Entrepreneur Simon Squibb often shares his frustrations with education, particularly when it comes to secondary schools. He’s right to question how we’re preparing young people for the future: narrowly, often rigidly, and not always with purpose or creativity at the centre.
But at Weebert’s World, we believe real change begins much earlier.
Our focus is primary education and the early years, when children are naturally imaginative, deeply curious, and still full of possibility. It’s here that we can do the most good, by helping them build confidence, resilience, and a lifelong belief that their dreams matter.
We’re not here to overhaul the system. We’re here to complement it, by planting the seed of possibility early.
This week, we returned to a lovely primary school in North Yorkshire. Kirby Hill Primary School invited us back, because after our first visit with Weebert Has an Adventure, the children absolutely loved it.
This time, we brought The Adventures of Weebert the Robot; Robots, Chickens and Dinosaurs along with a growing collection of Berts, our scrap-built robot characters, each lovingly handcrafted by Andy from aircraft parts, camera lenses, clock cogs, and imagination.
The children welcomed Weebert like an old friend. “We love Weebert” they all said.
But they didn’t just listen, they helped us create. They came up with their own ideas for an underwater adventure for Weebert and The Berts, invented characters, solved problems, explored risk, and imagined wild, joyful adventures. It was learning through story, through play, and through their own ideas.
And it reminded us why this work matters so deeply.
So often, play is seen as a break from learning. We see it as the beginning of it.
Play allows children to:
Try things out
Work with others
Take risks
Get it wrong and try again
Build confidence without fear of failure
It’s also how Weebert’s World was born, from a simple moment when one of Lotty & Andy’s grandchildren said, “I’m bored.”
That boredom became a story. That story became a spark. And that spark became a world.
We believe boredom is not the enemy, it’s an opportunity. It creates space for imagination, invention, and resilience. The freedom to wonder what if? is how creative thinking begins.
By the time children reach secondary school, many already carry the weight of labels; “not academic,” “not creative,” “not clever.”
But those beliefs often take root in the early years, if children aren’t shown that their thoughts, ideas, and imagination matter.
That’s why Weebert’s World works to open doors early, before limits are set. Because a child who learns to build a robot from scrap, or create a story from their own mind, starts to believe they can shape the world around them.
We don’t bring screens or worksheets into the classroom. We bring characters made from Cold War spy cameras, opera glass lenses, copper wire, and helicopter parts.
They’re tactile. Real. Fascinating.
And they help children see themselves as creators, not just consumers.
When we visit schools, we see:
Children problem-solving through play
Children thinking independently and collaboratively
Children building stories, not just listening to them
It’s not just inspiring. It’s foundational.
To keep that creativity alive beyond the classroom, we offer free downloadable resources for home and school use:
Printable Bert activity sheets
Coming soon …. Bert Colouring pages
Read-along versions of our stories
Behind-the-scenes peeks at how The Berts are made
These aren’t just extras, they’re extensions of a growing world that helps children stay curious.
We don’t believe education is broken. We are not here to knock it down, we are here to help build it up starting with early years.
By giving children permission to play, be bored, create, explore, and imagine, we’re not just helping them pass time.
We’re helping them build the mindset to one day shape the future; their future, whatever that may be.
And we’ll keep doing that, one scrap-built robot at a time.
lotty x
