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SCHOOLS & YOUNG PEOPLE

 

Kent 2012 project is award winning!

Over the Spring of 2007, Kent County Council commissioned a young people's film project with Screen South through the Kent Campaign for the 2012 Games. The project focused on three groups of young people from across the county storyboarding, scripting, filming, acting and editing their own films inspired by the London Olympic Games or Paralympic Games. Canterbury High School students were one of the three groups and we are delighted that this summer the students won the Brenda Blethyn ACTING AWARD for their slapstick comedy Titanic Year Olympic Games 1912.

Canterbury High School's young film makers are therefore already winning their own Olympic medals, and we hope 2012 continues to inspire them to even greater efforts over the next four years!

The award was one of several presented at the inaugural Kino Kids Film Festival, run by Medb Films, as part of the Screen South Summerscreen programme.

 

Kent's young people 'Imagine the Olympics'

Back in the spring of 2008, a group of local school children and students at Canterbury Christ Church University took part in all day workshops and seminars exploring the London 2012 Games and the London 1948 Games. Follow this link to view the result of their research (pdf).

 

 

 

 

Celebrating Paralympic Handover in schools and colleges

(A message to Kent schools from Kathryn McColl, Education Officer for London 2012)

On 17 September, the Paralympic Flag will be handed from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. This final Handover Ceremony marks the build up to the London 2012 Games and the beginning of the London 2012 Education Programme. This programme aims to create a once in a generation Games experience for children and young people, inspiring them to fulfil their potential and create long-term benefits for themselves and their communities.

Paralympic Handover offers a unique opportunity to put schools and colleges at the heart of celebrations.  We want schools, colleges and other places of learning right across the UK to develop their own plans for celebrations. We've already heard examples of local authorities, schools and others planning disability sports festivals, events inspired by the Paralympic values, singing competitions, international language and sport festivals, assemblies, debates and open days - to name just a few.

What’s available?

London 2012 have developed an education resource to support children and young people in planning and leading celebrations on the 17th September, engaging their whole learning community in the excitement of the day and exploring themes that this event presents.  

This online resource, available at www.london2012.com/paralympichandover, provides a range of tools to support schools and colleges in developing and delivering their ideas. In addition, a four minute promotional film explaining the purpose of Handover and a timeline for a classroom wall detailing the history of the Paralympic Games has been sent to every school (primary, secondary, special, independent), college, pupil referral unit and local authority on June the 16th.

The online resource provides a range of different tools.
These include:

• Activity ideas to support teachers and young people as they develop their own plans. One idea is for a physical or virtual Time Capsule - encouraging young people to consider what they would like to remember about their life in 2008. The Handover Challenge asks young people to participate in sporting and cultural challenges that last 20 minutes and 12 seconds. There will be a range of other activity ideas and useful web links.

• Teachers and young people will also be encouraged to upload their own ideas with the best idea every fortnight being rewarded with a school visit from a Paralympian in the autumn term, courtesy of Visa - a proud Supporter of the London 2012 Paralympic Games Handover. 

• Fact sheets for use in lessons and on classroom walls about the Paralympic Games and Paralympic athlete

• A seven minute inspirational film about the Paralympic Games and Paralympic Movement (available from the beginning of September)

• An image bank of Paralympic athletes, sports and heritage, along with other London 2012 images. These images can be used by young people and teachers in projects, assemblies and other presentations

• Screensavers, wallpaper and certificates for teachers to download and use with their pupils

• Posters displaying the Paralympic values and stickers (primary schools) for order

The majority of these resources will be available from 16th June, with more to be added over the summer.

Share your plans

Schools and colleges will be able to register their details through the site. We want schools and colleges to register their details with us and begin planning their activity now - we are encouraging them to tell us what they have planned through the ‘Share your ideas’ section of the website.  Schools and colleges that register will be able to request Paralympic posters and stickers for use in their institution and more information on the four year education programme.

The more information we receive about planned activity, the more we can work with you to promote activity in the press and media on a local, regional and national scale. Please could you fill in the Paralympic Handover Event Template (Word doc) for any activity you’re planning? These templates should then be forwarded to us at education@london2012.com

Following Paralympic Handover….

These Paralympic Handover celebrations are the curtain raising event for the domestic strand of our education programme which starts on the 18th September. Through this programme we will build a network of schools and colleges who are demonstrating a commitment to the Olympic and Paralympic values, using the Games to drive change and meet existing objectives. An interactive website will go live on this day and will support children and young people in learning about and exploring these values - providing films, updated news and flexible resources dedicated to both students and practitioners and offering them a chance to interact with and be involved in the delivery of the London 2012 Games.

In the South East…

As with the national efforts, the more we know about what your school is planning, the more we can work with you to promote activity in the press and media on a local, regional and national scale.
Please could you fill in the Share Your Ideas Template for any activity you’re planning? These templates should then be sent to c.loriggio@culturesoutheast.org.uk

 

PRIDE in Olympic and Paralympic Values

Wednesday 17th September will see schools and settings across Kent celebrate the Handover Ceremony of the Paralympic Games to London and the launch of the Kent Schools 20in12 Learning Programme.

Paralympic Handover Day is a great chance to start thinking about the Values of the Paralympic Games. All schools in Kent have been sent certificates with which they can sign up to the 7 Olympic and Paralympic Values or PRIDE.

Personal Excellence
Respect and Friendship
Inspiration
Determination and Courage
Equality

We believe this is a very simple and effective way of introducing the Olympic and Paralympic
Values to young people and could provide schools with a framework for assemblies and projects.

