the core of that block of ice is less of a mystical golden orb, and more of a human blob, a beating heart, a weary brain. In her never-ending pursuit of untangling her internal universe and exploring complex melodies, she has made her most honest and brave album yet.

“This album took a long time to make. It was not easy, and by the time I got to the end of it I was quiet. I wanted to be away from it and let it sit in its own space. Now the dust has settled and I’ve got to re-enter the world of Big Sigh, and I’m excited.”

Stepping into a new world, moving forward, chipping away. Breathe in, breathe out. Big sigh.

Big Sigh is released on Chrysalis Records on January 12th.

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Skateboarding: get on board in 2024!

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Now’s the time to take up skateboarding, with the sport set to soar at the Olympics later this year & the Design Museum ramping up the excitement…

Skateboarding, in case you didn’t get the memo, is cool. British-Japanese star Sky Brown, the youngest professional skateboarder in the world, is set to star for Great Britain at the Paris Olympics this summer. And the hot ticket in town is the Skateboard exhibition at the Design Museum in Kensington featuring the UK’s newest skate ramp inside the exhibition gallery.

As well as admiring the 100+ rare and unique boards from the 1950s to the present day on display (with a free go on the halfpipe if you’re up to it), on 20th January you can book in to enjoy a skate photography workshop with Bucks skateboard star Leo Sharp (@sharphoto). Growing up in the concrete jungle of Milton Keynes, Leo’s skate photographs have been published in international titles including Thrasher, Transworld, Skateboarder, and more. Sharp has also worked as a lecturer in photography at Falmouth University and exhibited in a number of exhibitions.

“It’s the best part of my week!”

Harrison Neave, nine

Skateboarding developed in the US in the 1950s as surf culture was taking off. It was then part of the underground, alternative culture of the 1980s, going hand-in-hand with the values of freedom, rebellion and thrill seeking. The sport continued to develop and became more widely accessible at the start of the 21st century, proving a huge hit among young people. If you look carefully you’ll find a like-minded tribe of skaters and scooters of all ages at a park tucked away near you.

Amersham Skatepark, at King George’s Field, was upgraded in 2020 to a concrete plaza course. Its higher level leads down to the lower level via a set of stairs with rail and a pair of “hubbas” either side. On the lower level is a hip, pair of ledges, rail and a manual pad, following on from these obstacles is a half-width spine and a quarter-pipe ramp to get you moving back up the other end.

The skatepark at Aston Clinton, HP22 5HL, consists of metal-framed composite ramps and concrete ramps on a concrete base. At either end of the course is a flat bank and a quarter pipe that flank a driveway with rail and an adjoining spine. There are also some rails and benches scattered around the edges.

Aylesbury Vale skatepark, HP20 1DH, had an upgrade in 2015, with the old metal ramps replaced with a concrete skatepark. It now has a stair set with handrail, grind wall and boxes, tombstone jump ramp, “wally bar” and a selection of banks and quarter-pipe ramps.

There’s also Chesham Skatepark in Lowndes Park, HP5 2JE, and Holmers Farm Skatepark, HP12 4PE, a plaza-style concrete skatepark with ramps and ledges across different levels, and with low quarter pipes at each end.

Marlow Skatepark, SL7 2AE, is a concrete park featuring various flat banks and quarter pipes with spine, ledges and a rail.

Princes Risborough Skatepark within King George V Park, HP27 9EP, features two sections of tarmac, a mini-ramp with a roll-in ramp attached at a 90degree angle at one end.

Chalfont St Peter Skatepark, which is always open, can be found on the grounds of the Chalfont St Peter community centre. It is made up of a metal half-pipe with a set of small metal ramps off to the side with a tarmac base. The ramps comprise of a low kicker/bank at each end with a funbox in between.

