Today we started our first Da Vinci Life-Skills Curriculum pilot at Empathy School in Bali, Indonesia. Our co-founder, Zach is heading Empathy’s new secondary program, starting with a middle school for 10-14 year olds, situated amongst the beautiful Bali jungles and rice paddies.
In honour of this opening we are sending out the first of our bimonthly newsletters. Da Vinci Life-Skills was formed by Rosina Dorelli, Zachary Reznichek and Farhaan Mir, in July 2021, to build a new curriculum, assessment model, teacher training & educational research program, and community learning centre, to showcase the future of education. Our figure head is the famous polymath, entrepreneur and Renaissance man, Leonardo Da Vinci, who, through his insatiably curious approach to life and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things, sparked a new way of thinking in art, science and culture.
We are aiming to influence systemic change and a move away from a mainly academic, high-stakes exam model, which we believe to be unethical and unsustainable in the 21st Century environment. Student mental health problems and school exclusions are rising, business has found that candidates lack fundamental skills and we are facing a climate crisis. The future landscape is rapidly evolving and we need to support people to become resilient, skilled and healthy citizens, the entrepreneurs and changemakers of tomorrow.
Through years of teaching, academic research and support from our expert Advisory Board, we have created 5 transdisciplinary, project-based pathways which incorporate the UK National Curriculum, life skills and more. Our projects are formatively assessed by learners, their peers and mentors through our 9 Skills Spiral framework. They will be evidenced in digital portfolios and accredited with our DVQs (Da Vinci Qualifications). For more information on this, please explore our current website - https://davincilifeskills.com.
Rosina is in Cambridge, UK, developing the our curriculum with Zach and working towards the opening of our new Cambridge secondary school/community learning centre. (We are aiming for an August 2023 opening).
Farhaan is based in London and is building a network of investors into our SEIS, EIS and property investment schemes, as well as forming our Da Vinci Foundation, through which we will raise money for research and student bursaries, and eventually open-source our curriculum for the state sector.
Zach is in Bali, Indonesia and has spent the last few weeks running a RPG (Role Playing Games) camp and a teacher training program for the local staff to prepare for today’s middle school opening.
At Empathy today we had everybody together for a drumming workshop to prepare for our daily morning 'D TIME', an improvised time of creative flow and intuition building. We have launched two of our 5 Da Vinci Life-Skills Project pathways: our PRODUCTION PROJECT this semester is, Ceremonies, Rituals & Rites of Passage, which begins with preparations for a Chinese New Year celebration and our FOOD PROJECT this semester is, Permaculture Food Forest & Community Gardens, which has started by making compost pens and sapling trays.
Tomorrow we will launch our Biophilic Design ENTERPRISE PROJECT, where we will design and build our school environment and research the local flora and fauna, starting with a trip to The Friends of the National Park Foundations Bali Wildlife Rescue site to work with injured animals.
Later in the week we will launch our MULTIVERSE GAMES PROJECT, starting with an introduction to tabletop RPGs, and our PEP (PERSONAL EXPLORATION PROJECT), where students will start to explore their individual passions.
Please email rosina@davincilifeskills.com for more information.
You have been added to our Da Vinci Life-Skills bimonthly newsletter mailing list, please let us know you would like us to remove your contact.
Follow our journey - Da Vinci Life-Skills on LinkedIn