We Are Norfolk - a three-year project for West Norfolk Primary Schools and New Communities
A NEAD Project
We are pleased to announce that the Department for International Development (DfID) has agreed to fund NEAD’s 3-year project We Are Norfolk, enabling us to support primary schools in West Norfolk to deliver the global dimension. Additional funding from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will extend the range of the project into the wider community.
These funds enable NEAD to set up a new base at the Discovery Centre in King’s Lynn, to open in August 2008. The centre will house new project coordinator Inna Melnyk, as well as an educators’ resources library with teaching packs and background information on global issues for free loan. Inna joins us from KLARS (King’s Lynn Area Resettlement Support), and her background and experience will be a great asset to the project.
Following consultation with King’s Lynn primary head-teachers, the key focus of We Are Norfolk is developing educational opportunities and activities. These will address the current local issue of the large numbers of new community members in the West Norfolk area, and the associated tensions this can bring. Topics covered will include local cultural diversity and the global millennium development goals, at an age-appropriate level. As one head teacher pointed out, this is a real area of need for us
, and the project is being welcomed by both Norfolk Children’s Services and the Community Cohesion Development Officer. We hope to work with the Community Cohesion team to develop a quality monitoring and evaluation toolkit for this type of work.
In Year One, we will focus on the primary schools in the Park, King Edward VII and Springwood High School clusters, forming Teachers’ Working Groups to assess needs and plan activities. These may include classroom sessions with members of new communities and visits to relevant events and places locally, such as the Around the World in 80 Dishes day during Food Fortnight, or to the local Russian-speaking shops or Portuguese cafés. In spring 2009, there will be an INSET session for teachers and an event for the wider community. This event will involve the young people we will have been working with, and will attract their families and the wider community. We hope to work in partnership with local organisations and/or link with an existing community event to maximise impact and value (two further community cohesion events will also be taking part this year in Great Yarmouth and Thetford).
Year Two will increase access to the project to include primary schools across the Borough of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. We also hope to achieve additional funding for further community events. In Year Three, services will be offered at full cost to ensure sustainability, and funding will be sought to launch a complementary project for secondary schools.
For more information, or to get involved, please contact Kaja Holloway, Project Manager.