Thanks to a group of enthusiastic local parents, The Chalfonts Activity Park Project is on a mission to improve the free-to-use outdoor sports facilities. David Rollins of the group has said that their objective is to collaborate with the community and local authority to build a modern wheeled sports activity park for people of all ages to enjoy, on their bikes, skates, skateboards and scooters. He points out that he’s in his forties and loves skateboarding along with many friends his age and above.But it’s not just about a skatepark. If there is enough interest and funding, they’d like to see it include other features to become something the whole community can enjoy. To find out more about the project please visit chalfontactivity.com

A great example of a honeypot for skaters is Thame Skatepark, OX9 3RN, which recently had a £250,000 renovation and is suitable for all abilities. The park is free to use and is open all year round. One enthusiastic user is Harrison Neave, nine, who says:
“I love coming here on my scooter at the weekend – it’s the best part of my week! What I love most is that I get to hang out with some older boys & girls who are doing really cool tricks.”

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Recipes from The Skint Cook

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We’re sharing  a taste of inspiration from The Skint Cook, by Jamie Oliver’s Cookbook Challenge TV series finalist Ian Bursnall, out on 18th January

Five spice duck legs with a sesame salad & crispy seaweed

Ingredients:

•  Two duck legs

•  1 tsp five spice powder

•  3/4 tsp salt

•  3/4 tsp pepper

•  150g red cabbage, shredded

•  4 large spring onions, sliced

•  120g beansprouts

•  2 tbsp olive oil

•  2 tbsp cider vinegar

•  2 tbsp soy sauce

•  2 tbsp honey

•  2 tsp sesame oil

•  1/2 tsp chilli flakes

•  1/2 tsp caster sugar

•  1 tbsp sesame seeds

•   Crispy “seaweed” – also featured in the book

Such a nice dish – you have the crispy duck skin and tender meat. The sesame salad cuts through the fattiness of the duck so perfectly, contrasting flavour at the highest level. I love it. Adding the crispy seaweed gives it a restaurant vibe!

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/gas mark 4.

Take your duck legs and prick them all over with a cocktail stick. This helps to release the fat and get a crispy skin. Now mix together the five spice powder and half a teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Rub this all over the duck legs, top and bottom. Now place them into an ovenproof dish and cook in the oven for half an hour. Check and baste them from time to time. The skin should be nice and crisp when done.

Meanwhile, put your cabbage and spring onions into a bowl and set aside. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, then add the beansprouts. Bring back to the boil, then drain and cool under cold running water for 30 seconds. Drain and add to the cabbage mixture and mix well.

“Adding the crispy seaweed gives it a restaurant vibe!”

Ian Bursnall

In a separate bowl, add all the other ingredients, minus the sesame seeds and crispy seaweed. Give them a good mix to emulsify. Set aside.

Put a frying pan over a low heat, add the sesame seeds and toast for a minute or two. Tip the toasted seeds into the dressing, give it a mix, then pour over the salad veg. Stir well to coat.

When the duck is ready, spoon the salad onto the middle of two plates. Take the duck out of the oven and shred the meat off the bone. Place on top of the salad and sprinkle over the crispy “seaweed”. Enjoy.

A Blackberry fool & ginger biscuit topping

Ingredients:

•  250ml double cream

•  3 tbsp icing sugar

•  1 tsp vanilla extract

•  150g cream cheese

•  100g Greek yogurt

•  200g fresh blackberries

•  2 tsp caster sugar

•  Four crunchy ginger biscuits (I use Ginger Nuts)

The cream cheese gives this such a silky smooth feeling. Ginger biscuits add texture to the top. Spot on.

Method:

Take the cream cheese out of the fridge 30 minutes in advance to let it soften.

Add the double cream to a large bowl with the icing sugar and vanilla. Whip together until the cream starts to stiffen (soft peak stage), but don’t over-whip it. Now add the cream cheese and whisk until combined, then add the yogurt and fold it through. Set aside.

Place the blackberries in a separate bowl, putting a few aside to decorate. Sprinkle the caster sugar over the blackberries, then mush them up a bit with a fork, leaving some chunky.

Now spoon some of the mushed berries into the bottom of four clear glass ramekins or wine glasses, then spoon some cream mixture on top. Repeat three or so times, ending with a layer of the cream mixture.

Take your biscuits, put them into a food bag and smash into crumbs with a rolling pin, but leave them quite chunky. Decorate the desserts with the reserved blackberries, then sprinkle each dessert with the biscuit crumbs and serve.

You could make these ahead and chill in the fridge, then add the biscuit crumbs just before serving. I might try this again adding a splash of balsamic vinegar to the blackberries before mushing them up.

