Uncertain boat

View from Piel Island across Morecambe Bay to Roa Island, Cumbria.  August 2024. 

Un

All the heavy winding and ravelling

the picking and the packing:

they are all reversing at pace.

All that schooling

as teacher and taught

49 years:

un

Growan

So totally beknownst to us,

we are planning something fresh -

a bold new imaginary for the Carolean era

shaped to meet the needs of the now and next -

something to inspire, nurture and sustain us all.

And certainly something we can all enjoy

without feeling ashamed that this very notion lacks profundity -

when the very opposite is true.

Facilitated not mandated,

Co-created rather than coercive.

Democratic, sociocratic, human scale.

Did you know Growan is old Celtic for grow?

Larn

And we’re thinking nomadic

for all sorts of reasons.

A school spread between beautiful and strange spaces

thanks to our rich city commons;

Verb not noun;

Action rather than object

Bricks, mortar and claw board

Ones and zeros

Canopy and floor.

We will carry everything we need with us

in a small pocket in our hearts.

Did you know Norfolk for learn is larn?

Uncertain boat

We think we have the very best in abundance; we’re full of it.

We’re not quite ready,

and we are still new to each other, but we know we’re going to stand together, four square, shoulder to shoulder,

confronting what has really got us here -

a total belief in lack.

Of course it won’t be easy

(it already isn’t)

But we are up for sailing in the same uncertain boat.