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OMG! The Canvanauts have arrived!

And we have so much to tell you.

(Please note: You’ve warped into a secret page of our platform designed for Canvanaut eyes only)

A love letter to Canva

Dear Canva, you are the one...!

If we could pick just ONE partner to help us bring free, purposeful education to the world for a better tomorrow, it would be you x

Canva, we are actively seeking a premier partner to help us on our mission to provide FREE, purposeful education for the children of the world, forever. We can’t maintain what we are already doing without the support of a mission-aligned partner who values education and improving the world as much as we do. If we could imagine just one company to come on the journey to help us achieve this, it would be you, Canva. We love you (we really, really do) and we would love to join forces with you to change the world.

Let's Talk

We would love to share our story with you.

How our students are using Canva today

Your beautiful software platform is central to so much of what we are already doing. Since launching in January 2022, we have users from 148 countries learning with us and using Canva in the following ways:

Writing Books

Students are using Canva to write, illustrate and publish world changing stories and spread messages about important issues

Designing Posters

Students are using Canva to design posters, infographics and more to save rainforests, clean waterways and end racism

Designing T-Shirts

Students are using Canva to design & print t-shirts to talk about global issues such as educational equality and climate change

Designing Pitch Decks

Students are using Canva to design and present pitch decks and sponsorship packages for fundraising initiatives

Designing Social Media Content

Students are using Canva to design targeted social media campaigns to spread awareness about global issues that they care about

Designing Packaging

Students are using Canva to design product packaging for real brands and learn design fundamentals in the process

How we plan to use Canva in the future

We have big plans to further integrate Canva into our purpose-driven educational programs

Developing with Canva's API

Students will be using Canva and key Upschool functionality more seamlessly (we have been accepted onto Canva's new API beta)

Building Websites

Students will be using Canva to design websites to promote products, build digital portfolios and raise awareness for things they care about

Designing & Printing

Students will be using Canva to design products and print those products using Canva's print partners

Editing Video

Students will be using Canva to edit and compile engaging videos in order to share a message with the world

Jamming on Whiteboards

Students will be using Canva to collaborate on important projects so that they can create the change they wish to see in the world

Changing the World

Hope lies behind the door of every classroom in the world. Students will be using Canva to change the world.

Let's Talk

We would love to share our story with you.

Why Support Upschool?

“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has” – Margaret Mead

In just 9 short months, with a small but committed team, we have achieved an extraordinary amount!

Users in 148 Countries

With just hard work and passion, we have onboarded users across the globe with no marketing team or advertising budget.

5 x Ten-Week Courses

We have produced 5 flagship courses on our platform that are already making an impact in the world, and they're ready for mass adoption.

A Video Content Powerhouse

With our team of talented film makers & editors, we have produced over 250 educational videos that sit across our various channels.

Travelled the World

With the help of our partner Aurora Expeditions, we have created a unit of work from The Arctic and have another planned to be filmed and produced from Antarctica in 2023.

Custom Built Technology

With our team of 4 software engineers, we are about to launch a custom re-build of upschool.co in the Laravel framework- setting us up to be an EdTech powerhouse.

Global Print and Shipping

We have built our own print and logistics supply chain, fulfilling book orders received via the Upschool Library. The capability of our network positions us to offer other products in future.

Global Construction Teams

We have built a construction team in India for our library-building initiative and have begun sending them to communities in need.

12 Charity Partners

We have onboarded 12 charity partners who believe in our mission, and our students are working with them to solve global problems.

Awards

Our co-founder, Gavin McCormack, was awarded Australia's most influential educator in 2022 (to add to his long list of awards).

Global Keynote Speeches

Headed by one of the world's most influential educators (Gavin McCormack), we have keynoted conferences in many countries around the world including The World Education Summit.

Creating Impacts

From inspiring school communities to grow forests on barren plots, to thousands of children writing books to share their voice with a global audience, Upschool is having a tangible impact in the world.

Teacher Training Courses

We are well underway to releasing our first major teacher training course titled "Education for the 21st Century". We have thousands of teachers across the globe ready to participate.

Global Book Titled "Dear World..."

With the Jane Goodall Institute, we are producing a beautifully curated and presented book consisting of messages from global change-makers through to children in classrooms. Also, a resource book filled with inspiration, challenges and support that enables children to create local change for a better tomorrow. This is Volume 1, of what is intended to be an annual book.

Global Documentary Film "Dear World..."

With the Jane Goodall Institute, we are producing a full length documentary film to support the "Dear World..." book. Showcasing the work and messages of global change-makers through to children in classrooms. The film will showcase inspirational stories form around the globe and the impacts being created in order to inspire and educate future generations. This is Volume 1 of what is intended to be an annual film.

Upschool Research Centre

If we are to make purposeful education the new normal globally, we must prove that our model works - in that 2 things can happen at once: a) children can achieve important academic standards, and b) they can do this through participation in purposeful educational experiences that drive action and change. We are in the process of setting up a Not for Profit Research Centre and advisory board to begin research under the guidance of an experienced educational research team.

A Unique Focus on Purposeful Learning

Our objective is to inspire students, parents and teachers to use the academic success of children to create a meaningful impact on the world around them. From writing books to planting forests, our learning platform inspires children to do good in the world.

Some Highlights From Our First 9 Months

Travelled the World (above): Here is just one video (of dozens) that we have shot and created off the back of our trip to The Arctic. With just one cinematographer (Richard Mills) and one presenter (Gavin McCormack), we proved our capacity to create high quality educational content – on a budget. 

A Video Content Powerhouse (above): An early Upschool.co promo video showcasing our mission to the world. Written and narrated by Gavin McCormack, and edited by our production team, we have produced in excess of 250 high quality videos in just 9 months. 

