Everyone we have approached has been keen, enthusiastic to get involved and excited by the potential the project has to transform learning in the community. In all involved countries we have talked to schools, teachers, community groups and businesses, all of these groups have provided their own ideas for the project.
The best way to involve the community is to get involved with existing community projects. A couple of days volunteering in the local community garden had our Welsh team in touch with local artists, new schools, and small businesses as well as being added to community learning networks through social media.
Attending meetings of other groups such as Friends of the Earth and the local Community Centre planning group gave us access to those activities and the chance to introduce what we wanted to do.
Helping out with local school eco and code clubs after school gave us a ready test bed of pupils without impacting on the teacher’s existing workload, building on this initial work the wider school wanted to be involved and invited us to participate in school trips to the town.
Basically, the best way we have found to get the community involved is to get involved with the community.