The Skint Cook: Over 80 easy, tasty recipes that won’t break the bank by Ian Bursnall (HQ, HarperCollins). Image credit Martin Poole.

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Comedian Miles Jupp star Q&A

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Comedian & TV star Miles Jupp, 44, talks about how surviving a brain tumour led to his On I Bang UK tour which includes Norden Farm in Maidenhead on 12th January, Oxford Playhouse on 16th, Newbury Corn Exchange on 24th and Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud on 4th March

Since Miles’ last tour finished at The London Palladium in 2017, he’s been in The Full Monty on Disney Plus, The Durrells and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? on ITV, as well as a heap of episodes of Frankie Boyle’s New World Order and Have I Got News For You. He’s made an award-winning radio series and he’s published a novel.

Yet one sunny day in the middle of all this, he suddenly suffered a brain seizure. This led to the discovery of a tumour the size of a cherry tomato, and a rather pressing need to undergo major neurosurgery. Obviously, one doesn’t wish to make a big deal of it, but the experience has left him with a story to tell and a few things that he’d like to share with the room. So that’s exactly what he’s doing in his new show On I Bang – a tale about surprise, fear, luck, love and qualified medical practitioners…

Hi Miles, you are looking very well. “My skull probably has a groove in it, but it’s at the back, I can’t see it. I feel quite quite jolly.

Q. This major life event in 2021 forms the basis of your new show On I Bang. Without any spoilers what happened? “Well, the big spoiler is I survived. I had a brain seizure, which was actually quite lucky. It meant I was taken to hospital where they ran tests. So having the seizure was an element of fortune because it’s like a big helpful sign that something is up. And that something was a brain tumour the size of a cherry tomato, which had to be removed.”

Q. What were you doing when it happened? “I was filming the ITV series Trigger Point. I’d just finished my scene. Ludicrously my character, a radio host, is speaking and then a bomb goes off roughly when it felt like a bomb had gone off in my own head. Luckily I was in a work environment which meant there was a medic on the set so they wrestled me into the appropriate position. It was only a day’s work, but taking that job might have saved my life.”

Q. Was it completely unexpected?  “The tumour was there but I was totally unaware of it. They can’t date it. It’s not like trees or fossils. The swelling of the tumour causes the pressure. And it’s the pressure that eventually caused the seizure. It could have happened at any time, but until about five minutes before, there was nothing. I just started feeling very dizzy very quickly and there was some flashing of lights. I remember falling forward and then some people holding me down and then it’s just like a series of moments of consciousness. Next time I was in an ambulance and then I was in A&E at West Middlesex Hospital.”

Q. Has it changed your outlook on life? “It’s very good for putting things in perspective. Not that I don’t moan about all the pathetic things other people moan about as well. But after a while, you can go, oh, I’ve got the freedom to moan about it. You just think about things in a different way.”

Q. It must have been very worrying for your family? “I could be lying in a hospital bed plugged into stuff and actually feeling fine, whereas from their point of view it’s ‘oh no, he’s lying in a hospital bed with lots of stuff plugged into him.’ And they got the call from the programme’s line producer to say I was on my way to hospital. So that’s quite as a shocking thing to get when you are on the bus. The luxury for me was you go, ‘well, all I can do is trust these people.’ In a way it’s sort of freeing. It’s all the unknowns that are stressful. Even dealing with being lucky is stressful. Because you think why? Why me?’

Q. You had surgery after three weeks to remove the tumour… “It was accessible, but not totally straightforward. I found being in hospital, very uplifting, actually, partly because you’re just surrounded by people that are very caring. There must have been about five other people on that ward all in the same boat. So you don’t feel alone in that sense. It is scary. And I’ve not experienced a thing like that. I can’t pretend that it isn’t.”

“I find there’s a sort of romance about touring”

Miles Jupp

Q. So On I Bang is all about this event – before, during and after? “This is the show. It’s a story told in a stand-up style. I promise you there are lots of jokes. It’s not me moaning about unsatisfactory customer experience or something I’ve noticed about luggage. Hopefully it’s a pure piece of storytelling, with a beginning, a middle and an end. I got a letter from a guy who saw a work in progress gig and he’s been through the same thing. He was saying people around him were worried but it was very cathartic for him.”

