Who is Abracadia?

WHO IS ABRACADIA?

Abracadia is brought to you by Dr David Avery (ex Taubman) (BA Hons, PGCE, MA Education, DPhil).

A London Jamaican orphan raised in the criminal underworld, at fifteen David was expelled from school for his part in founding the National Union of School Students, lobbying for race education and a pupil voice in curriculum development. Homeless and without family he reluctantly joined a criminal gang, where he remained for seven years.

In his twenties he was mentored by Ronnie Scott, Bob Marley and Dizzy Gillespie, and found the confidence and inspiration to seek an education. A-levels led to Sussex University, where he graduated top of his year in philosophy. His degree dissertation on ‘the transmission of knowledge culture and control’ was awarded a first and led to an MA in education (fully funded), followed by a DPhil (fully funded) in personal and social transformation using global mythology.

Since then David has spent twelve years as a school-teacher of R.E. and music, during which time he has had a successful career as a recording artist (reaching number one in the reggae charts with his first record) and record producer (making underground soul records featuring street-kids from London with top US artists). In 2003 he wrote and produced the flagship record for the NSPCC’s Full Stop campaign (‘Amen in the Darkness’) featuring vocalists from English schools supported by leading musicians from South Africa, Ethiopia and the Caribbean. He gave up teaching two years ago. Since then David has set up his own freelance education and training consultancy and worked with teenagers throughout England as a storyteller and mentor specialising in work with gang-issues, bullying and personal and social development. He has also been a recent contributor to the journal of IPPR (think tank of the year 2001, 2007) on the topic of addressing gang-culture through story.

Two years ago David was traced by his family in Jamaica where his father, Ralph Avery, founder of the Avery Philosophical Society, runs a school for the underprivileged children of Kingston, has written a book on Enlightenment that is used in High schools in New York, and is a renowned storyteller. The apple never rolls far from the tree! David now enjoys very close relationships with his father and siblings. The lost years were but a moment and the time now spent together a golden eternity. David has now assumed his proper family name and no longer uses the name of the family who adopted and then abandoned him as a child.

His background enables David to reach all social sectors and bridge disparate worlds, which helps explain why he is as likely to be found in classrooms as boardrooms and why he is equally comfortable in both.