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| Peston, looking like he's come over all Derren Brown |
When he hasn't been looking stressed on the BBC news about the current financial situation, Robert Peston has been busy setting up an impressive new initiative.
This is Speakers for Schools (www.speakers4schools.org.uk).
It is a not-for-profit organisation that has signed up over 800 eminent characters to give free speeches to schools.
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| David Miliband, loves bananas |
Where your Eton or your St Paul's might not blink twice at the sort of fees these speakers normally request, your average city comprehensive can hardly afford to bring them in. And yet these are exactly the schools that need to hear from successful people (other than the TOWIE cast) to give them inspiration, ideas and role models for their future.
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| Ed Balls, currently Shadow Chancellor has signed up |
This is where S4S can step in. It is a way for schools without the big bucks to get successful people from all sorts of fields in to give speeches.
It's a new initiative and the website isn't fully comprehensive yet, so we'll have to see how many of the talks actually take place, but the idea behind it and the list of names attached are admirable.
It's a new initiative and the website isn't fully comprehensive yet, so we'll have to see how many of the talks actually take place, but the idea behind it and the list of names attached are admirable.
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| Dido Harding, CEO of TalkTalk is another speaker listed |
This is such a Good Idea because the majority of the speakers listed are not 'celebrities'. They are people who have worked very hard to get to the top of their game, whatever that game might be. In the Age of Entitlement and endemic fame-seekery, it is hugely important to give less privileged students a glimpse of a different sort of success.
youcanarguewithstupid
Further reading:
Peston in the Guardian about S4S here
Peston in the Evening Standard about S4S and bonuses here
