My Background in Education
I graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in Product Design and Engineering and enrolled on a PGCE course at the University of Greenwich. My first post was at Thomas More School in Purley teaching design and technology. Meanwhile I started to write features for Designing Magazine which became more regular as did my contact with the then Editor Debbie Howard. My time at Thomas More was great as it exposed me to systematic product analysis through Mr McHugh a teacher at the time. I was soon “headhunted” by Langley Park School for Boys. I spent a year and a half working with the department whilst maintaining contact with Debbie Howard, who in the meantime, along with good friend and business partner Gill Shaw set up Bluefish.
I graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in Product Design and Engineering and enrolled on a PGCE course at the University of Greenwich. My first post was at Thomas More School in Purley teaching design and technology. Meanwhile I started to write features for Designing Magazine which became more regular as did my contact with the then Editor Debbie Howard. My time at Thomas More was great as it exposed me to systematic product analysis through Mr McHugh a teacher at the time. I was soon “headhunted” by Langley Park School for Boys. I spent a year and a half working with the department whilst maintaining contact with Debbie Howard, who in the meantime, along with good friend and business partner Gill Shaw set up Bluefish.
Accessfm is copyright of Bluefish
The Flipit is a unique new compact seat. It is a comfortable and stable everyday chair that transforms simply into a compact, self standing unit which is easy to carry, transport and store.
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Soon after they have a new employee, I am almost immediately sent over to Conran’s Design Museum to help formulate and deliver a Nationwide Architecture in Schools project. During this time we also started to work with the idea of a product analysis system and handling collection, ultimately developing ACCESS FM. We decided on the descriptors very early on but could not really spell out a word that made any real sense, so I decided to use an acronym generator on the internet and out popped ACCESS FM.
ACCESS FM was presented at countless conferences, to teachers, advisors and inspectors from the South East all the way up to Scotland. We showcased at the NEC Birmingham for the National Design Technology show, were invited to the annual NAADIT conferences and worked very closely with Gina White HMI and the now head man at DATA, Richard Green. Soon after we developed a higher order thinking skill called LINK FX which was unveiled the following year at the NAADIT conference. Both ACCESS FM and LINKS FX remain the intellectual property of Bluefish.
I left Bluefish after a brilliant two years because I desperately missed teaching. I really enjoyed visiting schools through my role at Bluefish and loved the creative freedom they afforded, but I hardly ever got to see the long term benefits of what I was teaching. I joined Ravenswood School for Boys in Bromley teaching design technology. The school is run by Doctor Berwick, an inspirational Head with fantastic vision not just for Ravenswood but schools across London and as a result leads the London leadership strategy for London Challenge and furthermore has the honour of having the school appear in Ofsted’s Outstanding list four times in a row. I was awarded Head of Department four years ago and recently acquired AST status. My department now thrives on the use of ACCESS FM and LINK FX with the department being awarded “Outstanding” by Ofsted on two separate occasions. As for the future? We will have to wait and see.
Spencer Herbert.
ACCESS FM was presented at countless conferences, to teachers, advisors and inspectors from the South East all the way up to Scotland. We showcased at the NEC Birmingham for the National Design Technology show, were invited to the annual NAADIT conferences and worked very closely with Gina White HMI and the now head man at DATA, Richard Green. Soon after we developed a higher order thinking skill called LINK FX which was unveiled the following year at the NAADIT conference. Both ACCESS FM and LINKS FX remain the intellectual property of Bluefish.
I left Bluefish after a brilliant two years because I desperately missed teaching. I really enjoyed visiting schools through my role at Bluefish and loved the creative freedom they afforded, but I hardly ever got to see the long term benefits of what I was teaching. I joined Ravenswood School for Boys in Bromley teaching design technology. The school is run by Doctor Berwick, an inspirational Head with fantastic vision not just for Ravenswood but schools across London and as a result leads the London leadership strategy for London Challenge and furthermore has the honour of having the school appear in Ofsted’s Outstanding list four times in a row. I was awarded Head of Department four years ago and recently acquired AST status. My department now thrives on the use of ACCESS FM and LINK FX with the department being awarded “Outstanding” by Ofsted on two separate occasions. As for the future? We will have to wait and see.
Spencer Herbert.
Accessfm is copyright of Bluefish
