A1 Extensions works closely
with charities, helping and supporting children both
in the United Kingdom and in Africa. We are greatly
involved in sustainability issues and solutions and
we are keen sponsors of the Ashley C of E Primary School
and indeed very proud of their achievements. |
| Ashley C of E Primary
School |
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View
our Videos by clicking on the thumbnails above |
| Richard, the inspiring visionary
head teacher, is passionate about the environment, sustainability
and the education of children in this field. Ashley C
of E Primary is a beacon school involving its pioneering
community and has succeeded in reducing its energy consumption
by 50% over two years. |
- Ashley C of E Primary School was
joint winner of Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy
2009
- Richard, the head teacher, won the
Individual Champion for Sustainable Energy Award in
2007.
- Richard is a sustainable schools
co-ordinator working with local schools, authorities
and county councils to develop the ‘best sustainability
practice in education’, a pilot programme for
the National College of School Leadership.
- Richard is the creator of the Children’s
Carbon Charter for Global Carbon Reduction in partnership
with the NGO ActionAid.
- Richard is a trustee of the Jane
Goodall Institute and developed Jane Goodall’s
Roots and Shoots Youth Programme, empowering young
people to make a difference to the world.
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Antarctic
expedition:
To help to 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 and is the designer of an Antarctica values
based curriculum for children aged from 9 to 11.
He is chairman of NEST, the New Start Trust charity, working
to bring new sustainable house building ideas and technologies
to the developing world.
Their objective is to give communities quality permanent
housing for their orphaned and vulnerable children to
live in. |
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Welcome
to the New Start Trust
Steve Mills, founder of
A1 Lofts and A1 Extensions is also the founder of the
New Start Trust (NEST), a charity which provides homes
for orphaned and vulnerable children in regions suffering
from economic hardship and benefits communities with
much needed training in sustainable building technology.
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| NEST was set up in the
1990’s and focuses on housing orphans and street
children in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia. During this
time UNICEF estimated that 600,000 children would be
orphaned in Zimbabwe by the year 2000. |
Today
there are more than one million children orphaned by
AIDS and approximately 120,000 living with HIV, many
of whom end up living on the streets as a result of
abuse by carers. A1, provides NEST with both
financial support and expertise in sustainable building
technology. Through close relations with a variety of
experts in the sustainable building industry, A1 has
helped NEST in the research of an extensive choice of
techniques and proven building models in order to identify
economically and environmentally sound solutions to
the world wide housing crisis, removing the dependency
on finite resources and specialist labour.
By combining traditional ‘Earth Home’ (Eco
Home) building techniques with modern technology and
innovative ideas NEST enables communities to build affordable,
high quality and permanent homes for themselves.
A1 supports NEST in the building of homes for children
in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia in addition to training
communities in financially viable housing alternatives.
To find out more about NEST, the New Start Trust, please
visit: www.newstarttrust.org.uk
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| Youth
work and Youthbuild 2010
Steve Mills is also involved
in a new educational and employment initiative for children,
who do not fit easily into the education system. This
initiative is Youthbuild 2010. Sympathetic
to the plight of our young people who do not enjoy learning
in a typical classroom environment, Steve was inspired
to set up Youthbuild 2010 in order to provide high quality
vocational education for children from the age of 12.
The objective is to realise the development of learning,
bridging the divide between the present education system
and the reality of the work place by offering our young
people broader and more varied opportunities. Through
such learning Steve’s goal is to prevent disillusionment
with the education system, which can lead to our young
people becoming disengaged and excluded from society.
The programme also aims to re engage the interest of
our young people, already excluded, by presenting them
with new opportunities, supporting them in their achievements
and offering them real life skills, desirable to employers.
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| Regenerate UK
Steve is an enthusiastic and dedicated
supporter of Regenerate UK, a youth organisation based
on Roehampton’s Alton estate. Regenerate works
with local teenagers and engages them in projects for
the benefit of others inside and outside of their community.
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Steve has played a pivotal
role in pioneering training initiatives in connection
with Regenerate, giving young people living on the Alton
estate the opportunity to learn the Earth Home (Eco
home) building techniques adopted by NEST, the New Start
Trust, so that they can participate in construction
projects abroad. Training our
young people to build homes enables them to achieve
something immediate and practical, having a direct impact
on the lives of vulnerable children in desperate situations
abroad. Not only can they be given the opportunity to
help to improve the lives of others but they are helped
to realise their own potential and value to society.
To find out more about the work of Regenerate
UK visit: www.regenerateuk.co.uk
Alternatively to find out about the
youth training initiative with NEST visit: www.newstarttrust.org.uk
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