Streams Learning Hub
Meet the Hub Team
Our team bring a diverse range of skills and extraordinary breadth of experience across many different disciplines.
We have a core team consisting of Caroline, Fabienne, Jo & Matt.
Alongside this some amazing learning guides and wider collaborators who add to the rich tapestry of our team.
There are so many amazing people in our city who have a heart come alongside young people and see them flourish. Our team of collaborators is growing. If you or someone you know has a skill or passion you would like to share
with our young people then reach out and say hello.
Caroline Clark
Technology & Fundraising
(Entrepreneurship & Innovation Facilitator)
Caroline is an experienced leader, social entrepreneur, and advocate for people and culture. With a background in engineering and a PhD in Ultrasonic Signal Processing, she co-founded KETS Quantum Security, a University of Bristol spin-out. Caroline's expertise extends to science and engineering, team building, business operations, and strategic planning.
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Passionate about empowering young people through design and innovation, Caroline also runs Zebera - an organisation dedicated to empowering young people through design and innovation. This is achieved through design thinking workshops, design sprints and challenge based learning. The ultimate goal for Zebera is to create an open innovation and idea sharing platform to enable organisations and young people to come together to tackle real world problems.
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Actively involved in the Bristol startup community as mentor and advisor, Caroline also serves as a board member for Bristol Autism Support and Science Creates Outreach.
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Caroline is a parent of two teens, one preparing for University in 2023, one home educated.
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Fabienne Vailes
Research & Wellbeing
(Culture & Languages Facilitator)
Fabienne is first of all a mother of two teenage boys aged 15 and 13, one of whom is home educated and attending School of Humanities whilst the other chose to attend his local secondary school.
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She is author of 'The Flourishing Student' (in its second edition) aimed at teachers and tutors and co-author of 'How to Grow a Grown Up' written for parents. Podcaster and Founder of Flourishing Education. As part of her PhD at the University of Bristol she is currently exploring how individuals, communities and the planet flourish together.
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Fabienne is an educator with 26 years experience teaching and facilitating language learning (French, Spanish and English as a Foreign Language) across all levels. She has taught in nurseries, primary and secondary state schools, an independent school as well as in FE colleges, two universities and in adult education settings. This has given her great insights and understanding of what it means to be a lifelong, lifewide, lifedeep learner and what the key barriers are.
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Jo Sweetland
Partnerships & Programmes
(Hub Manager, Creative Facilitator)
The vision for the Hub was a seed that was planted in 2018. Partnering with Caroline and Fabienne is enabling this seed to grow, establish roots, and be planted in the city.
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Jo was an occupational therapist for twenty years, specialising in helping people with neurological conditions regain their independence. During this time, she completed her PhD developing an innovative vocational rehabilitation service.
It was while serving as a Governor at her children's school, Jo started questioning whether the education system allowed children and teachers to flourish. In 2017 deregistering from school Jo stepped into the well established Bristol home ed community, and in her home started a co-learning 'Dojo' with Matt.
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In 2021, with Matt, Juliet and Sian, Streams Education was founded, a growing online community of home educators. Throughout her home ed journey Jo has explored opportunities to bring a progressive school to Bristol; where opening an actual school has been impossible, the learning has been rich, Jo has connected with innovators, thought leaders, and edupreneurs around the world learning from their wisdom and exploring what education could look like when done 'differently'. Collaborations, partnerships, and the network have grown - all this learning interweaving into the vision for the Hub.
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Jo is married to Jez, they have three teenagers. They are passionate about community and collaboration, and this passion is at the heart of the Hub.
Matt Harris
Learning Guide
(Social Media Lead)
Matt is a home-educating dad to his two teenage daughters. His wife, Nic, is Chaplain for Housing working at Bristol Cathedral and in partnership with the Housing Festival in Bristol and the Diocese of Bristol.
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Graduating from university with a degree in Sports Studies, Matt enjoyed numerous different roles including working at an outdoor pursuit centre and facilitating corporate team building events. He completed his PGDip in Youth Work and Community Development and has worked in different youth work roles within various settings including schools and churches.
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Since moving to Bristol in 2018, Matt has worked alongside Jo facilitating learning in the home education "Dojo" that ran, as well as growing Streams Education (an online community of home educators). Matt’s passion is to see young people live to their full potential and “be all they can be”. His strengths are his adaptability, empathy, positivity, love of learning and ability to help people develop.
