Global English
NEAD achieved £147,000 in funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to work with Norfolk secondary school English departments for 3 years.
The project enables 3 successive Year 10 groups and English departments from 5 schools across the county to access activities and resources with a global theme.
The 5 schools involved are: Taverham High School in Broadland, Sprowston Community High School in greater Norwich, Springwood High School in King's Lynn, Wymondham High School and Great Yarmouth VA High School in the East of the region. The project began in the schools from November 2010, except Taverham which will join in project year 2.
The focus on improving speaking and listening skills, contributes to controlled assessments and offer opportunities to engage with schools’ local communities.
Issues the students have chosen to focus on include child soldiers, stereotypes in the media and issues around migration and migrants.
Global English follows on from NEAD's successful We Are Norfolk project, which has received national acclaim for its work to support global learning and community cohesion in primary schools in the west and east of the county. A key feature of that project has been to recruit World Voices, local people from different countries, who present activities and information to children about their culture and who will prove invaluable to Global English to introduce issues and direct speaking and listening sessions. Global English project years begin with World Voice sessions to consider which issues the schools wish to take forward to resaerch and eventually make campaign films about, to share with the extended school network and general public.
NEAD has also been working with International Development students at the University of East Anglia to help them become Student Global Messengers (SGMs) who can lead workshops with secondary school students and help them to understand global issues such as fair trade, migration and asylum. This will be extended within Global English with pupils cotributing to post-graduate activities and research.
Global English's BRAND NEW partnership is with BBC VOICES. The BBC have kindly offered training in becomming filmmakers; filming and editing, as well as loan of equipment in the project's first year. This enables pupils to broadcast their message to a larger audience- demonstrating their learning and improving speaking and listening skills. We hope to enter many of the completed films into BBC Norfolk's Children & Young People's Film Festivals, to be shown to the public on the Fusion screen in The Forum, Norwich.
The first film to be completed, by Great Yarmouth High School is called 'Anestasy', highlighting the importance of not being passive in the face of bullying (especially racism against 'new community' members from within Europe). This film (and others as they become completed), can been enjoyed on NEAD's YouTube channel, here: www.youtube.com/user/NEADorgUK
Mini-Global English support packages are available to all Norfolk secondaries.
For more information about this please contact: steve@nead.org.uk T: 01603 610993
Kaja Holloway, NEAD manager, said:
“We are thrilled to be able to offer secondary schools the same sustained services primaries in east and west Norfolk are currently benefiting from through our We Are Norfolk projects.
“Global English will allow young people to improve academic achievement, whilst making a difference to the issues they care about in their local and global community.”
Alison Thomas, Norfolk County Council Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said:
“We are strong believers in NEAD’s work and value the role they play in supporting young people’s understanding and appreciation of Norfolk’s diverse communities.
“We are delighted to be part of this project and to have been able to support this bid, which links closely with our ambitions to raise attainment and celebrate multi-cuturalism across the county.
“Developing students understanding of the wider world is vital if we want to raise young people’s aspirations and encourage them to think about the differences they can make, not only to their local community, but to their county, country and world.”
Carrie Supple, Grant Officer for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, added:
“We are proud to be associated with NEAD and look forward to working with them in Norfolk’s schools.”
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Paul Hamlyn (1926–2001) was an entrepreneur, publisher and philanthropist committed to providing new opportunities and experiences for people regardless of their background. His overriding concern was to open up the arts and education to everyone, but particularly to young people. In 1987, he established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation for general charitable purposes.
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation works across three UK programmes: Social Justice, Education and Learning and the Arts. Within each programme, funding is delivered through a combination of Open Grants, to which organisations can apply with proposals for funding innovative activities, and Special Initiatives, which are more focused interventions that aim to have an impact in a particular area. The Foundation also operates a programme of support for NGOs in India. The mission of the Foundation is to maximise opportunities for individuals and communities to realise their potential and to experience and enjoy a better quality of life, now and in the future. In particular, the Foundation is concerned with children, young people and people who are disadvantaged.
