LEGO and anything related to it is always good news for the kids. The founder of this construction toy and its manufacturing Company would have never thought that this little building bricks would bring so much joy into the lives of children all over the world. Now his billionaire grandson Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is taking his legacy forward at a grandeur scale. Born in the Danish town of Billund — a rural municipality in Jutland that Copenhagen referred to as "Hicksville" — Kjeld has made it his mission, to turn his homeland into the "Capital of Children."
The man who has already sponsored an airport, several community centers, a church, a theater and a library in Billund has even higher ambitions. Kjeld is also developing more kid-friendly fare: a parkour area, an interactive park called the Dance Arch, a playground filled with rubberized toys known as bObles, a LEGO house, and a Legoland.
In August, however, Kjeld will turn the ultimate fantasy of kids into reality. He will open the doors to International School of Billund, Denmark, the world’s first ever "Lego school".The children of Denmark are sure to become the envy of every kid on the planet.
The school will focus on inquiry-based, Montessori-style education. Students will learn under standards set by the international baccalaureate (IB) with the Danish school system alongside LEGO’s emphasis on fun and playful engagement.
The idea is that children are more motivated when they generate their own questions. As one parent of the prospective student of the school put it, "In the UK you're taught how to pass exams. In Scandinavia you're taught how to think."
The school's champions hope that pupils will have the tools to both "think" and "do" in their chosen careers.
The school’s headteacher is British physicist-turned-international-school-tsar Richard Matthews, a seasoned head, having led schools all over the world. He is one of the few men in Denmark to wear a tie and is referred to by some prospective parents as "Tie Man".
"Allowing time for creativity, play and getting into a state of flow is at the centre of Lego's philosophy and we'll be experimenting with this and other ideas in the timetabling," he said. "But we also have a responsibility — the children's education comes first and sometimes the old methods will be the best."
As the school also explains of its approach to what it calls "Systematic Creativity":
When the LEGO system is used in a learning environment young people become creative, active and collaborative learners. They take ownership and are self-driven. They express their originality. They also learn from the interpreted experiences of other people as they share their ideas. They learn by reflecting on experiences and discussing how things work and they help each other to learn through the shared language of the brick.
The campus will feature many interesting things like bicycle routes, learning labs, music studios and playgrounds. And also, yes, lots of LEGOs.
The school will open in August for three- to seven-year-olds. The intake will be 50% Danish and 50% international. Students aged from 8 to 16 years would be invited to join from 2015.
Tuition for the school itself will be subsidized by the government, which will pay 66% of school fees while parents pay the remainder, 3,000 Danish kroner a month. That works out to a per-kid charge of $517 US dollars a month — less than what most U.S. private schools charge for tuition, but still a lot of LEGOs.
With Lego Group's profits up 40% last year and with the owner's name attached, this school has all the chances of being a success.
Kjeld also hopes that the school will help put the rural town of Jutland (inhabited by 6,000 people) on the world map.
The Kirk Kristiansens are the most famous dynasty in Denmark and Kjeld is the richest man in this European country, but he still chooses to live and work in Billund.