David Cadman is a strategic advisor to Harmony in Education. He is a Harmony Professor of Practice at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Harmony Advisor to The Prince’s Foundation. He is the author of Love and the Divine Feminine, The Recovery of Love: Living in a Troubled World and the soon to be published In Order to Love: Nurturing Right Relationship.

Francesca is Marketing Lead at The Harmony Project. Her background includes 10 years working in the music industry followed by several winter seasons in the French Alps and the mountains of New Zealand where she indulged a love of the outdoors and being in Nature. Francesca now specialises in social media marketing and maximising online marketing opportunities for small businesses and start-ups.

Francesca is a parent to three children of primary and secondary school age, who have been fortunate to have had access to a Harmony curriculum during their schooling. Having experienced the benefits of Nature-based learning for her own children and the wider school community, Francesca is committed to amplifying the message of The Harmony Project. As part of The Harmony Project team, she is passionate about playing a part in reigniting and nourishing a love of learning in children and a joy of teaching in adults to build a more sustainable future.

As Geometry Resources Development Co-ordinator, Leila draws on her experience as an artist and educator, and her skills and knowledge as a graduate of The Prince’s Foundation School of the Traditional Arts. As a member of the resource development team, she works on establishing connections between geometric principles and a range of curriculum subjects. Leila firmly believes that fostering geometric literacy is beneficial for both children and adults alike, enabling them to better understand and appreciate the wonders of the natural world while forging a deeper sense of connection with it.

Catherine joined our team following a career in education spanning 30 years, including 15 successful years of school leadership. Catherine has worked as an adviser at both local and national level and for the last decade, was the Headteacher of Damers First School, a large first school which sits at the heart of the Duchy of Cornwall’s Poundbury development in Dorset. Damers developed a Harmony curriculum, inspired by the work of Richard Dunne, and the school’s focus on sustainability and Nature has been recognised through many national awards.

Catherine’s journey to headship was driven by her own experience of the power of education as a means to overcome barriers and a desire to lead meaningful change. Her passion for inclusion and a belief that a focus on sustainability and Nature will inevitably ‘find the learner’ within every child, regardless of their background or starting point, has never faded. Catherine shares a wealth of experience and practical application of Harmony principles, which will inspire schools that recognise the need to empower children to find Harmony within themselves, within their relationships with others and within the environment that surrounds them.

Emilie has contributed to the work of The Harmony Project since its creation. In her role leading the creation of content (including teaching resources and other publications) and determining the content strategy for The Harmony Project, she draws on eight years of experience as a primary school class teacher and on the skills and insight she has gained in a career in magazine publishing that spans almost 25 years.

As a teacher, Emilie worked at the school at which Richard Dunne was headteacher, contributing to the development of the very first Harmony curriculum in this setting. As a journalist, Emilie has a specific interest in the exploration of sustainability issues in mainstream media and creates compelling, informative content on a range of environmental issues for a consumer audience. She is passionate about fostering a sense of Nature-connection in both children and adults alike and values the restorative qualities of time spent in Nature.

Asia helps spread the message of Harmony by managing The Harmony Project’s newsletter and social media presence across a range of platforms.

She studied education with the aspiration of becoming a teacher, but changed direction as she felt that mainstream education often does not provide children and young people with enough opportunities to spend time in Nature, which was an integral part of her own education journey. She went on to lead several education projects aimed at helping children understand where their food comes from in primary and secondary schools. However, in order to empower children and young people to act on environmental issues including climate change and biodiversity loss, she believes in the need for a whole-school, curriculum-based approach. This is what drew her to the work of The Harmony Project.

Asia is a passionate about the effect the restorative power of Nature can have on our wellbeing and the wellbeing of our communities.

Morwenna joined The Harmony Project after many years working in charity management, education and the arts, and is focused on making the work of the Project as sustainable, enjoyable and widely accessible as possible. Alongside her role as Head of Business Development & Operations at The Harmony Project, she also works as a psychotherapist and a coach.

One of the questions that fascinates her the most is ‘Why are humans the only species that knowingly pollutes its own back yard?’. This disconnection from our place in the natural order is one of the key things that the Harmony approach works to address; by following a Harmony curriculum, pupils are given the chance to reconnect and find their sense of belonging again. Morwenna deeply believes that if our education system can engender a perception of interdependence in our children, they will grow up with the inherent capacity to live more sustainable lives.