Q. How did the show come about? “I started writing it down, not in a comedic way, but I thought it would be useful to have a record of it. Then I thought, I haven’t done a stand-up tour for six years. And I went to see Blur at Wembley and I just thought it’s great being in a crowd, isn’t it? I just thought I like this thing of a crowd enjoying a thing together so much. And I thought, yes, I should turn that thing into a show and do it, which is a kind of an odd genesis, really. And I like going to theatres.”

Q. You started out as a stand-up but many people will know you as an actor. You’ve done so much, from Balamory and Harry Potter to Rev and The Thick Of It… “I think filming my part in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix took 20 minutes. My costume fitting took longer. I’m a sucker for a straight offer without an audition. There’s a difference between working hard and working a lot. And I think if you’re creating the work yourself, that counts as working hard, if you’re just accepting the work that you’re given that’s not the same. Working on my own has its pleasures in terms of control and being able to fix something quickly, or make adjustments. But I really like the bit when you’re making something in a team, the rehearsals are the best bits.”

Q. With acting you don’t know what’s next… “I got a nice part in a thing in Antwerp and then a week later I did one audition for Disney+’s The Full Monty on a Friday, got the part on the Tuesday, the next Friday I had a costume fitting, then started filming on the following Monday for six months.”

Q. You’ve got some high ranking roles coming up. The Duke of Rochester in the series Belgravia and Emperor of Austria in Ridley Scott’s movie Napoleon… “It could be cut to nothing but I did get to ride a horse in Napoleon. I had to go to a riding school and I thought, this is quite fun, quite therapeutic. But then when we started filming a stunt rider did absolutely everything!”

Q. You clearly enjoy performing, but stand-up seems to be your first love. “I like walking out onto a stage somewhere. I think the best view of a theatre is nearly always from the stage. I find there’s a sort of romance about touring. I remember with my show Fibber in the Heat appearing in Swindon on a Monday night. I turned up and there was 170 people there. I don’t know Swindon, I didn’t know anyone in Swindon. And I remember thinking, that’s great that 170 people have come here to watch this thing. I just love touring for that. So I really look forward to walking onstage again and telling a story. And hopefully, you know, we’ll have fun.”

Visit milesjupp.co.uk/on-tour/

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Taking an all-round approach

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Local charity Inside Out has been celebrating 10 years of improving the wellbeing of children

When a group of children declared a day spent at an equestrian centre to be the ‘best ever’, Inside Out knew they were on to something.

Over the last decade the charity has been responding to the growing children’s mental health crisis by helping schools tackle challenges posed by mental health problems, exam stress and anxiety.

Launched in November 2013 with a Magical Day Out of mindfulness, nature and horses based around the 5 Keys to Happiness for just 10 children from Thameside Primary School, Caversham, it has since supported more than 5,000 children across 20 schools in Reading and Oxfordshire.

Children gain a ‘toolkit’ of fun and practical life skills and strategies they can use in everyday life to reduce stress, find focus, increase confidence and resilience to feel better, learn better and flourish. The impact of their work has been significant, with schools seeing an improvement in children’s mental wellbeing, a development in essential social and emotional skills, and increased engagement.

The initial spark for Inside Out came when Founder and CEO, Stephanie Weissman, became convinced, from personal experience, of a well-proven concept – happiness fuels success, not the other way around. The charity’s underlying belief that ‘happy children learn better’ has never changed. Their 5 Keys to Happiness evidence-based framework has made it easy for busy teachers to promote positive mental wellbeing and has been the foundation for all their work.

When the pandemic hit, free weekly Wellbeing Guides full of simple, fun wellbeing boosts were created and used at home and in school to support children, some of whom were experiencing trauma.

The overwhelmingly positive response to these Guides galvanised the charity to accelerate the completion of a free, digitised ‘Activity Library’ and ‘Wellbeing Programme’. Schools now use these to work towards the charity’s coveted Inside Out Award, which helps them build a whole-school culture to wellbeing. 

Inside Out marked their 10-year anniversary with a new ‘Wellbeing Ambassadors’ pilot, putting children at the centre of leading peer-to-peer support and promoting conversations about mental health and positive wellbeing.

