Unleashing Unused Skills In Local Neighbourhoods

The School of Everything matches up would-be learners and would-be teachers

From active retired people, to teenage whiz-kids, to hobbyists in their garden sheds, there are people who could gain satisfaction, confidence - and, in some cases, a new career - from passing on what they know. It is this vision of a bottom-up learning system that inspires the School of Everything team.

School of Everything was founded by five friends: Peter Brownell, Andy Gibson, Mary Harrington, Dougald Hine and Paul Miller. They met as editors of a weekly email newsletter called Pick Me Up that was written by its readers and found they had a shared interest in changing the way that learning was organised. With the help of the Young Foundation they starting working together and built the first version of the site and in September 2007 they were chosen as one of the most promising start-ups in Europe for the Seedcamp competition.

In February 2008 they announced that they had won the backing of three angel investors and Channel 4 Education to develop the project further. Since then, Russell Blakeborough, Sangeet Gyawali and Hugo Rumens have joined the team.

School of Everything won the Self Help Award in the 2008 UK Catalyst Awards. Find out about the 2009 UK Catalyst Awards.

Paul Miller also shared his thoughts on the Future Face of Enterprise.