Morwenna lives in West Wales with her young family, and enjoys running, walking, sea-swimming, gardening and the odd glass of wine.

Clare’s connection with The Harmony Project began when her two children attended the local primary school where Richard Dunne was Headteacher and where the very first Harmony curriculum was developed. Having experienced Harmony teaching and learning from a parent perspective, she was keen to contribute to the development of this approach in other settings. Clare has a long-held passion for education, which led her to train as a Montessori teacher at Montessori Centre International, London.

Prior to this, Clare had a career in live events and communications, before moving into the charitable sector to pursue her interest in sustainable communities at The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment. Clare’s other areas of interest include learning from Nature, Early Years education and building sustainable, walkable communities.

After working as a primary school class teacher for 16 years, Gaby joined The Harmony Project in September 2022. She plays a key role in the development of The Harmony Project’s teaching resources, bringing the National Curriculum to life through relevant and engaging learning opportunities which connect children with Nature. This involves extensive research and work with experts in different areas of sustainability to ensure planning and resources are developed to support schools and other educational settings to create and deliver their own Harmony curricula.

In this role, she has enjoyed reflecting on her own teaching practice and has taken time to consider what young children need in order to achieve a sense of purpose, and to value the world they live in.

After studying Spanish and Portuguese at Cardiff University, Gaby worked in European events and marketing before deciding to pursue a career in teaching, gaining a Primary PGCE at Roehampton University with a specialism in Art.

Richard Dunne founded The Harmony Project after developing the Harmony approach to learning in his previous role as Headteacher of an Ofsted-graded Outstanding school.

This approach brings together subject-specific skills and knowledge around projects or enquiries of learning that take learning beyond the classroom and apply it to the real world. Each enquiry references a principle of Harmony in Nature – Interdependence, Cycles, Diversity, Adaptation, Health and Oneness. When learners understand these principles of Harmony, they learn what they need to do to live sustainably, too. It is our lack of understanding of these principles that has led us to a place where the future well-being of our planet and its people is now at stake.

Richard now shares this approach across the education sector nationally and globally through presentations, workshops and school support programmes. He has written a teachers’ guide to enable teachers and educators to implement Harmony principles and practices in their education settings. The guide is being promoted as a blueprint for Education for Sustainability with the Department of Education. It has now been translated into nine languages.

Following early career experience in electronic engineering, sales and marketing and the IT industry, John founded Logical Networks plc, a UK high-growth networking services business funded by 3i plc. Since achieving a successful exit and recognition as one of Europe’s Top 500 Dynamic Entrepreneurs, he has concentrated his efforts on helping early-stage ventures and later-stage companies with high-growth potential to achieve success.

John is a Chartered Director, executive coach and business mentor, working one-on-one with CEOs and top management teams from high-growth ventures to help them achieve extraordinary results. His key skills are in grown entrepreneurship, leadership development, strategic innovation and corporate governance.

John is a Visiting Fellow in Leadership, Organisations and Behaviour at Henley Business School, University of Reading where he conducted doctoral research into the characteristics of high-growth entrepreneurial teams. His discussion paper commissioned by SEEDA (South East England Development Agency) on growth entrepreneurship based on his research can be found at www.intermezzo-ventures.com. He is also an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Management, Cass Business School, City University.

As an avid networker and maven, John seeks to pass on his unusual blend of entrepreneurial experience, business acumen and academic research credentials to those that need help in building high-growth ventures.

Bio to follow

Tessa Willy is the Deputy Programme Lead on the Primary PGCE at UCL-Institute of Education and teaches geography on the foundation subject programme. She started her career teaching in secondary and then primary settings across the UK and in Malawi. Since moving into higher education, she has been Programme Lead for the Primary PGCE at the University of Roehampton and School Director of Teacher Education at Kingston University. Her areas of interest are the ethics of geography, notably climate change and social justice as well as our relationship and interactions with nature, making her interest in and involvement with Harmony a perfect synergy of experience and values.

Tessa is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Geographical Associations’ Journal, /Primary Geography/, a Fellow of the RGS, a Chartered Geographer (Teacher) and a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teachers.

Jamie is the Executive Director of Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK). Prior to joining SOS-UK, Jamie was Head of Sustainability at NUS for 15 years. Jamie is a Director of the Aldersgate Group and a Fellow of IEMA. You can read more about Jamie’s views on education in this interview for Transform Magazine (September 2022).