Stephanie added: “We are extremely proud to reach this milestone. The best predictor of an adult’s life satisfaction is their emotional health as a child. We look to the future with an unwavering commitment to inspire children to develop ways to look after their mental wellbeing, so they have the best chance to reach their full potential.”

Find out more at theinsideout.org.yk

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Education Guide: Winter 2024

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There’s a new year on the horizon and we hope our education special will help you. We take a look at the International Baccalaureate, learning to read as an adult and supporting the mental health and happiness of children.

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Learning for the future

Many schools are choosing to expand their education offering with the International Baccalaureate which examines ‘how to learn’ as much as ‘what to learn’, is it right for your child?.

In today’s world more so than ever children need to become well-rounded individuals developing strong academic, social and emotional characteristics, but how best to help them achieve this.

An increasing number of schools are opting to teach the International Baccalaureate. In its Schools of the Future report in January 2020, the World Economic Forum identified a model of education which “more closely mirrors the future of work and provides children with the skills to thrive in the new economy”.

In contrast to the traditional method of gaining specific subject knowledge, it emphasised the development of key skills, employing a wide-ranging set of characteristics which would enable today’s children to adapt more readily to the challenges of tomorrow.

So what is the IB?

The programme is spilt into four parts for children from the age of three to 19 – Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme, Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme. Schools and colleges can utilise one or more parts of the programme.

Rather than teaching a predefined set of information in preparation for a test / exam at the end, the IB focuses as much on ‘how to learn’ as ‘what to learn’ reinforcing the idea that this better equips children with the skills they need for the world at large.

Pupils still learn the content giving them the knowledge but it is more ‘self directed’ allowing them to develop the necessary critical life skills. Teachers are also given more freedom in the way in which they teach as subjects may develop along a different path depending on the existing knowledge levels and interests of pupils, rather than covering the same content in each academic year.

Children also benefit from the connectivity of the IB syllabus with teaching staff coming together with common topics (units of inquiry) so everything interlinks. For example, children may be learning about The Great Fire of London – in an English lesson they may read books and write about it, in art and DT they may build models of the houses, in science they may look at how fire spreads and then in maths, use this data to explore equations. While there is still separate and distinct teaching in some areas, a large portion of the learning is built around topics, better replicating the real world problems likely to be faced which are multi-faceted and benefit from a more all-round approach that learning of this type encompasses.

“IB students have the opportunity to reflect upon what they already understand”

One such school which has adopted this method is St George’s School Windsor Castle, which last year became the first standalone prep school in the country to be certified as an IB World School. It employs the Primary Years Programme from kindergarten to Year 6 (3-11 years of age) and then the Pre-Senior Baccalaureate in Years 7 and 8 (11-13 year olds).

Head of Pre-Prep at St George’s School, Emma Adriano spearheaded the roll out and said they realised the “rapid change of pace and uncertainty around the future job market required a bold change of strategy”.

“Rather than learning subjects by rote with the sole goal of passing exams, IB students have the opportunity to reflect upon what they already understand, identify their own knowledge gaps and areas of interest and explore how to research and develop a deeper understanding of each topic across a range of subject ideas and practical applications.”

She added: “Fundamentally, alongside imparting knowledge, the curriculum teaches not what to think, but how to learn.”

As with everything in life, the IB is not for everyone and critics cite those who have very defined career paths in mind such as physicists for whom specialisation may be more relevant with the need to focus heavily on maths, further maths and physics at A Level as opposed to a more broader curriculum.

Pupils choosing to study the IB Diploma (16-19 year olds) which focuses on six subject areas over the two-year course, need to be organised and committed as well as being an independent thinker and learner and be able to communicate their learning well, oral presentations are a key feature.

In terms of life skills and developing a critical balance of knowledge, skills and mindset – the IB is highly rated. Some schools offer both options to suit individual needs giving students more choice.

Find out more at ibo.org

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10 eco-friendly Christmas tips

Round & About

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“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means just a little bit more” – read the top tips from Plastic Free Home for a more sustainable festive season

It’s not often we quote the Grinch, but in this case, and perhaps now more than ever, Dr Seuss’ fictional character is spot on.

For most Christmas is a magical time of year but it is also one of significant and unnecessary waste and excess.

