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Newsletter 1 - September 1999
Dear friends
Over the last few years we have had so many interesting international contacts at SPF,
that we thought it might be a good idea to send out a newsletter two or three times a year
to keep in touch with you, partly to let you know what is going on at the Innovative
School and in the Youth Town, and partly to give you the opportunity of telling what is
happening at your institution.
This letter is just meant as a letter of introduction with some headlines from our work.
In the following issues we plan to present more thorough information about some of the
projects that we hope might interest you. You are of course also welcome to suggest themes
and ask to get further information about specific projects.
With this letter of introduction we include a new issu0e of the brochure describing the
National Innovative Centre.
Our home-page will open in the end of 1999. You will find information about the courses in
the Youth Town in English, but later on we hope to be able to translate more information.
The address of our home page is www.inet-spf.dk.
Examples of international contacts we have had within the last two years
People who have visited SPF
- A lot of Norwegian teachers and headmasters
- Two visitors from Nanso, a Namibian student organisation
- A delegation visit from South Africa to study the Youth Town and
possibly establish a Youth Town in Gugulettu, a suburb in Cape Town
Teachers from SPF have been
- In Namibia to present the Youth Town concept
- On a human rights study trip to South Africa
- In Bolivia, Chile and Peru to present workshops about project work,
creative learning, home school partnership, and participation in decision-making.
- In the Philippines to study democracy
Within the next year we plan to
- Initiate a cooperation with EMEP, a South African NGO bases in Cape
Town, about changing the role of the teachers from talk and chalk to participation and
active learning
- Have a visit from a South American delegation with members from
Brazil, Peru, Chile and Bolivia. The aim is to study the Innovative School, the Youth Town
and production schools.
At the school
The present innovative areas are:
- Means of assessment
- Project work and the subjects
- The many intelligences and student awareness of and influence on
the learning process
- Physical and mental room for learning
- Parent-collaboration
- Intercultural competence
- IT-improvement in comprehensive schools
- The role of the school library as a service centre
From the Ministry of Education we have finally received a sum of
money to modernise part of the school, so in the beginning of the New Year a lot of
changes will take place.
Right now we have two guest teachers from the States teaching the kids at our school
about gangs in the USA
In the Youth Town
The course in our Health House has stopped. Instead we are developing a new course about
alternative energy. Very soon we might have a 20 metre high windmill and solar energy on
top of the Energy House.
The outdoor area in the Youth Town is worn out and does not reflect all the exciting
things happening inside the houses. Therefore we have asked three artists to make a plan
for a revitalisation of the area. They have come up with some very good suggestions, so
now we will try to raise money to realise the plans. And this seems to be how we spent a
lot of our time – to make our visions come true.
Next letter
The next newsletter you will receive in the middle of January in the next millennium -
year 2000. Until then many regards and greeting from the staff at SPF.
Marianne Munis & Poul Erik Christoffersen
Principal Leader of
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