Aspire Extensions work closely with charities helping children
both in the UK and Africa and is greatly involved in sustainability
issues and solutions. Aspire Extensions are a keen sponsor of Ashley C of E Primary
School and are extremely proud of the great things that they achieve. |
| Ashley C of E Primary School |
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| Richard is the visionary head teacher of Ashley C of E Primary
School who is passionate about the environment, sustainability educating
and developing children. Ashley C of E School is a beacon school
involving a pioneering community and has succeeded in reducing its
energy consumption by 50% over the past 2 years. |
- Ashley C of E Primary School was joint winner
of Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy 2009
- He is winner of the Individual Champion for Sustainable
Energy Award in November 2007
- Sustainable Schools Co-ordinator working with Local Schools,
Authorities and County Councils to develop Best Sustainability
Practice in Education – part of the National College
of School Leadership’s Pilot Programme
- Creator of The Children’s Carbon Charter for Global Carbon Reduction in Partnership with the NGO ActionAid
to be presented to Government this November
- Trustee of the Jane Goodall Institute developing
Dr Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots Youth Programme
that empowers Young People to Make a Difference to the
World
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Antarctic Expedition:
To help raise awareness of climate change Steve
Mills sponsored local head teacher Richard Dunne on two expeditions
to the Antarctic where he and his group established an Education
Base run on Renewable Energy. |
- Richard is a University Lecturer on Values Education, Personal
Development and Well-Being
- Designer of an Antarctica values-based Curriculum
for Children aged 9-11
- Chairman of the New Start Trust - a charity that works to
bring new sustainable house building ideas and technologies
to the developing world. Their aim is to give communities -
specifically children and orphans - quality permanent houses
to live in.
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NEST – The New Start Trust
In particular, Steve is the founder of a charity
NEST – The New Start Trust, which provides homes for orphaned
and vulnerable children in regions suffering from economic hardship,
and offers the communities they live in training in sustainable
building technology.
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NEST was set up in the 1990s with a focus on housing
orphans and street children in Zimbabwe. At the time the UN estimated
that 600,000 children would be orphaned in the country by the year
2000. With this figure now expected to hit 1.6 million in Zimbabwe
and 53 million in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa by the year 2010
it is Steve's mission to provide a million of those children in
need of housing with good quality homes. |
Not only is Aspire Extensions a financial supporter of NEST’s
projects, it also offers the charity technical expertise in sustainable
building technology. With links to many experts in the sustainable
building business, Aspire Extensions have helped NEST research various techniques
and proven building models to find economically and environmentally
sound solutions to the world-wide housing crisis, which do not depend
on finite resources or specialist labour. By combining traditional
Earth-Home (Eco-Home) building techniques with the best modern technology
and ideas NEST enable communities to build affordable, high quality,
permanent homes for themselves.
Over the last year Aspire Extensions have helped NEST build homes
for children in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia as well as training for
their communities in these financially viable alternatives.
To find out more about the work of NEST – The New Start
Trust visit: www.newstarttrust.com |
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Youth work and Youthbuild 2010
Steve is also involved in new educational and employment initiatives
for children, who do not fit easily into the education system, called
Youthbuild 2010.
Sympathetic to the plight of young people who do not enjoy learning
in a typical classroom environment, Steve conceived the idea of
Youthbuild 2010 to be provider of high quality vocational education
to children from the age of 12. The goal is to see development of
learning which bridges the divide between the present education
system and the real world work place, and provides broader and more
varied opportunities for young people.
Through such learning his goal is to prevent disillusionment
with the education system which results in their becoming disengaged
and excluded socially. The programme also aims to re-engage the
interest of already excluded young people by presenting them with
new opportunities, which can allow them to achieve real life skills
desirable to employers.
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Regenerate UK
Steve is an enthusiastic supporter of the Youth Organisation
Regenerate UK which is based on Roehampton’s Alton estate.
Regenerate works with local teenagers and engages them in projects
which benefit others both within and outside their community. They
aim to channel the leadership skills of the young people with whom they work to produce positive
and constructive results. |
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Steve has been pioneering training initiatives in
connection with Regenerate which allows young people from the estate
to learn the Earth-Home building techniques adopted by NEST so that
they can participate in construction projects abroad.
Training young people to build homes enables them
to achieve something immediate and practical which has a direct
impact on the lives of children in desperate circumstances in other
countries. Not only can they help to improve the lives of others,
they too can be helped to realise their value to society.
To find out more about the work of
Regenerate UK visit their website: www.regenerateuk.co.uk
Alternatively to find out more about the Youth Training Initiative
with NEST visit: www.newstarttrust.com |
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