If we are to get serious about tackling the climate emergency, then even the festive season shouldn’t be off limits when it comes to making much needed changes.

Below are 10 top tips on how you can make a difference this Christmas and put ‘a more sustainable future’ at the top of your wish list…

Avoid the gimmicks

From pre-packed ‘reindeer food’ (what’s wrong with a good old-fashioned carrot?!) that can be harmful to wildlife, to Christmas Eve boxes full of matching pyjamas and quickly discarded novelties, try not to get sucked into the latest fads.

Presents

Think quality, not quantity. Maybe introduce shared gift lists or a secret Santa to encourage everyone to buy less and to help save on unwanted items. When shopping, consider what gifts are made of, who by and where and how they can be reused, recycled or disposed of when someone is finished with them. Aim to buy presents that are produced ethically, sustainably and here in the UK wherever possible, and shop independently if you can. Buy pre-loved, recycled or sustainably sourced clothing, opt for toys that are well made and will last for generations, ditch big brand toiletries in favour of more eco-friendly alternatives and give homemade gifts, experiences or your time in place of ‘things’.

Wrapping paper

It isn’t an exact science but if you scrunch wrapping paper into a ball and it stays that way, it’s more likely that it’s plastic free and can be recycled. Even better, use recycled kraft paper, which is both home compostable and recyclable, and more likely to be free of harmful inks. Avoid gift bags if you can as many aren’t 100% recyclable and a high proportion are never reused and, crucially, avoid plastic sticky tape! Paper tape is readily and cheaply available online, compostable and recyclable and skip the bows, gift tags and ribbon or find reusable and recyclable alternatives.

Cards

Of course, the obvious answer would be to avoid cards altogether. If that’s a step too far, aim to buy cards that are made from recycled, FSC (sustainable) or seed paper and free from non-biodegradable glitter, badges and plastic wrapping. Or get crafting and make your own!

Crackers

Again, you could opt to avoid crackers completely or, again, why not make your own, reusable, ones? If you do decide to buy some, try to ensure they are both recycled and recyclable and free of plastic prizes.

Trees

If you already own an artificial tree, enjoy it year after year for as long as you can. As and when you are in need of a new one, consider instead a real tree that is FSC or Soil Association approved. Or, you can now even rent a real tree, with the tree replanted after Christmas and used again next year!

Advent calendars

Make or buy a reusable advent calendar and fill it with homemade goodies or plastic free and ideally Fairtrade treats. Anything wrapped in foil or delicious chocolates from the likes of Divine or Tony’s Chocolonely are among the better options. The growing trend of more expensive, toy-filled calendars just means more unnecessary waste.

Christmas lunch

Can you buy your meat unwrapped from a local butcher, and your vegetables loose from a local greengrocer, farm shop or certain supermarkets? Wherever possible, aim to avoid unnecessary packaging and only buy and prepare what you really need to avoid food waste. Or give a vegetarian or vegan Christmas a go!

Drinks

Wine bottles with a (real) cork are a better option than a screw top because cork is home compostable and results in lower emissions. And take a look at some of the fantastic British wines available, from the likes of Stanlake Park, Windsor Great Park or Chapel Down, to cut down on imported goods and the miles associated with them. If you’re buying beer, avoid plastic packaging and of course opt for cans or glass instead. When it comes to other alcoholic or soft drinks, swap plastic bottles for glass or cans too.

At the end of it all

Importantly, ensure that you recycle and dispose of everything correctly when the fun is over. If in doubt, look online, contact your local council or drop Plastic Free Home a line! Prepare beforehand by getting bags or boxes ready for things like wrapping paper, cardboard and recyclable plastic and rescue and reuse anything you can next time. Remember to donate any unwanted leftovers to a charity shop or (if in date and unopened) food bank.

Not everyone can do everything but if we can each make changes, they really do add up.

Wishing you and your loved ones a safe and happy Christmas when it comes and let’s all cross our fingers and toes that Santa brings us a more positive year in 2024…

Created in 2018 by blogger and voluntary hack Dave Lamont, Plastic Free Home is an online community with more than 45,000 followers, aiming to seek and share information on how we can all live more sustainably. Visit www.theplasticfreehome.com or find Plastic Free Home on Facebook.

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Share your dinner with the birds

Karen Neville

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BBOWT Is asking people to do one ‘wild’ act for each of the 12 days of Christmas to connect with nature at the coldest time of year

Sharing some of your Christmas leftovers with the birds this year could make a real difference for local wildlife.

That is the message from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), which is asking people to join its 12 Days Wild challenge.

Recycling Christmas cards, creating nature-themed crafts and going for a walk in the park are among suggested ways people can take part.

Liz Shearer, Community Engagement Director for BBOWT, said: “Cold roast potatoes are a fantastic thing to give to birds at this time of year because they’ve got natural carbohydrates with a bit of extra fat which is great in the cold. You can also leave out Christmas pudding, fruit cake and mince pies which all have useful sugars and fats, and a little bit of mild low-salt cheese is good too!

“Doing things like leaving out leftovers is a really simple way to help local birds and mammals, and also helps us feel like we have a real connection to wildlife, especially at this time of year. Feeling more connected to wildlife is also the first step in taking action to help it.”

The 12 Days Wild challenge runs from 25th December to 5th January. Anyone who signs up online will receive daily inspirational emails with fun activity ideas.

Doing ‘wild’ things to connect with nature can also help us feel happier and healthier, as the Wildlife Trust’s summer challenge, 30 Days Wild, has shown. Whether you take a walk in the park, watch starling murmurations or create some natural art, this shorter winter challenge could offer real wellbeing benefits.

Signing up is also a chance to give something back to nature by making some small changes. You could:

· Do some detective work and spot animal tracks in the mud or snow

· Get crafty using natural materials and create some wild art

· Go wild in town or country and visit a nature reserve

· Beat the January blues by listening to our Wild about Wellbeing podcast

· Make a New Year’s resolution for nature to go plastic-free, cycle to work or volunteer

Or simply get out there and enjoy a walk on the wild side.

Sign up online here for free guides, activities, and inspiration. Share photos and videos of your nature inspired moments on social media using #12DaysWild and please tag @BBOWT in your pictures.

*Picture Credit: Margaret Holland

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Festive fortification tipples for all

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Our wine columnist Giles Luckett suggests some great fortified wines for the season of goodwill

Hello. Christmas is a time for traditions. The tradition of opening a present on Christmas Eve just after you’ve put the sprouts on! Of partners asking you to buy them something you think they’ll like with the surprise being they need to ask if you’ve kept the receipt! To not so much as driving home for Christmas as stuck in traffic for Christmas.

OK, so, some traditions we could all definitely do without, but there’s one tradition that the British have clung to since the late 18th century, which is one to be treasured – enjoying a glass of fortified wine over the festive season. From Port to Madeira and Sherry to something from the New World, there’s a world of fortified diversions out there, and here is my pick of this spirited bunch…

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a glass or two of Tio Pepe (Sainsbury’s £10). Some of my generation are wary of Sherry, but wines like Tio Pepe are increasingly finding favour with younger wine lovers, and it’s easy to see why. Pale, fresh, dry and clean, its combination of abundant pear, watermelon, and apple fruit and savoury, creamy yeast make for an easy-drinking yet wholly satisfying glassful. Try this on its own and with smoked fish or creamy cheese canapés.

If you’re in the mood for something sweet, then why not enjoy something truly indulgent? Pedro Ximenez (PX to his friends) produces gloriously sweet wines such as the Adnams X Sopla Poniente (£10.99 Adnams). This phenomenal mouthful of treacle, butterscotch, liquid caramel, and hazelnuts is a joy on its own, but with enough acidity to prevent it from becoming cloying, it goes down beautifully with strong blue and white cheeses or, as I found, liver pâté.

When most people think of fortified wines, they think of Port, and this year, I discovered the excellent Adnams Finest Reserve (Adnams £15.99). This has to be one of the best everyday drinking Ports I’ve ever tasted. Many entry-level Ports struggle to integrate the spirit and have a hot, disjointed finish, along with overly sweet, one-dimension fruit profiles. The Adnams, however, is luscious, packed full of dried black fruits, blackcurrant conserve, and prunes and has a rounded, seamless finish. If you’re looking for brilliance on a budget, give this a whirl.

