Interview with Campbell

       

 

Me a Campbell. He wanted to do a thumbs-up pose for some reason

 

            A couple days ago I had the chance to interview Campbell, a 10 year old who attends Cotham Gardens Primary School. Cotham Gardens is the only co-operative primary school in Bristol and is also the only school to not have uniforms. Before this week I had no idea what a co-operative school was, so I had to talk to Campbell's mom and do some of my own research to figure it out. In England there is this thing called the co-operative group. They run tons of stuff like stores, banks, and even schools. Any organization can buy into the co-op group and it changes the way that the store/bank/school is run. So normally a public school in England is run by the government, but if a school decides to become a co-op then it becomes independently run and they can make their own decisions about school spending, teacher salaries, and whether or not they want to be a religious school. They get their funding from donations and charitable work mostly. Most co-op schools also choose not to be catholic based (like most other schools in England), so they tend to be more diverse. Campbell described his school as "full of all sorts of people from different places". Co-ops also focus on a balance between in-class education and "real-world" education. At the primary school level, this means that the  kids spend a lot of time gardening, volunteering, etc... Basically, co-ops are based on "self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity." Co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
 

 

A co-operative grocery store. I personally shop at these because all their products are fair-trade and ethically sourced

 

A co-op bank

Okay now that we have all that boring stuff covered, let's get into the interview!

What is your name?

My name is Campbell

How old are you?

I am ten years old!

Do you have any hobbies?

Uhhh I like football (soccer) and I like computer games

What kind of computer games do you play?

I play fortnite and just games like that

What kind of house do you live in?

I live in a three story connected house

Terraced houses like this are very common in England

Do you like your neighborhood?

Yeah I like my neighborhood

What kind of stuff is around your neighborhood? 

We have a local Costcutter (a type of supermarket) near us. We got a Redland bakery and I like their sausage rolls there. And we live quite close to like Sainsbury's (another supermarket) and stuff

What's your favorite food?

Oh that's easy. I love scallops!

And your favorite animal?

Penguins are the best

Do you play any sports?

Yeah I play football, basketball, hockey... I play loads of sports

And what kind of music do you like?

I like rapping

Really? Who's your favorite artist?

Eminem!

What's your favorite song by him?

I like Rap God. I can sing most of it

What kind of TV/Movies do you like?

I like fiction and action movies. I love the Avengers 

What is your favorite meme right now?

The Michael Jordan "Stop, get some help" meme

So what kind of school do you go to?

I go to a school where you can be any kind of person you want to be. It's full of all sorts of people from different places

Is it public, private, etc...?

It's public 

And what is your favorite subject?

I like math and I quite like art but I'm not good at drawing

How do you get to school every day?

I usually walk

And do you eat lunch at school?

Yeah I eat at school

And what kind of food do they have?

On Fridays they usually have fish fingers. On Wednesday they have roasts. On other days they have jacket potatoes

 

an example of a UK school lunch

Do you learn a foreign language at school?

We learn a bit of french and Portuguese. We also learned some Spanish and a bit of another language that I can't remember.  

What is your favorite place that you have ever visited?

My favorite place that I've ever visited is probably Amsterdam!

 So why aren't you in school today?

They're using my school as a polling station for the election today so we don't have school!

Campbell and his mom had to run to meet up for a lunch reservation so that was the end of the interview. I'm so thankful that they took time out of their busy day to chat with me. I hope that you all enjoyed the interview! Next week I'll be talking about fashion, slang, and British fads.


Enjoy your weekly photo of Potts and his little crossed paws: