Learning without boundaries

The Pyr Project

Sreela Banerjee Gillams has worked in the financial services industry, in overseas engineering consultancy, and also in higher education.  She is 52, married with a child at school. 

She is a LSE graduate in Economics and Economic History and has an MBA from the Cass Business School. She  has worked in industry, in spring factories and power stations; now she helps her husband run a small corporate finance business.  See www.gillev.com for more details of her work in the financial services sector.

For Pyr she does, for the present, most of the preparation and presentation to children, though this is likely to change, given the talents of others in the group.

Daniel Pollendine is 45, has two beautiful daughters, and is a playwright, song writer and teacher, working with young people, and writing and performing plays. He has been at various times a sports coach, a classroom teacher, a ballet dancer and a theatre director. As the owner of Bigintent Theatre, he works with children from deprived backgrounds.  He is enthusiastic about making education fun.

Daniel continues to write lyrics for the Pyr project.  He took his play ‘Carlos’s field’  which is in a companion workbook to the children's novel Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson, to HESFES - the annual home education festival - very well received indeed.  See further details of his career on www.bigintent.com.

Charles Matthews, also 45, is married with two school-age children.  He is a pianist, organist, composer and teacher.  His performances take him around the world, including China, Latvia and Spain.  Charles continues to pursue his musical career at home and abroad. His last television appearance was on BBC4 - a documentary on Vaughan Williams.

 For more details, and his coming engagements, see his website at www.charlesmatthews.co.uk.

For Pyr Charles chooses and plays the music to accompany the presentations - and researches and produces the music notes. He is also the recording artist on our organ and piano pieces.

Marcus Davidson is 45, and a musician, composing and performing in the UK and worldwide.  His compositions have been well received - in July 2009 the performance of his Bee Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall was much praised.  He continues his career in music and recording, and is currently director of the Bergen Gospel choir - he lives  in Norway.  He is fascinated by the tones being emanated from the planets and the sun, and his recent compositions reflect that interest. See his website at www.marcusdavidson.net for more details.

For Pyr Marcus has written the music for two songs  (‘Ode to the Sandwich’, and ‘Wallace was a very busy man’) for our presentations at Westminster Abbey.  He has also recorded the music we produce.  In small numbers he has produced two CDs which accompanied our earliest presentations.

about us

What do we believe, and value ?  

Who are we ? members ?

Our parents had the same jobs all their lives. All but one of us have had more than one change of career.  The world is changing at a rapid pace. Our jobs as educators and parents is to keep up.

The ‘stable workplace’ of the industrial revolution world-model is a thing of the past now, and will be more so for our children. We don’t yet know the new ‘working mindset’, but we know it is changing. With each new change in the use of energy comes this shift in gear - the most recent is a huge increase in computing power, and the myriad uses of the semi-conductor.

Our children will need to write the narrative of their own future with more uncertainty than we had to encounter, as the world changes more rapidly - advances in computer based technology, changes in demography, in societies and how they behave, (improvements in how women are regarded and treated) and more global input readily available on the internet, as the developed world tries to consume progressively less carbon. Personal relationships may well be less easy to make, with self definition being a continuous and moving feast thanks to social networks. These are only some of the changes we can see already.  Who knows how these things will play out.  

How should these modern uncertainties influence what edcuation should look like?   It is no wonder that there is a huge call for a shift in the educational paradigm.

What we believe at The Pyr Project is the need for balance in all things.... Engagement and excitement with science, pause and reflection with the humanities, enjoyment of music, dance and the visual arts, discernment in reading, and above all, a core sense of values which informs everything we do.   

We hope you will join us in our quest for this happy state of affairs...

If you want to read more about what we think about the world and its educational needs go to our page ‘The long view’ here

Why, a decent education of course .. . And one which is modern and outward looking... Not just harking back to the ‘good old days’ . .  

We believe instead in looking forward.   Not exactly scenario planning here, but let us see what it might be prudent to assume about our world, as increasingly easily available information shrinks the globe.

Are the mature economies of the developed West and Japan producing the ideas which will make them more competitive than they are at the

moment ?  

Are the growing economies of the East and Southern Hemisphere putting in place the values and beliefs which underpin the success of the West ?

John has recently embarked on a musical path after a long career in the UK and international public library services. Head of the Barbican Library for many years, John is a composer and performer of jazz pieces.

One of his education projects has helped Sri Lankan children affected by the 2004 tsunami express their feelings in words and music. Similar and more recent work was completed with Keats House last year. Music preservation is a special area of interest.