About the School

School 21 is a pioneering new 4 to 18 school in Stratford, East London, for children from all backgrounds. The three founders of School 21 Peter Hyman, Oli de Botton and Ed Fidoe came together with a shared belief that education must be done differently if we are to prepare young people properly for the world they are going into. Their conviction was that we needed schools to rebalance head (academic success), heart (character and well-being) and hand (generating ideas, problem solving, making a difference). All underpinned by oracy, the life blood of the organisation. So School 21 has developed a series of pedagogies and approaches that give students the chance to find their voice, develop deep knowledge and understanding, and create beautiful work that has real value beyond the classroom. 

School 21 Innovation Journey

School 21 was founded on the basis that communication, as a set of skills and as a method of learning were not valued alongside literacy and numeracy in education. It was important then, but given the context of the current global dialogue, it seems imperative that we get this right in our school as well as broadening the educational conversation around oracy. We believe that oracy should underpin all teaching and learning as well as be at the heart of how a school community functions. The school hosts the annual international ‘Great Oracy Exhibition’ where we welcome educators from around the world to come and experience a day of stimulating workshops with the aim to forward the conversation. Voice 21 have also helped to bring together the first ever all party parliamentary group in an attempt to raise the profile of oracy at government and policy level.