Charity Partners (above): We have secured partnerships with 12 charities, including the Jane Goodall Institute of Australia (JGIA), whom we are hosting a ‘Global Book Illustration Challenge’ for, and collaborating with, to publish an incredible book on changemakers, with a foreword written by Dr Jane Goodall!

Users in 148 Countries (above): We reached our users from 100 countries milestone in May, 2022 – 5 months after opening Upschool’s doors! Richard Mills got a little bit excited when he recorded this video! We’re now at 148 countries and growing.

Global Construction Teams (above): Here’s a 3D model of the libraries that we are building for schools in the developing world (produced from scratch by our ultra talented 3D animation team!). We have schools across Australia fundraising to send these libraries to communities in need.

Five 10-Week Courses (above): We have five incredible courses on our platform, with more to come! These are totally free and self-paced, complete with pre-recorded videos, taskcards, weekly live lessons, parent engagement videos and more. Every lesson we teach empowers students to take action for a better tomorrow.

Lessons and Resources Aplenty (above): Our free 10-week courses are ready to go “out of the box”. Everything a teacher needs to run a successful lesson has been planned for and produced for the entire 10 weeks. The above video is an example of the type of content we create. We also provide other helpful resources for parents and teachers.

Student Success Stories (above): Divyam is a dedicated student from Kolkata, India. He is passionate about the environment so he wrote a book whilst doing our “Write a Book to Change the World” course titled “Heaven Restored”. The book talks about environmental issues. Here is a chat we had with him about his book. 

Teacher Training Courses (above): We are well underway to releasing our first major teacher training course titled “Purposeful Education for the 21st Century”. We have thousands of teachers across the globe ready to participate. Here is a sample video from the course.

The Upschool Library (above): We launched the Upschool Library in August, 2022. Children are writing books about a range of topics, including the environment, bullying, and mental health, and these are published on our platform. Books can be read for free, or can be purchased and shipped from our warehouse to customers across the globe. Apart from giving a child an opportunity to share their voice with the world, every book raises funds for a charity of the author’s choice.

A Unique Focus on Purposeful Learning (above): From writing business proposals to local businesses for sponsorship deals, painting awareness-raising murals on school buildings or planting nature reserves on council land, our students are ‘being the change” they wish to see in the world whilst participating in our courses. We take learning and imbue it with purpose to achieve tangible (and intangible) student outcomes for a better tomorrow!

An Engaged and Growing Learning Community (above): Students, teachers and parents are raving about Upschool. Teachers: “Upschool empowers students to have a huge impact on a local and global scale” / “Thank you Richard, Gavin, Jake and Team Upschool for showing us the global standard for education”. Students: “This feels like adult work” / “It feels like there is a real reason to do this work because it’s making a difference”. Parents: “My boys are loving it!” / “She’s been telling her friends about it!” / “I’m telling everyone about Upschool!”

An investment will accelerate stories like this

By a bustling expressway in the middle of India stands a school that swelters in the hot sun. The students, who are presently undertaking Upschool’s online course, “Be the Change”, were inspired to take possession of an unused, barren plot of land and are in the process of transforming it into a flourishing forest to provide shade, improved air and soil quality, and to house local wildlife.

We visited their school with our film crew to learn more about it.

Now, let's talk about the books we sent you

These books were written by children, wanting to share an important message with the world. And they used Canva to do it.

As you turn each page, you will see how the voice and creativity of each young author shines through. How the messages that underlie each narrative speak of something important to that author. They’ve written something to change the world in the way they want it to change. How cool is that!

Upschool, through its free Write a Book to Change the World course, taught these children how to plan and compose their stories, and to utilise the Canva software to illustrate and configure their books, and then gave them a platform to share it with the world: The Upschool Library.

But, more than this, Upschool taught these children to stop and consider what’s important to them, empowered them to use their learning as a tool to make a difference, and set them on a path to grow into more tolerant, understanding and engaged humans. This is exactly what our world needs.

Each of these books support a charity project selected by the author. By purchasing a book, children raise money for an important project that’s addressing an issue they want to see resolved. Their very words and actions are helping changemaking organisations continue their important work and, in doing so, the children themselves become changemakers. And Canva converts!

Can you imagine how much more we can achieve together as partners?

There are hundreds of books in the Upschool Library and thousands more in the making. Learn more about the themes the author wanted to explore in their work, and click through to read it in the Library.

Values this book explores: Empathy, Hope for The Future, Kindness, Making a Difference, Peace on Earth

Values this book explores: Friendships, Kindness, Teamwork and Collaboration

Values this book explores: Bravery and Courage, Friendships, Kindness, Love

Values this book explores: Empathy, Kindness

Values this book explores: Bravery and Courage, Family, Growing Up, Hard Work, Hope for The Future

Values this book explores: Growing Up, Making a Difference, Peace on Earth, Racism and Injustice, School Life

Values this book explores: Bravery and Courage, Empathy, Friendships, Imagination and Exploring Possibilities, Teamwork and Collaboration

Values this book explores: Empathy, Kindness

Values this book explores: Accepting Differences, Bravery and Courage, Perseverance and Persistence

Values this book explores: Accepting Differences, Compassion for Others, Empathy, Honesty and Trust

And so, it's over to you!

We would be so excited to share our story.

Thank you, really, thank you, for getting this far and reading about our vision for 'The Future of Education'. We await, with anticipation, a response from a Canvanaut.

Much Love,
Richard, Gavin & Jake

Let's Talk

Make a time with Richard, Gavin & Jake to explore the possibilities today

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