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When Matt isn’t home educating, you’ll find him trying to keep fit, cooking, listening to a podcast, or working out how to get Wilson and Robin, the family dogs, to behave.
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Bex Marriott
Learning Guide - Creative workshops
Bex's passion for creativity and diverse cultures has profoundly shaped her professional journey and life adventures. Following her BA in Book Design & Publishing, she moved to a township in Trujillo, Peru to work with Food for the Hungry Inc. She reignited her passion for book engineering travelling home through the USA, earning a degree in Calligraphy & Bookbinding, and then was a self-employed bookbinder for 16 years.
Driven by her love for people and education, Bex earned a PGCE in Design Technology and taught in Oxford before relocating to South Africa. Establishing a Design department in a secondary school, she delved deep into global educational practices, emphasizing project-based learning as essential in empowering exploration of individual interests and collaboration.
Discovering her dyslexia as an adult, Bex champions learner autonomy, providing opportunities to problem-solve, take risks, collaborate, innovate, and take initiative. She utilizes diverse methods to enable the learners’ journeys.
Bex enjoys hiking, singing, and dance, while nurturing interests in etymology and language acquisition. Fluent in Spanish, she also speaks French and Italian, with a basic grasp of Setswana, an official language of South Africa.
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Martha Pearce
Learning Guide - Language Cafe
Martha is currently in her second year at the University of Bristol and studies French and Russian. She also speaks Japanese back home with her family, where she first realised the joy of learning other languages.
Martha is working with the hub as an intern with funding from the University of Bristol supported by Fabienne. Her role is both facilitating language learning as well as coordinating sessions, language cafe team, mapping the learning journeys and enabling the Hub Duolingo classroom.
In her spare time, she likes to play the violin in the university's orchestra or go for a swim.
Weronika Dwornik
Drama Workshop facilitator
Weronika is a Polish/Belarussian theatremaker & experienced facilitator interested in ways of placing creativity at the heart of community building. Since moving to Bristol, Weronika worked with Creative Youth Network leading their Arts Award accredited Drama Course, & facilitated programs for young people with organisations like Bristol Museum, Watershed & House of Imagination. Since 2021, they’ve been working with Bristol Old Vic as a Young Company Workshop Leader.
Weronika is a member of ACE funded, award nominated Coin Toss Collective Theatre Company. CTC’s recent work includes a show exploring the role fast fashion plays in our lives co-created with a group of Young People from White City Theatre Project performed at Bush Theatre in London & a series of school drama workshops celebrating local activists in Bristol responding to climate emergency.
Charlie Proctor
Science Creates Outreach lead
After completing her degree in Early Years Education, Charlie began her career as a Primary School Teacher in Bristol before moving into Educational Consultancy, working with schools across the city.
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In 2016 she was part of the founding team of Science Creates and it was during this time that she realised how little hands-on inspiration there is for young people within the field of science and entrepreneurship. In response to this, she founded Science Creates Outreach, a charity offering workshops in the specifically designed Learning Lab, Q&As with real scientists and tours of working labs for students of all ages.
Charlie designs and facilitates these workshops along with some of the amazing members at Science Creates, helping learns to see the practical application of science in cutting edge technology here in the heart of Bristol.
Gaz Lawrence
Workshop Facilitator
In Bristol, Gaz embarked on a unique journey, choosing science and music at a London university over traditional art school. Discovering parallels between music and science, he later became a science teacher in London and Bristol, realizing his passion for blending diverse subjects.
Despite having a limited art background in school, Gaz began painting as a hobby in 2017, gaining recognition for his work. By 2022, his art has been displayed in galleries in London and Bristol, reflecting his varied interests: science, music, poetry, and personal stories about his family and the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2023, Gaz transitioned to full-time artistry, spearheading "The MoSAIC," a project using art to teach science to youth. Art sales contribute to supporting The MoSAIC. Gaz, adept with oil, acrylic, and ink, crafts paintings that simplify scientific concepts for children while fostering creativity. His art, laced with humour, is not just for serious contemplation—he encourages a lighthearted approach to his work.
Gaz has run one off workshops for the Streams Learning Hub - stay connected via our newsletter for when the next one is.