Another, less well-known style of Port is White Port. While much of this is fine but forgettable, there are quality-focused producers who are breathing new life into this old-style wine. I tasted the Quinta Da Pedra Alta White Port (Master of Malt £17.42) at the estate in the summer, and it blew me away. Fresh-tasting and bursting with white fruits, apricots and peaches in syrup, the way it managed to combine the sugar and the spirit into the body of the wine to create a luscious yet clean and refreshing whole is remarkable. We tried this with tonic, and it made for a delicious long drink too.

My favourite style of Port is a wood Port, wines that are aged for an extended period in barrel rather than in bottle. This long ageing in cask has the effect of leaching colour, accentuating the freshness and adding a lovely nuts and dried fruit tone to the wines. An excellent example of this is the Kopke 10-Year-Old Tawny (The Secret Bottle Shop £23.95). Deep red-gold, the nose offers an inviting mix of preserved cherries, plums, almonds, spices and candied citrus peel. In the mouth, it’s warming, full, and gentle, but with a wonderfully complex mix of dried fruits, nuts, caramel, smoke, and a clean, tangy acidity. Try this with blue cheeses or fruity desserts.

Fancy something a little different this Christmas? I have just the thing, the Zuccardi Malamado (Tesco £9). This is an Argentinean fortified Malbec – so Argentinean Port, if you will – and it’s amazing. At first, it tastes like a great Malbec, all blackberries, blackcurrants, fresh blueberries, and sweet spices, but then a warm wave of sweetness comes in, adding decadent richness and power. You can drink this with food as though it were a table wine or with hard cheeses; either way, it’s a Christmas cracker.

South Africa built their wine industry on fortified wines, and while they’re not as important these days, the best can still be world-beaters. Take the Kleine Zalze’s Project Z (Noble Green £33). Made from a blend of noble white grapes, this luscious golden sipper is opulently sweet (think marmalade) and offers creamy flavours of dried pears, candied apples, and peaches in syrup, with a lovely hit of lemon peel and lime juice to the finish. Enjoy this chilled with fruity desserts or white cheeses.

Madeira is one of the world’s most misunderstood wines. It isn’t a type of Sherry – it’s 700 miles from Spain and made in a completely different way – it isn’t all sweet, and if it’s an old maid’s wine, then call me Old Maid Giles! Madeira is joy as the Henriques & Henriques 10-Year-Old Sercial (Waitrose £18.99) shows. Sercial is the driest style of Madeira and it’s only after a decade or so in barrel that it reveals its brilliance. Dark amber, the nose offers caramel, roasted nuts, sweet coffee, citrus peel, and grapefruit. On the palate, it’s rich, yet tangy, with honey, green fig, and dried orange and pear tones offset by lemon and lime.

My next recommendation is one of Australia’s great wine originals. Take Muscat grapes (a Petits Grains Rouge, in case you were wondering) and leave them till they are raisins on the vine. Pick and press but stop the fermentation mid-way with spirit to preserve the sugar. Then age them in a Sherry-style ‘solera’ system, and bingo, you have wines like Campbells Rutherglen Muscat (Waitrose £13.99). This golden ‘sticky’ as the Aussies call it, tastes of sultanas laced with spiced honey mixed with citrus peel and given a mocha shot. This unique wine is phenomenal and is an after-dinner delight.

I’ll finish my festive fortified feature with what most wine lovers regard as the ultimate fortified wine, Vintage Port. Vintage Port is a rare wine – they make up about 3% of Port production – made only in the finest years that can only spend 2 years in cask before bottling with their sediment. The resulting behemoths can age for decades (the 1955 Taylor (MWH Wine £420) was amazing in 2022) and offer a level of complexity and elegance no other fortified wine can match. For drinking now, try the Niepoort 1997 (Fareham Wine Cellar £57.50). A great vintage, time has softened this, giving it a red-amber colour with a nose of fruits of the forest, chocolate, cherries, and smoke. In the mouth, it is sumptuous, loaded with black and red berry fruits, black figs, plums, sweet spices, and liquorice. Decant and enjoy on its own with good company.

Well, that’s it from me for 2023. I’ll be back in January with some no-and low-alcohol wine recommendations. So, until then have a fine wine Christmas, and here’s to a happy 2024.

Cheers!

Giles

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