Gill Kelly 
Where will I do my pineapples? 
The Little Book of Building a Whole New School

Imagine the scenario where a newly appointed Deputy Headteacher in charge of Curriculum is suddenly asked questions like How many RJ45 sockets would you like in your new classroom? What type of cabling would you like? Cat 4 or 5? Add this to the relentless drive to raise standards as well as organising the timetable, teaching, doing break duty and offering a friendly ear to staff… you get the picture. Written with the perspective of a senior leader, with many amusing and bizarre stories, this book describes how to keep sound educational principles at the heart of a Building Schools for the Future project. This book is not about the new building, it is about building a whole new school and the struggle, against all odds, to keep people and learning at the centre of the whole project. What came out of the process was a school that had a variety of learning spaces, fully trained staff, modern ICT and a bespoke year 7 transition curriculum. It was the only school building in the country to be delivered on time, within budget, with a ground breaking CPD programme. This is not to say that everything went smoothly. There was a lot of pain along the way, and many lessons learned about how to manage change. Perhaps more significantly, Where will I do my pineapples?' is about people and the potential to change thousands of lives.

About the author

Since establishing Independent Thinking 25 years ago, Ian Gilbert has made a name for himself across the world as a highly original writer, editor, speaker, practitioner and thinker and is someone who the IB World magazine has referred to as one of the world’s leading educational visionaries.The author of several books, and the editor of many more, Ian is known by thousands of teachers and young people across the world for his award-winning Thunks books. Thunks grew out of Ian’s work with Philosophy for Children (P4C), and are beguiling yet deceptively powerful little philosophical questions that he has created to make children’s – as well as their teachers’ – brains hurt.Ian’s growing collection of bestselling books has a more serious side too, without ever losing sight of his trademark wit and straight-talking style. The Little Book of Bereavement for Schools, born from personal family experience, is finding a home in schools across the world, and The Working Class – a massive collaborative effort he instigated and edited – is making a genuine difference to the lives of young people from some of the poorest backgrounds.A unique writer and editor, there is no other voice like Ian Gilbert’s in education today.