Learn about the Isaac Newton High School, which we believe is the first successful humanist school in the world. This talk presents the circumstances of its establishment, its growth, and effects on the lives of its students and the community. The schools try to practice positive humanism in a multi-faith setting. Steve also shares about the other Humanist schools and their positive humanist ethos and reminds us how we can support them.
Steve Hurd has been a Humanist since his student days. He taught economics and geography in a secondary school in Uganda from 1970 to 1972. This started a lifelong interest in development issues. After joining the Centre for Research in International Teacher Education at the Open University he became co-Director of a British Council-funded ELATE project that worked with a team of 50 in Uganda to create computer-based materials to support teachers across the secondary curriculum. This provided the opportunity to get to know the Humanist community and schools in Uganda. In 2008 he set up the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust to raise funds to support them and a new Human Studies Project is developing resources to help them widen their curriculum.