 

 

Programme details of Kent's 20 in 12 schools'
programme distributed to all Kent schools

To follow on from the extensive consultation with (the then titled) Cluster Boards, LEOs, and attendance at and presentations to all the county's secondary, primary and early years conferences, an information flyer has been produced to support the sharing of information on the project as its development picks up speed, ready for its launch on September 17th (Paralympic Handover Day). This has been directly sent to all learning settings.

A lot of work is already taking place at a National level which will begin to arrive in schools from June with the official launch of the 2012 National Education Programme taking place on September 18th 2008.

Clearly the National Programme will be a significant high profile initiative which you will need to be aware of as it will feature prominently across all educational programmes within the next four academic years.

Kent's response has been the development of its own 2012 Learning Programme which provides a framework for all schools and settings to be actively involved in a range of initiatives in the build up to the 2012 Games. The 20 in 12 programme will link directly to the National Programme.

The leaflet highlights the steps that need to take place over the coming months and how your school/setting can get involved.

A 2012 Representative from each cluster is being selected as the first 2012 Planning forum will be taking place on Monday June 16th 2008 at Canterbury Christ Church University. You may wish to check with your LEO who your cluster's representative is.

The launch of the 20 in 12 Programme will take place on Wednesday 17th September 2008 to coincide with the handover of the Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Within Kent we are inviting all schools and settings to be part of this national celebration by organising a 'Signing Up to the Values Day'. Please could you diary September 17th within your calendar at this stage.

A range of resources for assemblies are being produced nationally to support schools/settings to inform and inspire young people about the Olympic and Paralympic values at the start of the new academic year.

In partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University we are developing our own 20 in 12 website which will be launched on September 17th 2008 and this will provide you with an up to date communication resource for all 2012 initiatives at County and National Level.

You may find it interesting at this stage to be aware of the 8 strands that are going to form the basis of the National Education Programme and these are listed below. Kent's 20 in 12 Learning Programme through its '5 Themes' will look to embrace each of these strands over the next four academic years.

8 National Strands:

1. Citizenship
2. Enterprise
3. PE, School Sport
4. Culture, Creativity
5. Sustainability and Regeneration
6. Practical Learning
7. Healthy and Active Lifestyles
8. Internationalism

>> Follow this link for KEnt Schools 20 in 12 Learning Programme (pdf) >>

 

Holmes Helps Get Games Under Way

Kent's Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes was the star guest at the official launch of the Kent School Games Finals at the Julie Rose Stadium on Saturday 14 June.

The Kent Schools track and field championships was the opening event of the Kent School Games Final which has events for able bodied and disabled youngsters across the county between now and July 6.

The Games are being organised by Kent County Council's Sport Leisure and Olympics Service in partnership with the Children, Families, Health and Education Service and is sponsored by P&O Ferries.

The Kent School Games, the first of its kind in the country was launched in November 2007 and around 30,000 young people from the county’s schools have been competing in 14 sports, building up to the finals taking place in June.

KCC Cabinet Member for Community Services Mike Hill said:

“The young people and teachers have all worked very hard to help their schools do their best at the Kent School Games which welcomes primary and secondary age students of all abilities. These finals recognise the winners but all those who take part should feel extremely proud of their own personal achievements.”

The opening ceremony provided a riot of colour, music and noise as the teams were welcomed by Kelly Holmes and Kent County Council’s leader Paul Carter who said the Games had blossomed tremendously since their launch last year.

To find out more about the Kent School Games please follow this link

 

National Reading Challenge

The National Reading Challenge is a national programme devised and funded by a charitable body, which takes place during the school summer holidays (end July – mid Sept) on an annual basis.

All local authority libraries throughout the UK have signed up to the scheme and it is run on a national basis with shared promotional materials from a central pot. Each year there is a different theme and this year it is sport, hence ‘Team Read’. The scheme is set to take place at 104 libraries in Kent and 11 mobile units. The programme targets 4 -11 year olds of all abilities.

• How it works:
  Libraries sign up and they are sent a promotional toolkit and a framework to deliver the project
• In Kent, invitation cards are delivered to each primary school for every primary school child just before the end of the summer term
• The challenge is to read 6 books during the summer holiday and along the way they can achieve bronze, silver and gold medal stickers and some small prizes
• Whilst the theme is sport the books that form part of the challenge are not limited to sport

To use the magic dust of the Olympics and Paralympics, Kent County Council’s Sport, Leisure and Olympics service has been working closely with Kent Libraries and Archives to add to this year’s Reading Challenge through

• Briefing all of Kent’s Sports Development Officers and School Sport Partnership Development Managers on the Challenge, to ensure the scheme is locally promoted to sporty children
• 6 of 12 key identified libraries have so far (May 2008) applied for a Sporting Champion to attend their library in the first week or so of the Challenge, perhaps to talk about what inspired them into sport, or to read a chapter from their favourite book
• promoting a new Kent Sports Development Unit website service ‘Find your Sport’ through libraries (during and after the Challenge)
• providing additional sports related prizes to encourage children at each of the silver, bronze and gold stages (details to follow -watch this space!)
• clearly identifying Clubmark Clubs on libraries’ lists of local sports clubs, so that parents can know which clubs have been ‘quality assured’ by their respective national governing body of sport
• supporting at least one Community Coaching event to take place in affiliation with a local library during the Challenge
• promoting sport and child safety at the twelve key identified libraries

Look out for the Team Read in your library and on the TeamRead website

 

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